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Deploying systems-theoretical conceptuality, this paper improves understanding of the organisational consequences of the intensified societal engagement of a research university. Aligning its work with Luhmannian organisational analysis, it addresses the dynamic interplay between two modes of administrative decision-making communication, namely, the traditional professional administration and the New-Public-Management-oriented (NPM) managerial techniques. Our research observes how the politico-economic conditions of the society translate into the university's decisions concerning an initiative to engage in start-up entrepreneurship. The article contributes to higher education literature by showing that the university's professional administration is a discrete organisational function internally differentiated into specialised administrative branches, each of which operates according to a sense-making regime associated with its primary societal system reference, such as education, science and the economy. The article also demonstrates the structurally conditioned differences in branch-specific temporalisations of the entrepreneurial initiative during decision-making. Inspired by the Luhmannian view on temporality, we demonstrate how administrative decisions synchronise the varied structural time horizons within the university's professional administration. Focus on temporality in decision-making thus allows us to see how the NPM-inspired managerial techniques are operationalised in administrative communication at universities. Consequently, the paper argues that university administration is a complex dynamic entity, which varyingly aligns itself to national policy scripts, and only selectively enacts features of a global trend known as NPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-pandemic era has transformed work-life boundaries, driven by factors such as working hours, an increased number of working women and single parents, the implementation of various ICTs, and the rise of flexible work arrangements. This study examines the role of female workers and entrepreneurs in establishing and managing coworking spaces (CSs) designed to improve work-life balance through flexible scheduling and location options. The challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in promoting an inclusive society and economic system are also explored, as well as the benefits experienced by independent workers and teleworkers in terms of networking, social interaction, knowledge exchange, and community building. The "She Economy" is analyzed in three stages: germination, growth, and maturity, considering challenges from both family and workplaces. This paper investigates the background of female identity and the ideological transformation of female identity in the consumption process after the pandemic, using mass media, especially female-focused media, as a lens. Finally, the paper proposes recommendations for the future development of the "She Economy" from the perspectives of communicators, women, and the social environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1950s saw the emergence of the science-driven model of engineering education. In the following decades, the model has been continuously challenged to incorporate aspects such as liberal arts, information & communication technology, design, entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, industry 4.0, and more recently, online-learning. This has triggered several initiatives at institutional and national levels, and manifested in approaches and practices for transforming engineering education. One approach that appears to be gaining attention is design-centric engineering, with its emphasis on learning-by-doing, product design and entrepreneurial orientation. While literature points to several variants of design-centric engineering and challenges in implementation, it also calls for more empirical studies and deeper theoretical inquiry into the contradictions and paradoxes that this approach might present to the students at the micro-level, and guidance on how they might make sense and find pathways of action jointly with internal and external stakeholders. This paper throws light on the contradictions and paradoxes experienced by undergraduate engineering students while implementing a design-centric engineering program at a young public-funded institute in India, involving approximately 1500+ students over a period of six years. The paper also discusses the theoretical and pragmatic aspects of the approach adopted to encourage students to make sense of the contradictions and paradoxes, namely: (a) leveraging the affordance offered by one of the courses in the program—"Sociology of Design—to synthesize engineering, design and sociological perspectives; (b) turning the contradictions and paradoxes into sources of learning and change, informed by the theory of complex responsive processes; and (c) application of multiple methods such as rich pictures, reflective writing, self-organized interactions and data analysis to enable sense-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global university rankings influence students' choices and higher education policies throughout the world. When rankers not only evaluate universities but also provide them with consulting, analytics, or advertising services, rankers are vulnerable to conflicts of interest that may potentially distort their rankings. The paper assesses the impact of contracting with rankers on university ranking outcomes using a difference-in-difference research design. The study matches data on the positions of 28 Russian universities in QS World University Rankings between 2016 and 2021 with information on contracts these universities had for services from QS—the company that produces these rankings. The study compares the fluctuations in QS rankings with data obtained from the Times Higher Education rankings and data recorded by national statistics. The results suggest that the universities with frequent QS-related contracts had an increase of 0.75 standard deviations (~ 140 positions) in QS World University Rankings and an increase of 0.9 standard deviations in reported QS faculty-student ratio scores over 5 years, regardless of changes in the institutional characteristics. The observed distortions could be explained by university rankers' self-serving bias that benefits both rankers and prestige-seeking universities and reinforces the persistence of rankings in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, different values, tools and practices promoted by maker culture have been adopted in formal educational settings with the aim of reinvigorating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have