We encourage studies that contribute to the conversation of strength-based Indigenous business, in different parts of the world, e.g., manuscripts that document Indigenous knowledge, wisdom and hope, aspirations, prosperity, emancipation, and renaissance of Indigenous people and their successful businesses.
Call for Papers for the Special Issue:
How are Indigenous businesses shaping sustainable futures?
Special Issue Editors:
Fernando Angulo-Ruiz (MacEwan University), https://www.macewan.ca/academics/academic-departments/international-business-marketing-strategy-law/our-people/profile/?profileid=anguloruizl
Léo-Paul Dana (Dalhousie University), https://www.dal.ca/faculty/management/faculty-staff/our-faculty/leo-dana.html
Emily Salmon (Simon Fraser University), https://beedie.sfu.ca/profiles/EmilySalmon
Robert Anderson (University of Regina), https://www.uregina.ca/business/faculty-staff/emeritus/anderson_robert.html
Ella Henry (Auckland University of Technology), https://academics.aut.ac.nz/ella.henry
Introduction
Indigenous peoples are the original stewards of their territories, each characterised by a unique and rich history, culture, and knowledge system, which has sustained them and their territories since time immemorial (Peredo et al., 2004; United Nations, 2015). Today, more than 470 million Indigenous persons worldwide (International Labour Organization, 2019) continue to uphold their culture, traditions, and traditional knowledge, offering unique solutions to several of the grand challenges we now face. Despite the profound disruptions caused by colonialisation, including displacement and systemic barriers limiting access to economic institutions (Anderson, et al., 2004), Indigenous communities have demonstrated extraordinary resilience and innovation to not only persist, but to thrive (Missens et al, 2007).
Early literature often centred on the challenges and barriers faced by Indigenous economies, highlighting that “Indigenous populations throughout the world suffer from chronic poverty, lower education” (Peredo et al., 2004, p. 1), or that “Indigenous people are struggling” (Anderson et al., 2006, p. 45). More recently, research has shifted to understand the powerful resurgence of Indigenous businesses, illustrating how traditional knowledge, community values, tenacity, and innovative practices can create alternative forms of entrepreneurship and management (e.g., Missens, et al. 2007; Wuttunee & Wien, 2024). This growth is reflected in the emergence of Indigenous entrepreneurship as a vibrant academic discipline, changing how we understand Indigenous economic systems (Dana, 2015).
Today, entrepreneurship literature reflects the many success stories of Indigenous entrepreneurs (e.g., Henry et al., 2017, 2018), describing how these entrepreneurs thrive well beyond the expectations of their local markets (Angulo-Ruiz, 2020; Angulo-Ruiz et al., 2020). These entrepreneurial efforts have brought not only economic success, but have also been “generators of change and pursuit of freedom from perceived constraints (Pergelova, et al., 2022, p. 481). Building on the foundational work in this field, there are numerous opportunities to expand our understanding of entrepreneurial success and how Indigenous entrepreneurs may thrive in colonial, contemporary markets.
Indigenous entrepreneurship research fits more broadly within Indigenous management and organisation studies research – a field that has rapidly grown over the past decade. A recent systematic review descriptively found that this emerging field was growing in size – 776 articles published over the past 90 years (1932-2021) – and diversity, with articles being published in 253 journals (Salmon et al., 2023). Salmon et al. (2023) identify several calls for research emphasizing that “strength-based research is severely lacking within the field of Indigenous (management and organization studies) research, with deficit-based approaches remaining most common” (Salmon et al., 2023, p. 471).
In alignment with this call, we encourage studies that document both the “wisdom and hope” of Indigenous entrepreneurs and their businesses, while not overlooking the “painful elements of social realities” within Indigenous nations (Tuck, 2009, p. 416). To balance these tensions, Tuck (2009) proposes a desire-based framework as an antidote to damage-centred research, explaining that “an antidote stops and counteracts the effects of a poison, and the poison I am referring to here is not the supposed damage of Native communities, urban communities, or other disenfranchised communities but the frameworks that position these communities as damaged” (p. 416). This is an epistemological shift that does not mean “a call to paint everything as peachy, as fine, as over” (2009, p. 419), but to interrogate the frameworks and assumptions that guide the implementation and analysis of our research. A recent example of this approach is the work of Angulo-Ruiz, Gladu, Legendre and Skudra (2024) who identify the importance of Indigenous innovation as a pathway to overcome financial constraints to create Indigenous business wealth. With this wealth, Indigenous entrepreneurs can affect the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of their communities.
