CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS

ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP: FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND IMPACTFUL PERSPECTIVES,   Edward Elgar (publication date: December 2025)

Editors:

Katerina Nicolopoulou (Professor, University of Strathclyde)- email: Katerina.nicolopoulou@strath.ac.uk

Mathew (Mat) Hughes (Professor, University of Leicester)- email: mat.hughes@leicester.ac.uk

Yolanda Achlada (PhD researcher, University of Strathclyde )- email: Georgia.achlada@strath.ac.uk

Ahmed Fahmy (DBA researcher and Global Practitioner, University of Strathclyde)- email: ahmed.fahmy@strath.ac.uk

Call for chapters

Entrepreneurial leadership is still, largely, emerging as a body of academic literature. It has roots in corporate entrepreneurship, particularly as corporate entrepreneurship is seen as a set of behaviors intended to create value through innovative approaches towards developing new lines of business, whilst achieving firm renewal and generating new capabilities (Burns, 2011; Kuratko et al, 2011). Also, it has roots in Strategic Entrepreneurship, which refers to large-scale or consequential innovations implemented in the organisations' pursuit of competitive advantage, in the areas of corporate strategy, product offerings, markets, internal organisation or business models (Ireland and Webb, 2007).  However, entrepreneurial leadership can occur in organisations, ventures and enterprises of all types (e.g.: large or small in size, public or private ownership, family or non-family businesses), yet surprisingly, we know little about how context matters for entrepreneurial leadership.

Although literature on entrepreneurial leadership places emphasis on the strategic management of resources, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurial mindset, culture and entrepreneurial leadership, a gap still stands out: definitions of Entrepreneurial Leadership remain, unfortunately, vague and do not set out what is specific or different about entrepreneurial leadership- is it a leadership style or leadership method- or merely 'leaders being entrepreneurial'?  We find these ambiguities unhelpful, and we propose to expand the definition of entrepreneurial leadership, by focusing on the impact that entrepreneurial leadership can have on the organization, community and ecosystem around it. In doing so, we seek contributions that help address whether entrepreneurial leadership is (1) a term, (2) a construct, (3) a model,  (4) an area of study, or (5) a combination, and identify what is unique and specific about entrepreneurial leadership that gives it substance (overcoming its often uninspiring or insipid use).

The book aims to showcase the importance of entrepreneurial leadership for achieving innovation and growth; one of the main arguments of the book is that Impactful entrepreneurial leadership is sustainable entrepreneurial leadership. The book will examine this proposition by an analysis of core themes as they derive from primary research, review and consideration of relevant frameworks in different contexts. The main need for the book is to stress the importance of entrepreneurial leadership for driving organisational innovation and attaining results geared towards responding to novelty, new opportunities and external triggers within a dynamic changing business environment. Last but not least, we are interested in entrepreneurial leadership which is future oriented and globalized and takes on the global and local challenges of today and tomorrow by driving business development within changing circumstances in an innovative way. The sustainable entrepreneurial leadership we are researching may derive from self-induced or externally enforced disruption translating into business development in the form of start-up creation supported by a larger-scale organization, for example.  Additionally, as large-scale enterprises  exhibit an increasingly strong interest in diversity and inclusion, the concept of the 'greater good', aligns with their inclination towards impactful ventures (for the economy, society, and the environment). Entrepreneurial leadership is critical to our future design and innovation capacity, and organisational innovation should be driven with a no-harm priority agenda (Fahmy and Nicolopoulou, 2022), by placing our attention in ways to conceptualise sustainability as an important criterion in leading entrepreneurially.

With this edited volume, we are proposing  an integrated global perspective, that can include case analysis, profiling, theory and evidence that can make a difference in terms of relevance in entrepreneurial leadership.

Formatting details will be provided to authors by E.Elgar; authors are also encouraged to submit together with their chapters, up to 2 tools with relevance to Entrepreneurial Leadership, as we are seeking to create a collective toolkit that will feature as one chapter in the book, as well as  online. It will be further disseminated via EIX (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Exchange) – a community for Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship Educators.

Areas that the chapters can focus on include (but are not limited to):

-            Entrepreneurial Leadership: current state-of-the-art

-            Inside the organisations that manifest Entrepreneurial Leadership

-            Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation

-            The dark side of Entrepreneurial Leadership

-            Entrepreneurial Leadership: construct clarity

-            Models of Entrepreneurial Leadership

-            Entrepreneurial Leadership: a style or a method?

-            Entrepreneurial Leadership in Global Environments

-            Entrepreneurial Leadership in Family Businesses

-            Entrepreneurial Leadership in High Technology contexts

-            Entrepreneurial Leadership: agents and organizational contexts

Important deadlines for contributing authors:

·        First expression of interest (up to 2 pages abstract) from interested authors: 30 May 2024

·        First meet up (online) with book editors: 28 June 2024

·        Submission of full chapters from authors: 29 November 2024

·        Second meet up with authors of selected chapters, after receiving feedback from editors: 31 January 2025

·        Final submission of completed chapters: 30 April 2025