also engaged with maker culture to explore its potentialities regarding education, entrepreneurship and innovation. However, these collaborations with various stakeholders are not always smooth and educators need to deal with significant challenges that arise in these engagements, despite the problem-solving learning opportunities that they can offer their students. This paper presents the results of a case study that dealt with these issues through the establishment of an open and collaborative learning ecosystem (OCLE) between different educators, students and external stakeholders. The empirical work was based on thirty-three semi-structured interviews across four countries, eight focus groups and a final participatory workshop. The study argues that maker culture can offer several potentialities for pushing forward an integrative vision of STEM education as well as other disciplines from social sciences and humanities. An emphasis is placed on how tertiary education can benefit greatly from the adoption of OCLEs and how these communities of practices can encourage an education oriented to meeting societal challenges. The paper also warns that these kinds of interventions face significant organisational challenges in HEIs that demand significant institutional recognition and support to overcome this organisational resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In group decisions, two issues need to be tackled: weighting opinions of different decision-makers and aggregating their evaluations. Many group aggregation techniques analyse these issues. These approaches can be correctly applied only if the weights assigned to all decision-makers are available. Unfortunately, there are situations where such weights are unavailable or incomplete, the negotiation required to better define them is not possible or decision-makers are unwilling to revise their judgments. These situations could pose a critical problem for the correct application of aggregation procedures. This problem is exaggerated if there are more than one group of decision-makers. In this paper, we present a new algorithm based on the Frobenius norm that considers the choice of the weights in aggregating judgments in a non-negotiable multi-group problem. This approach facilitates the computation of several sets of weights simultaneously, showing the roles played by each decision-maker and by each group in defining the global priority. To illustrate the method, we apply it in designing a new curriculum in entrepreneurship based on an entrepreneurial learning approach informed by perceptions of three stakeholders: entrepreneurship educators, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship students. Data is collected by pairwise comparison within the analytic hierarchy process and is aggregated using our proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethiopia is urbanizing rapidly and migration is the major factor in the urbanization process. Migration is selective and rural youth are more likely to migrate to cities than others. However, the capacity of cities to accommodate migrants by providing formal employment is limited. Consequently, migrants remain without access to employment opportunities. The majority are pushed into self-employment in the informal sector. Despite such challenges, harnessing the benefits of the youth bulge and promoting inclusive development through entrepreneurship programs has become a priority area since 1990s. Although progresses have been made, entrepreneurship programs are unable to reach the unemployed youth and those engaged in informal sector. The objective of this paper is to explore barriers that hinder the youth to join entrepreneurship programs. The study followed qualitative approach. Data were collected through key informant interviews and focus group discussions from four cities-Addis Ababa, Adama, Bahir Dar and Hawassa. The findings show that politicization of entrepreneurship; lack of understanding the needs of the youth, weak institutional systems, low levels of service capacity and inefficiency and lack of entrepreneurship education and youth negligence hinder the success of entrepreneurship programs thereby attaining inclusive development. Entrepreneurship programs thus need to follow flexible and participatory approach. Programs need to be selective in the type of entrepreneurial initiatives and supports that can address the needs and priorities of the youth. Providing youth with entrepreneurial education has a positive effect on their decision to be engaged in entrepreneurial activities. The government needs to minimize its political intervention in entrepreneurship programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how lower secondary pupils experience their participation in the Danish science and green entrepreneurship competition, called Edison. The study uses a qualitative research method to investigate pupils' descriptions, in retrospect, on the process of their entrepreneurial work. We completed semi-structured interviews with two teachers and six groups of pupils from two schools. Independence and being able to determine their own product were motivating factors. Often the pupils included other actors, particularly family members, on their own initiative as part of their work. The pupils' interest in STEM education did not appear to have been affected except for two pupils who broadened their educational perspective. However, the awareness of sustainability issues has for some of them been supported, one of them with a change of lifestyle. By including engineering design process models in the analyses, the concept of entrepreneurship in science and technology became more process oriented and operational, which may also help both the teachers' facilitation and the pupils' inventing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the popularity and awareness of keywords in Google Trends data related to entrepreneurship of women in a global and cross-regional setting by using market basket analysis. Google Trends is one of the digital data platforms that provides a time series index of the volume of queries users enter into Google in a given geographic area. It is the most popular tool for gathering any information, and it has been used in several topics. Market basket analysis indicates items that appear/used together and the frequency of these appearances. Such technique is appropriate in finding hidden associations between items, which is also crucial in assessing individuals' thoughts on a specific topic. This study contributes to the literature in terms of being the first study to use market basket analysis on Google trends data in the context of women's entrepreneurship finding