Traditional territory, and one’s relationship to that space is crucial for many Indigenous Peoples, as their relationship with territory can be understood as being “both spiritual and material, not only one of livelihood, but of community and indeed of the continuity of their cultures and societies” (Wuttunee, 2004, p.14-15). This understanding reflects the duality and interconnectedness between the physical and the spiritual[1] world, with all things being comprised of “a physical being and a spiritual being”, and that, as Elder Albert Marshall says, “no one being is greater than the next, that we are part and parcel of the whole, we are equal, and that each one of us has a responsibility to the balance of the system” (Bartlett et al., 2012, p. 332). A valuable theoretical development that allows for this duality and complexity is Two-Eyed Seeing, grounded within Mik’maq ways of knowing and being. In describing Two-Eyed Seeing, Elder Albert Marshall indicates “that it refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing, and to using both these eyes together, for the benefit of all” (Bartlett et al., 2012, p. 335). A similar theoretical development called ‘He Awa Whiria’ – a braided rivers approach – holds “that a blending of Indigenous and Western bodies of knowledge creates an approach that is potentially more powerful than either knowledge stream is able to produce unilaterally” (Macfarlane & Macfarlane, 2019, p. 52; Macfarlane et al., 2015). More than simply a metaphor, these two developments emphasise knowledge co-creation across different worldviews. This is vital today, as Elder Murdena Marshall emphasises that Indigenous knowledge[2] “was never meant to be static and stay in the past; rather, it must be brought into the present so that everything becomes meaningful in our lives and in our communities” (Bartlett et al., 2012, p. 335-336).
Finally, Jean Paul Gladu indicates that “(w)e’re tired of managing poverty – managing poverty is not a fun job. We want to manage wealth ... and wealth, really, comes back to the land” (Nerberg, 2023). By creating wealth, Indigenous entrepreneurs and their businesses can achieve what Jean Paul Gladu (2016) has referred to as ‘Economic Reconciliation’ and have the potential to impact the social, economic and environmental agenda of their communities.
Scope and Contributions
To advance Indigenous business research, we expect authors to build on already published theoretical developments (e.g., Anderson et al., 2006; Dana, 1995, 1997, 2015; Light & Dana, 2013; Peredo & Chrisman, 2006; Peredo et al., 2004), to possibly blend Indigenous and Western bodies of knowledge (e.g., Salmon, 2024), and provide empirical evidence of Indigenous success that can serve as an example to motivate and inform others. Empirical evidence might be based on qualitative data (e.g., Dana, 1995; Kovach, 2009; Price & Hartt, 2023), quantitative data (e.g., Salmon, 2024; Walter & Andersen, 2013), or mixed methods. We expect authors to provide evidence for new and efficacious competing discourses (e.g., Walter & Andersen, 2013). We also expect that research has been respectfully planned and executed and has the approval from the Research Ethics Board (or similar) of at least one of the authors’ universities.
Here are some examples of potential contributions, but you are not limited to them:
- Comparative studies of Indigenous business, (e.g. from at least two different parts of the world, places within a country or places across nations / countries).
- Comparative studies of Indigenous and non-Indigenous businesses and their entrepreneurs (e.g., Dana, 1995, 1996; Light & Dana, 2013; Redpath & Nielsen, 1997; Angulo-Ruiz & Muralidharan, 2023).
- Intersectionality of Indigenous entrepreneurs with other entrepreneur’s characteristics and how that affects the success of their enterprises (Pergelova et al., 2022).
o How are Indigenous youth participating in Indigenous business?
o How are urban Indigenous entrepreneurs thriving in contemporary markets?
