Focus on Entrepreneurship and Introducing a New Section

• Author: Massimiliano Pellegrini,Yochanan Altman
• Published date: 01 June 2018
• Date: 01 June 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12328

Focus on Entrepreneurship and Introducing a

New Section

YOCHANAN ALTMAN and MASSIMILIANO PELLEGRINI

Among the contemporary key areas in management and

business, EMR counts entrepreneurship. As a distinct

field of enquiry, it is not much more than a generation

old, yet by now is nearing maturity (Kuratko, 2005).

Looking ahead, the future of the discipline may evolve

in two research directions that are not mutually exclusive.

On the one hand, with its general concepts, paradigms,

and ontological boundaries having reached a wide

consensus, it may move into a phase of strong

specialization (Cornelius et al., 2006). On the other hand,

the disciplinemay aim to avoid ‘hiding in a high castle’of

specialists, by embarking on an expansion phase with

fruitful integrations coming from other related fields

(Shepherd, 2015).

In this issue we present three papers that move in both

directions. In terms of specialization, the paper by

Kakabadse et al.‘A Gender Perspec tive on

Entrepreneurial Leadership: Female Leaders in

Kazakhstan’studies women entrepreneurs’leadership

roles in relation to constraints, demands, and choices

made. The paper tackles both the gender imbalance

present in entrepreneurship and an understudied context

such as that of Kazakhstani women entrepreneurs’

experiences. Results show that the conceptualization of

women’s leadership is structured ar ound a co-developing

approach, co-constructed through the relational activity

between leaders and others in their wider business

environments and context.

On the same line of research, Soetanto et al.’s paper

‘Obstacles, Networking Approaches and Entrepreneurial

Network Changes’, considers factors which may

determine changesin an entrepreneurial network structure

(types and sources of obstacles) and how these changes

could be approached ( network expansion or strengthe ning

approach). The authors find that having difficulties in

acquiring knowledge and skills and experiencing

obstacles from internal sources result in structuring low-

density networks, the support offered is largely by weak

ties. Conversely, a lack in accessing markets or resources,

and obstacles coming from an external source, lead to an

extreme reliance on a highly dense network, with an

overreliance on strong ties.

Talking instead about expansion, McCaffrey’s paper

‘Extending the Economic Foundations of

Entrepreneurship Research’is a clear manifesto of the

necessity of a dialogue of Entrepreneurship with

Economics as an open debate between offspring

(entrepreneurship) and its parent (economics). A realist

economic perspective seems to be the perfect concept to

interpret recent research developments. The fundamental

points are: methodological individualism, uncertainty,

judgement, opportunities, social motivations, and

incentives, which not only offer interpretations for past

studies but also set interesting research questions for

future developments.

While entrepreneurship is a well established field of

enquiry and catered for by numerous dedicated outlets

(Sassmannshausen, 2012), that is not the case for

research methodologies in business and management.

The number of specialized outlets (journals, dedicated

forums) on methods is surprisingly low. Surprisingly,

since without providing the space and opportunity to

debate, critique and develop research methods, we are

restricting our arsenal to understand and decipher the

world around us. That is the purpose of the dedicated

section Methodology Matters edited by Bill Lee t hat

sees its inauguration in this issue with Bill’s

introductory piece and the first article in the series

(Reissner, 2018).Issues3and4of2018willalso

feature articles of this new section.

In addition to theabove four papers, we have four more

in this issue, presenting the range of topics that our

community of scholars engage with. Friesl, Larty and

Jacobs explorethe socio-materiality of the use of artefacts

in replication strategies; Georgopoulos and Glaister

examine the turbulent economic landscape of Greek

companies: local,multinational (Greek or foreign owned)

advancing our understanding on firm performance under

deep recessionary pressures. Rutter et al. demonstrate

the importance of corporate branding in the UK energy

sector; and Aşkun, Yeloğlu and Yildirim, report their

findings on the moderating role of self-efficacy in the

relationship between justice perceptions and turnover

intentions among Turkish employees.

European Management Review, Vol. 15, 153–154, (2018)

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12328

©2018 European Academy of Management