hidden associations between items, which is crucial in assessing individuals' thoughts on a specific topic. The results of the analysis are interpreted through the lens of gender-responsive strategies, equality, efficiency and social justice in different country and region contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on STEM education outcome in the tertiary context has pursued the construct of non-cognitive attributes distinctly from that of entrepreneurship skills and pedagogical competencies, notwithstanding the inferred indications that the three can be adapted in an integrated model to enhance positive outcomes. This study established that there is a range of approaches seeking to optimize positive learning outcomes in tertiary level institutions. This paper argues that there is need to incorporate entrepreneurship and pedagogical skills training in the curriculum for STEM educators at the tertiary level institutions. The study has therefore proposed an integrated theoretical model which can be used to generate data sets to address identified gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our five-year ethnographic study of Palestinian tech entrepreneurship provides a unique case that examines the interplay between technology, politics and power dynamics. In this paper, we trace the formation of the Palestinian tech entrepreneurial public and analyse how it has transformed from being a counterpublic to serving as a beacon for the development of the Palestinian economy while under Israeli occupation. Despite its apparent success, the foundation of the Palestinian entrepreneurial public is fragile, as it is stuck in a repeat and rewind cycle involving the eternal application of the lean startup approach and the associated business models, which encourage the mimicking of Western design solutions. We develop the concept of a public of erosion to characterise how the Palestinian entrepreneurial public has been produced and shaped by the attrition stemming from the interlinked infrastructures created by donor agencies, powerful billionaires, the government and the Israeli occupation. A public of erosion is characterised by heavy dependencies on factors outside its immediate control, and is shaped by processes that constantly dismantle resources, leading to the wearing down of its foundation. The concept of a public of erosion is intended to provide researchers with a new language and a lens to apply when investigating digital technologies in the Global South. Finally, we demonstrate how the current structural conditions result in producing bounty hunters and real estate projects, rather than a strong digital ecosystem necessary for the development of sustainable digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth in businesses affects economic development. Over the last decade, the people looking for business opportunities, either establishing an enterprise or contracting franchise business, are also found impressed by corporate social responsibility (CSR) and voluntarism. This paper is aimed to critically analyze the literature on international entrepreneurship and franchising. Based on the analysis, this paper develops propositions related to differences and similarities between the two concepts. It uses the exploratory method to compare the entrepreneurship and franchising, across the national borders. Taking the international view, an association in the approaches can be benefited from this paper which highlights the key areas that can be useful for investment decisions of prospective investors. Theoretically, this paper contributes to strengthening the need to consider the tradeoff between inputs and outputs of both ways of investments and conceptualize innovative entrepreneurship with a CSR perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of Bandura's (Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive perspective, Princeton-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1986) social cognitive theory (SCT), we investigated the roles of four different entrepreneurial factors: entrepreneurial qualities (EQ), entrepreneurial knowledge (EK), perceived entrepreneurialism (PE) and entrepreneurial inspiration (EIN), in entrepreneurial intention (EI) formation. Alongside, this paper explored the unique role played by entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a mediator among the list of determinants and EI. The study approached with a sample of 1062 final year engineering student from 15 premier technical institutes in India. The findings show that the effects of EQ, PE, and EIN on EI are partially mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy whereas a full mediation between EK and EI, which is consistent with the SCT framework. The implications suggest for improving the EK delivery system, which in turn will make students feel self-efficacious toward being entrepreneurial. The article argued on various pedagogical as well as the policy-related context of business venturing at Indian technical institutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We know relatively little about the conditions that encourage people to jump into the political fray as policy entrepreneurs, advocates who devote substantial time, energy, and resources to campaigning for a policy goal. This paper aims to fill that gap by investigating the catalysts of policy entrepreneurship in municipalities across the State of New York, where between 2008 and 2012, hundreds of local jurisdictions passed measures opposing or supporting high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking). These local policy actions were often enthusiastically encouraged and, in some cases, vociferously opposed, by enterprising advocates. I propose a threat-centered theory of policy entrepreneurship, emphasizing the role of loss aversion in pushing actors toward advocacy. The empirical analysis shows that oppositional advocacy within a polity draws would-be policy entrepreneurs into battle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present paper is to explore the relationship between perceived gender stereotyping and women's entrepreneurial aspirations. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 was based on a sample of 64 U.S. undergraduate students and focused on the direct and indirect roles of perceived gender stereotyping on entrepreneurial aspirations. Study 2 was based on a sample of 100 mostly working U.S. graduate students and focused on venture preferences and their moderators. Findings establish that experiencing gender stereotypes is not only negatively associated with women's entrepreneurial aspirations, but also interferes with the positive influence of self-efficacy and prior entrepreneurial exposure on women's entrepreneurial aspirations. Results also show that perceived gender stereotyping affects the type of ventures women prefer to start, compelling women away from more agentic type growth-oriented ventures and toward more communal type ventures. The effects of moderators were explored showing that the presence of men as role models and in the workplace are both associated with lower likelihood that the potential woman entrepreneur will pursue growth ventures. Overall, the research supports the notion that stereotype threat constitutes a useful lens to view women's participation in entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the ways in which multiple constructions of childhood are produced, consumed and exchanged as child characters negotiate the adult world in Homecoming (1981), the first of Cynthia Voigt's Tillerman novels. Drawing on Peter Hollindale's ideas about interactions and exchanges between children and adults, the paper explores the ways in which the agency of Voigt's child characters is limited and conditioned by adult ideas about them. Yet at the same time, the children are often depicted as being able to turn these ideas to their advantage. In Homecoming's symbolic and material economies, questions about trust, risk and value come to the fore, painting a picture of precarious youth that both reflects and expands existing debates on childhood outside the text. The paper is framed in terms of entrepreneurialism, the criminality ascribed to unaccompanied children, questions of autonomy and capacity and, finally, constructions of gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using mathematical statistical mechanics methods, this paper shows that decisions to heavily promote entrepreneurship beyond a certain threshold in a society would lead to an increase in the society’s Gini coefficient, and thus to more economic inequalities. More specifically, we show that, in a heterogeneous society made up of both entrepreneurs (Es) and ordinary agents (OAs), economic inequalities reach a minimum at an optimal ratio of ‘Es to OAs’. When dealing with a purely homogeneous society made up of entrepreneurs only or ordinary agents only, economic inequalities would decrease as trading activities intensify among the society’s agents. In particular, ideologies that consist in flattening the wealth/income of citizens (as it was recommended, for example, by communist regimes in the last century) to reduce economic inequalities through strict government interventions, may not lead to positive outcomes. We also show that introducing a little heterogeneity into a purely homogeneous society will help reduce economic inequalities in this society. Thus, a society that is composed of ordinary agents only will see its economic inequalities decrease if a number of entrepreneurs join this society. Vice-versa, a society of entrepreneurs only will have its inequalities reduced if some ordinary agents join this society and engage the pre-existing entrepreneurs in trading activities; one could think of southern San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, as a concrete example of such a situation. To encourage ordinary agents become entrepreneurs, governments could design and implement tax-incentive policies for their respective societies. While such tax-incentive policies would help increase the number of entrepreneurs in the targeted society, they would also have unintended consequences: the society’s middle class gets depleted at equilibrium, and the inequalities that result from implementing the aforementioned policies will be uniformly bigger than the ones that result from an equal tax redistribution policy. The paper concludes with a discussion section that raises a number of questions about socio-economic phenomena and explains how these phenomena can be accounted for using physics laws and principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the issue of 're-making' corporate law through the prism of the United Nations' recent efforts at reducing legal obstacles experienced by micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in starting and scaling a business. In order to be fully successful, this paper suggests that the UN should go back to business fundamentals and should attempt to build from the ground up based on the real world needs of entrepreneurs, rather than work off already existing corporate legal systems. In this way, it is possible to engage in a more imaginative form of regulatory design in which a clear, open and preferential legal framework for stimulating innovation and business creation can be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the implications of the fair value protections contemplated by the standard corporate contract (i.e., the standard contract form for which corporate law provides) for the entrepreneur–venture capitalist relationship, focusing, in particular, on unavoidable value-destroying trade sales. First, it demonstrates that the typical entrepreneur–venture capitalist contract does institutionalize the venture capitalist's liquidity needs, allowing, under some circumstances, for counterintuitive instances of contractually-compliant value destruction. Unavoidable value-destroying trade sales are the most tangible example. Next, it argues that fair value protections can prevent the entrepreneur and venture capitalist from allocating the value that these transactions generate as they would want. Then, it shows that the reality of venture capital-backed firms calls for a process of adaptation of the standard corporate contract that has one major step in the deactivation or re-shaping of fair value protections. Finally, it argues that a standard corporate contract aiming to promote social welfare through venture capital should feature flexible fair value protections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With Chinese economic development in a new normal state, micro and small corporations have increasingly played an important role. The credit evaluation for micro and small corporations can contribute to efficient financial decisions. Traditional methods for the corporate credit evaluation rarely consider fuzzy features of micro and small entrepreneurs. Since the credit evaluation procedure for entrepreneurs consists of some alternatives and influential indicators, it can be recognized as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. To better express uncertainty information, a four-branch fuzzy set (FBFS) is presented to deal with the issue, which is characterized by a truth-membership function, an unknown-membership function and a falsity-membership function. In the paper, to handle the MCDM problems under four-branch fuzzy environments, the evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) method is extended and utilized. These obvious improvement places include integrating an interval weight vector, determining an average solution, transforming a decision matrix and analyzing a change trend of the coefficients. To demonstrate the applicability and rationality of the proposed method in practice, an illustrative example is implemented, concerning a credit evaluation for some micro and small entrepreneurs. Its feasibility and validity are further verified by a sensitivity analysis and a comparative analysis. The results show the FBFSs and extended EDAS method can well match the reality and appropriately handle the credit evaluation problems for micro and small entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the moderating effect that the level of development of countries exerts on the factors that define the behavior of social entrepreneurs, distinguishing the effect produced in innovation-driven economies from that in factor/efficiency-driven economies. Our study contributes to the advancement of one of the most relevant problems detected in social entrepreneurship research: the lack of empirical quantitative studies, mainly due to the lack of harmonized and comparable international data. We perform an empirical multivariable analysis using 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data related to social entrepreneurship. The results show that both the variables that measure the values and skills to start a business and those related to the environment differentiate social from commercial entrepreneurs. In addition, our findings show how the development of the country plays a decisive moderating role, modifying the effect of the values and skills to be a social entrepreneur, the influence of gender, and even the relevance of entrepreneurs' perception of their environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents empirical evidence on the adoption, implementation and the perceived effectiveness of quality management in teaching and learning in German higher education institutions. Theoretically, the article combines two new institutionalist approaches: institutional isomorphism and institutional entrepreneurship. Empirically, the study refers to qualitative interview data and quantitative survey data. The analysis reveals that isomorphism is a leading driver behind the adoption of quality management in German higher education institutions, whereas institutional entrepreneurship plays an important role in quality management implementation. While isomorphism can be regarded as a conclusive reason behind the absence of a perception of quality management's effectiveness, institutional entrepreneurship may function as a corrective towards the overall negative impact of isomorphic conformity by institutionalizing quality management in a sustainable manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This two-wave longitudinal study among 121 entrepreneurs in The Netherlands investigated bi-directional relationships between entrepreneurs’ well-being and performance. Results of Smart PLS analyses showed positive well-being at Time 1 (work engagement; life satisfaction; and job satisfaction) predicted subjective entrepreneurial success 2 years later, both as indicated by entrepreneurs’ reports of achieved financial success (including personal income security and wealth, business turn-over, sales and profit growth), as well as perceptions of achieved personal success (personal fulfilment, community impact and employee relations). No relations were found with objective indicators of business performance (profit; turnover; and number of employees) over time. The expected recursive relationship between performance and well-being was only found in the short term; a better objective financial situation immediately preceding the second measurement moment, predicted better well-being at T2. These results are both in line with a well-being-performance (gain) cycle, and the happiness set-point thesis that predicts resilience in the face of events. This paper contributes to the literature by emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurs’ well-being as a key factor in long-term subjective financial and personal entrepreneurial success. The practical implication is that entrepreneurs should maintain and improve their own well-being to achieve positive long term business outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the long debate over the superiority of the performance of family- vs non-family-controlled companies from the contesting perspectives of entrepreneurial familism and managerial capitalism. Publicly listed family- and non-family-controlled companies in Hong Kong have been selected for a comparison of their overall performance. The focus is on Hang Seng Index constituent companies in general, and on two cases in particular: one non-family-controlled bank (HSBC), and one family-controlled bank (BEA). We found that family-controlled companies were not necessarily less competitive than non-family-controlled companies. Specifically, when HSBC and BEA were compared, the latter showed no clear inferiority in operating profit margin and return on assets, even though the former enjoys unparalleled advantages, such as an overwhelming superiority in size, the privilege of issuing notes, and status as Hong Kong's quasi-central bank. Therefore, we argue that entrepreneurial familism seems to be a resilient source of business dynamism, particularly when family-controlled companies have been repeatedly tested by adverse socioeconomic crises. Based on the finding, it is suggested that governments across the world should provide a favorable institutional set-up to facilitate the development of family businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents new results obtained from investigating the data from a 2015 Vietnamese entrepreneurs' survey, containing 3071 observations. Evidence from the estimations using multinomial logits was found to support relationships between several sociocultural factors and entrepreneurship-related performance or traits. Specifically, those relationships include: (a) Active participation in entrepreneurs' social networks and reported value of creativity; (b) CSR-willingness and reported entrepreneurs' perseverance; (c) Transforming of sociocultural values and entrepreneurs' decisiveness; and, (d) Lessons learned from others' failures and perceived chance of success. Using geographical locations as the control variate, evaluations of the baseline-category logits models indicate their varying effects on the outcomes when combined with the sociocultural factors that are found to be statistically significant. Empirical probabilities that give further detail about