- Exploration of how Indigenous businesses build organizational capabilities, and the effects of these capabilities.
o What marketing strategies do Indigenous businesses utilise to be successful in the marketplace?
o What are the organisational structure models that Indigenous businesses have developed?
- Understanding the dynamics between Indigenous businesses and Indigenous consumers, including the everyday life of Indigenous persons in contemporary markets (e.g., Lewis et al., 2024; Walter & Anderson, 2013).
- Exploration of Indigenous financing, exploring different approaches to financing Indigenous business startup costs and operations, and the effect of these approaches. (e.g., Angulo-Ruiz et al., 2020, 2024; De Gruyter et al., 2024; Pergelova et al., 2022)
- Exploration of Indigenous innovation, exploring Indigenous systems of innovation and its effects.
o How do Indigenous businesses approach investment in research and development, what effects does this have?
o What are Indigenous businesses doing to develop technologies and benefit from them? (e.g., MacDonald et al., 2021)
- Exploration of Indigenous conceptions of business, and how they are integrated in current businesses, and the effects of these choices.
o Indigenous entrepreneurs have traded for thousands of years; how are they trading now? How are they building and managing supply chains?
o What is the role of Indigenous culture in the development, maintenance and growth of Indigenous enterprises?
- Exploration of how Indigenous business is impacted, or impacts its surrounding environment
o What are the effects of Indigenous businesses on the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of their communities? (e.g., Parhankangas & Colbourne, 2022).
o What are the dynamics between legal orders/aspects and Indigenous business? (e.g., Huckell, et al., 2024).
o How are business schools contributing to the development of Indigenous businesses? (e.g., Deephouse ,et al., 2024).
o How can we imagine new possibilities for business education to be more inclusive and encourage greater Indigenous entrepreneurship? (e.g., Doucette et al., 2021; Hrenyk & Salmon, 2024; Price et al., 2022)
Submission Process
To be considered for this special issue, submissions must fit with the aims, scope, rigor and contribution of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences - Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l’Administration.
Authors should submit their manuscripts through the Wiley Submission System at
https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/CJAS.
Please make sure to select the special issue ‘How are Indigenous businesses shaping sustainable futures?’ within the submission portal so that it is received by the SI editors and does not go into the general stream of submissions.
Proposed timeline
● Opening date for submissions on the Wiley Submission System: Thursday, January 2, 2025
Submitted papers will be published on a rolling basis (i.e., as soon as papers are accepted)
● Submission Deadline: December 1, 2025
● Review Process: January 2025 – December 2025
● Final Decisions and Revisions: February 2025 – March 2026
● Publication: Early View as soon as the paper is accepted
Please email queries to Fernando Angulo-Ruiz (Fernando.AnguloRuiz@macewan.ca), Léo-Paul Dana (lp762359@dal.ca), and Emily Salmon (emily_salmon@sfu.ca), with a copy to Robert Anderson (Robert.Anderson@uregina.ca) and Ella Henry (ella.henry@aut.ac.nz).
References
Anderson, R. B., Kayseas, B., Dana, L-P., and Hindle, K. (2004). Indigenous Land Claims and Economic Development: The Canadian Experience, American Indian Quarterly, 28 (3-4), 634-648.
Anderson, R. B., Dana, L-P., and Dana, T. E. (2006). “Indigenous Land Rights, Entrepreneurship & Economic Development in Canada: ‘Opting-in’ to the Global Economy,” Journal of World Business 41 (1), pp. 45-55.
Angulo-Ruiz, F. (2020). New Frontiers in the Internationalization of Businesses: Empirical Evidence from Indigenous Businesses in Canada. 1st Edition. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Angulo-Ruiz, F., Albena Pergelova, and Léo-Paul Dana (2020). The Internationalization of Social Hybrid Firms. Journal of Business Research 113, May, pp. 266-278.
Angulo-Ruiz, F., and Etayankara Muralidharan (2023). The influence of entrepreneurs’ culture and ethnicity on firms’ degree of hybridity. Global Business Review, Online First.