behavioral patterns are provided; and toward the end, the paper offers some conclusions with some striking insights and useful explanations on the Vietnamese entrepreneurship processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents new results obtained from investigating the data from a 2015 Vietnamese entrepreneurs' survey, containing 3071 observations. Evidence from the estimations using multinomial logits was found to support relationships between several sociocultural factors and entrepreneurship-related performance or traits. Specifically, those relationships include: (a) Active participation in entrepreneurs' social networks and reported value of creativity; (b) CSR-willingness and reported entrepreneurs' perseverance; (c) Transforming of sociocultural values and entrepreneurs' decisiveness; and, (d) Lessons learned from others' failures and perceived chance of success. Using geographical locations as the control variate, evaluations of the baseline-category logits models indicate their varying effects on the outcomes when combined with the sociocultural factors that are found to be statistically significant. Empirical probabilities that give further detail about behavioral patterns are provided; and toward the end, the paper offers some conclusions with some striking insights and useful explanations on the Vietnamese entrepreneurship processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses questions included in the 2010 wave of the Bank of Italy's Survey on Household Income and Wealth to investigate the role of family transmission of values. It presents three main empirical findings. First, the paper shows that a number of attitudes (generalized and personalized trusting behaviour, risk and time preferences) and outcomes (female labour force participation, fertility, entrepreneurship, productivity) are associated with the values received. Second, it documents that values received from parents are correlated with the values transmitted to descendants. Third, by using respondent moving patterns, the paper highlights that values received are slowly changing even after a discontinuity in the reference environment. Comparisons between first- and second-generation movers suggest that what matters for breaking the family chains are the formative years, when young people somehow strike a balance between the values transmitted by their parents and what they experience in the (possibly different) environment where they grow up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the key to success for any business enterprise is to build and maintain relevancy in the marketplace, whilst also remaining relevant to all the various stakeholders within the firm (e.g., employees and investors). Relevancy in the market means delivering products or services that matter for consumers. Relevancy to stakeholders means offering a meaningful experience that allows individuals to develop a unique identity and related capacities; communicate an image; and participate in a fulfilling collaborative project. These two objectives are interconnected in the sense that a firm that remains relevant to stakeholders gives itself the best opportunity to remain relevant in the market place. One recent trend amongst large public companies-often encouraged by activist investors-is to go down the 'break up' route in an attempt to remain relevant or recapture relevancy. There is something to this strategy of splitting up or selling off certain parts of the business. The idea is that these newly formed-and smaller-companies will be able to better focus on their respective core competencies. We, however, suggest that firm size does not matter. What is important is to realise that the most innovative firms currently seek to achieve relevancy via the implementation of various 'new' corporate governance practices. This paper offers an interpretation of the principles underlying these practices, namely, flat hierarchy, open communication and inclusivity. Equally, these principles provide a starting point for a critical review of the existing legal framework. The current regulatory framework has a tendency to over-emphasise investor interests and this has created a number of unintended side effects, namely 'dinosaurs' (companies that find themselves in a process of slow and terminal decline); 'unicorns' (large companies that remain private in order to avoid the stifling effects of post-IPO regulation); and 'governance renegades' (public companies that adopt unconventional corporate structures in order to retain the pre-IPO-start-up-feel). In the light of these unintended side effects, we propose a recalibration of existing regulation based around the three principles, i.e., a relevancy-based approach to regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business incubation is a critical tool for ensuring the survival of start-up small enterprises. Over the past 15 years, South Africa has progressively expanded its commitment to business incubation as part of broader support for the small enterprise economy. The objective in this paper is to highlight the different pathways of contemporary business incubation occurring in South Africa with particular attention to the divergent trajectories as well as common challenges faced by the unfolding network of state-supported incubators and of private sector incubators. This paper extends the limited literature on business incubators in South Africa by offering detailed insight into the differences between incubators operating under state as opposed to private ownership. Methodologically, use is made of detailed case studies of four functioning business incubators as well as the results from a national audit conducted in 2013 of the state of small business incubators in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the various interactions among the institutional and cultural environment and the quality of entrepreneurial activity in Greece. The institutional context and the way in which institutions perform in particular, shape the structure of entrepreneurial incentives. As explicitly demonstrated by Baumol (J Political Econ 98:893-921, ) institutions actually channel entrepreneurial talent toward different activities which may be productive, unproductive or destructive. At the same time, informal institutions, i.e. culture and values have proven to be of equal importance for entrepreneurship. Within this context, the paper builds a simple model of rewards' satisfaction accounting for first, the existence of income externalities, in order to test the hypothesis that individuals care about their relative position, i.e. economic status, and second, for the institutional quality, trust and values pertaining in the society, in order to analyze the