Angulo-Ruiz, F., Gladu, J. P., Legendre, N., and Skudra, M. Financial constraints, innovation and wealth creation: Entrepreneurial resourcefulness in Indigenous businesses. working paper.
Bartlett, C., Marshall, M., & Marshall, A. (2012). Two-Eyed Seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together indigenous and mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2(4), 331-340.
Bastien, F., Coraiola, D. M., & Foster, W. M. (2023). Indigenous Peoples and Organization Studies. Organization Studies, 44 (4), 659-675.
Colbourne, R., Moroz, P., Hall, C., Lendsay, K., & Anderson, R. B. (2020). Indigenous works and two eyed seeing: Mapping the case for indigenous-led research. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 15 (1), 68-86.
Colbourne, R., Peredo, A. M., & Henriques, I. (2023). Indigenous entrepreneurship? Setting the record straight. Business History, 66 (2), 455-477.
Dana, L-P. (1995). Entrepreneurship in a remote Sub-Arctic community. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Fall, 57-72.
Dana, L-P. (1996). Self-employment in the Canadian Sub-Arctic: An exploratory study. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration, 13(1), 65-77.
Dana, L-P. (1997). The origins of self-employment in ethno-cultural communities: Distinguishing between orthodox entrepreneurship and reactionary enterprise. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l’Administration, 14(1), 52-68.
Dana, L-P. (2015), “Indigenous Entrepreneurship: An Emerging Field of Research,” International Journal of Business and Globalisation 14 (2), Special Issue on Advances in Business Research, Ronald S. J. Tuninga, editor, pp. 158-169.
De Gruyter, E., Gordon, J., Qureshi, I., Bhatt, B., & Mafico, N. (2024). Financing Indigenous entrepreneurs: A review and research agenda. Australian Journal of Management, Online First.
Deephouse, D. L. (organiser), Bastien, F. (speaker), Carter, T. (speaker), McComber, A. M. (speaker), & Price, S (speaker). (2024). Indigenizing Business Schools Colloquium. Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Conference, May 31.
Doucette, M. B., Gladstone, J. S., Carter, T. (2021). Indigenous conversational approach to history and business education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 20 (3), 473-484.
Gladu, J. P. (2016). Economic equality must be part of indigenous reconciliation. The Globe and Mail, August 1.
Hatcher, A., Bartlett, C., Marshall, A., & Marshall, M. (2009). Two-Eyed Seeing in the Classroom Environment: Concepts, Approaches, and Challenges. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 9(3), 141–153.
Henry, E. Y., Dana, L-P., and Murphy, P. J. (2018). Telling Their Own Stories: Maori Entrepreneurship in the Mainstream Screen Industry. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30 (1-2), 118-145.
Henry, E., Newth, J., & Spiller, C. (2017). Emancipatory Indigenous social innovation: Shifting power through culture and technology. Journal of Management & Organization, 23, 786-802.
Hindle, K., & Moroz, P. (2010). Indigenous entrepreneurship as a research field: Developing a definitional framework from the emerging canon. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 6, 357-385.
Hrenyk, J. & Salmon, E. (2024). The unstated ontology of the business case study: Listening for Indigenous voices in business school curricula. Academy of Management Learning & Education.
Huckell, T., Angulo-Ruiz, F., Delisle, A., Skudra, M., and Gladu, J-P. (2024). Understanding choices of legal forms: Empirical evidence from private Indigenous businesses in Canada. Alberta Law Review, 61 (3), 567-589.
International Labour Organization. (2019). Implementing the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. International Labour Organization.
Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts. University of Toronto Press.
Lewis, A. C., Bruton, G. D., & Shepherd, D. A. (2024). A Promise Not (Yet) Fulfilled: Entrepreneurship, Opportunity Underexploitation, and the Reproduction of Inequality via Consumer Markets. Academy of Management Review, published online.
Light, I., & Dana, L.-P. (2013). Boundaries of Social Capital in Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, May, 603-624.
Macdonald, J. M., Robinson, C.J., Perry, J., Lee, M., Barrowei, R., Coleman, B., Markham, J., Barrowei, A., Markham, B., Ford, H., Douglas, J., Hunter, J., Gayoso, E., Ahwon, T., Cooper, D., May, K., Setterfield, S. & Douglas, M. (2021). Indigenous-led responsible innovation: lessons from co-developed protocols to guide the use of drones to monitor a biocultural landscape in Kakadu National Park, Australia. Journal of Responsible Innovation, 8 (2), 300-319.
Macfarlane, A., & Macfarlane, S. (2019). Listen to culture: Māori scholars’ plea to researchers. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 49 (sup1), 48-57.
Macfarlane, S., Macfarlane, A., & Gillon, G. (2015). Sharing the food baskets of knowledge: creating space for a blending of streams. In: A. Macfarlane, S. Macfarlane, M. Webber, editor. Sociocultural realities: exploring new horizons. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press; 52-67.
Missens, R., Dana, L-P., & Anderson, R. B. (2007). Aboriginal Partnerships in Canada: Focus on the Diavik Diamond Mine, Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy 1 (1), 54-76.
Murphy, M., Danis, W., Mack, J., & Sayers, J. (2020). From principles to action: Community-based entrepreneurship in the Toquaht Nation. Journal of Business Venturing, 35, 106051.
Nerberg, S. (2023). This is what economic reconciliation looks like: Indigenous people have been left out of Canada’s economy for too long. But our future growth—And even our ability to reach net zero goals by 2050—Depends on changing that. The Globe and Mail, October 27.
Parhankangas, A., & Colbourne, R. (2022). Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation: A Typology of Indigenous Crowdfunding Campaigns. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47 (5), 1617-1659.
Peredo, A. M., Anderson, R. B., Galbraith, C., Honig, B., and Dana, L-P. (2004), “Toward a Theory of Indigenous Entrepreneurship,” International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 1 (1-2), 1-20.
Peredo A. M., & Chrisman J. J. (2006). Toward a theory of community-based enterprise. Academy of Management Review, 31(2), 309-328.
Pergelova, A., Angulo-Ruiz, F., and Dana, L-P. (2022). The Entrepreneurial Quest for Emancipation: Trade-Offs, Practices, and Outcomes in an Indigenous Context. Journal of Business Ethics 180, October, 481-503.
Price, S.T., & Hartt, C.M. (2023). A story-net approach to qualitative research: having tea with stories! Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 18 (3), 222-244.
Price, S. T., Hartt, C. M., Mills, A. J., & MacFarlane, N. F. (2022). Indigenous and gendered persons and peoples in business ethics education: Intersections of Indigenous wisdoms and de Beauvoirian existentialism. Gender, Work & Organization, 29 (1), 131-150.
Redpath L., & Nielsen M.O. (1997). A comparison of native culture, non-native culture and new management ideology. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l’Administration, 14(3), 327-339.
Salmon, E., Chavez R., J. F., & Murphy, M. (2023). New Perspectives and Critical Insights from Indigenous Peoples’ Research: A Systematic Review of Indigenous Management and Organization Literature. Academy of Management Annals, 17(2), 439-491.
Salmon, E. (2024). Stakeholders’ performance through their relationships with Indigenous communities. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Victoria.
Tengeh, Robertson K., Hammed O. Ojugbele, and Oyebanjo G. Ogunlela, (2022). Towards a theory of indigenous entrepreneurship: a classic? International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 45 (1), 1-15.
Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409-428.
United Nations. (2015). Indigenous people, indigenous voices: Who are indigenous people? United Nations. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/5session_factsheet1.pdf
Walter, M., & Andersen, C. (2013). Indigenous statistics: A quantitative research methodology. Walnut Creek, CA: Routledge.
Wuttunee, W. (2004). Living Rhythms: Lessons in Aboriginal Economic Resilience and Vision. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Wuttunee, W., & Wien, F. (2024). Engraved on Our Nations: Indigenous Economic Tenacity. University of Manitoba Press, March, 304 pages.
Let us know if you have questions or comments.
Fernando Angulo-Ruiz
Leo-Paul Dana
Emily Salmon
Bob Anderson
Ella Henry