possible existence of an underlying 'social consensus' that is supportive of rent-seeking behavior in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social enterprise and innovation are inextricably linked in the literature (Chell et al. in Entrepr Reg Dev 22(6):485-493, 2010; Dees in Harv Bus Rev 76:54, 1998; Light in Stanf Soc Innov Rev 4(3):47-51, 2006). To date, research on social enterprise innovation has predominantly focused on micro-level factors, such as the social entrepreneur or organizational attributes. Inversely, recent empirical advances on social enterprise find a country’s social enterprise sector is influenced by macro-institutional factors, including form of government, stage of economic development, culture and model of civil society (Monroe-White and Coskun, in: Shaping social enterprise: understanding institutional context and influence, Emerald Publishing Limited, London, pp 27-48, 2017). Given the link between social enterprise and innovation, recent empirical findings around social enterprise beg the question, do macro-institutional factors similarly predict innovation by social enterprises? This paper uses a hierarchical linear model to examine the influence of national-level variables on social enterprise innovation. Results indicate that similar to social enterprise, macro-institutional factors predict social enterprise innovation. More specifically, macro-institutional factors influence the various types of innovations (product, process and marketing) differently. Moreover, country-level innovation is traditionally defined by economic factors, such as R&D funding and STEM workforce, however, these factors do not help explain social enterprise innovation. Given the social aspects of social enterprise innovation, to capture the full scope of innovation within countries, expanded definitions of national-level innovation should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review and synthesis of resources available to social entrepreneurs considering social franchising as an option for scale. We identified 20 publications produced by organizations supporting social franchising and four peer-reviewed journal manuscripts. Commonalities and differences between social and commercial franchising are discussed, with a focus on capacities and considerations needed to undertake social franchising. Based on our synthesis, we propose a seven-stage approach to guide social entrepreneurs in considering this option and to inform future research on social franchising as one potential mechanism for scaling impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology transfer (TT) is still a high risky activity and has high failure rate. Many TT critical factors and models are identified but have limited real application. This paper proposes an agent-mediated and entrepreneurship-oriented Model for Assessing TT. The entrepreneurship-oriented perspective proposes that the entrepreneurial capabilities of the transferee is critical factor to the success of TT. The agent plays the role of bridge to enhance the understanding of both sides during TT and to facilitate the incubating of entrepreneurial capabilities of the transferee. The model was tested in 10 real-life cases. This project reflects on the fact that technology transfer is not simply transferring the technology from one party to another. It should be commercialized from the client’s perspective. The research aims to create a win–win–win model for R&D firms who own technology, consulting firms as agents and client companies who need technology. It will also help transferee companies to absorb new technologies and develop their innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article begins by looking at two reports, commissioned in the second half of the 20th century to investigate the impact of social change on education and to propose strategies for tackling new challenges arising from this. The first report, published in 1972, was the so-called Faure report (named after French lawyer and politician Edgar Faure), and the second one, published in 1996, was the so-called Delors report (named after French economist and politician Jacques Delors). Using these two reports as their starting point, the authors of this paper consider the effects of modern information technology on our cultural environment. Today we are experiencing an increasingly virtual world with very real effects. This paper argues that Edgar Faure already foresaw the emergence of a new cultural world in which virtuality would both add to and compete with reality. The authors stress that now, more than ever, access to lifelong education needs to be ensured for everyone, permanently enriched by research and innovation, addressing creativity and entrepreneurship, in addition to continuously evolving skills and competences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer simulation has recently been recognised by criminologists as a useful tool for bridging the gap between theoretical and empirical analyses of organised crime and for supplementing their weaknesses. GLODERS-S is an innovative and configurable agent-based simulator specialised in reproducing the dynamics of a specific type of criminal organisations: protection racketeering groups. The simulator adopts an event-based approach that provides a more realistic operation of the agents, which integrated with its configurability provides policy-makers with a highly flexible platform for analysing multiple scenarios and assessing policies to counter organised crime. In this paper, we describe the principles of the simulator design, its features and limitations, and possible applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prestige goods, in various combinations and permutations, feature prominently in anthropological and archaeological templates of the emergence of social inequality and early state formation in premodern societies. In Africa, discussion of the contribution of prestige goods to the evolution of cultural behaviours such as class distinction and statehood has been conducted primarily through theoretical lenses that allocate significant weight to the proceeds of external long distance trade. The major outcome is that archaeologists have rarely paused to evaluate not just the definition of prestige goods but also the congruity between global 'universals' and African 'particularities'. Using empirical evidence from the southern African historical and archaeological records, this paper seeks to evaluate the concept of prestige goods and to assess their contribution to the evolution of Iron Age (AD 200-1900) communities of different time periods, from locally centred positions. It reveals that the distribution, use and deposition of exotic imports in southern Africa is not compatible with the pattern suggested by the prestige goods model, and points towards their valuation as embedded within situational contexts of meaning. In fact, hinterland elites controlled neither the source nor the distribution of exotic goods from producer regions, making them a volatile source of power and prestige. While local elites used exotic imports when available, and imposed taxes on their citizens-payable in both local and external goods-land, cattle, religion and individual entrepreneurship were far more predictable and stable sources of prestige, wealth and power. This provides the basis for reassessing the development of complexity in the region and potentially contributes towards global debates on the impact of long-distance trade in the development of complex states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many entrepreneurship applications use data as the core concept of their business to better understand the needs of their customers. However, as the size of databases used by these entrepreneurship applications grows and as more users access data through various interactive interfaces, obtaining the result for a top-k query may take long time if the query matches millions of the tuples in the database. Traditionally, layer-based indexing methods are representative for processing top-k queries efficiently. These methods form tuples into a list of layers where the ith layer holds the tuples that can be the top-i answer. Layer-based indexing methods enable us to obtain top-k answers by accessing at most k layers. Most of these methods achieve high accuracy of query answer at the expense of enlarged index construction time. However, we can adjust between accuracy and index construction time to achieve an optimal performance. Thus in this paper, we propose a method, called the adaptive convex skyline (AdaptCS) for efficient-processing top-k queries in entrepreneurship applications. AdaptCS first prunes the data with a virtual threshold point and finds skyline points over the pruned data. Here, by adjusting virtual threshold we are able to achieve optimal performance. Then, AdaptCS divides the skyline into m subregions with projection partitioning method and constructs the convex hull m times for each subregion with virtual objects. Lastly, AdaptCS combines the objects obtained by computing the convex hull. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing number and variety of creative small enterprises in South Africa's desert Karoo region. The Karoo has come to acquire considerable cachet in recent years and is being rebranded as a desirable tourist destination. It has also attracted many well-qualified and experienced migrants from urban areas. This paper draws on mainstream 'lifestyle media' coverage to describe this phenomenon and examines it through a lens informed by Richard Florida's influential work, The Rise of the Creative Class. The concept of the 'creative class' refers to those people who make a living from creative pursuits, including artists, designers and knowledge-based professionals. The paper analyses a sample of entrepreneurs in-migrants to the Karoo, and speculates on what informs the recent re-visioning of the region. It posits the new rural 'creative class' as a form of social capital and explores some of the implications of this for the socio-economic upliftment of the Karoo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper questions some of the premises in studying academic spin-offs in developed countries, claiming that when taken as characteristics of ‘academic spin-offs per se,’ they are of little help in understanding the phenomenon in the Eastern European countries during the transitional and post-transitional periods after 1989. It argues for the necessity of adopting a path-dependent approach, which takes into consideration the institutional and organisational specificities of local economies and research systems and their evolution, which strongly influence the patterns of spin-off activity. The paper provides new findings and original arguments in support of Balazs’ seminal theses (Balazs , ) about the emergence of academic spin-offs during the early transition. It reveals key economic and policy mechanisms bearing on academic entrepreneurship in Eastern Europe, such as the tensions between economic and political nomenclatures of former Communist Parties, where the dismantling or preservation of the power of political nomenclature resulted in different patterns of development—rapid reforms in the ‘first wave’ of EU accession countries or the establishment of rent-seeking and assets-stripping economies in countries like Bulgaria and Romania, making the transition period especially difficult. In the latter, a specific economic environment emerged, unknown in Western Europe and in the ‘champions’ of transition—such as suppression of the authentic entrepreneurship in a number of economic sectors, disintegration of corporate structures, etc. Thus, the paper reveals the common ground behind the two conflicting tendencies in post-socialist academic spin-offs, partially outlined in other research (Simeonova ; Pavlova ): as an authentic form of academic entrepreneurship grasping the opportunities opened up by the economic crisis and compensating failures in science and technology policy on the one hand, and as specific rent-seeking strategy draining valuable public assets on the other (the latter, in turn, boosting the negative attitudes in local scientific communities). The paper provides new findings about the evolution of the academic spin-offs in Bulgaria along the two polar trends and their positive and negative repercussions on parent research institutions. The results were achieved in the PROKNOW Project, EC 6th Framework Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses research leadership in public universities under change and the role of entrepreneurial strategies in research. Research leadership function today in situations where the New Public Management movement one the one hand have introduced management by accountability and control in the university while on the other hand open boundaries to other knowledge organizations, arenas and networks, and creation of resources are becoming more important than ever. Hence, an entrepreneurial strategy is more important than traditional managerial skills in order to produce new knowledge centres. By analysing two cases on the construction of new research groups, we will introduce new perspectives on research leadership, where dilemmas, uncertainty and complex relations to other managerial systems in the universities are in the forefront. The paper presents an important contribution to the understanding of a special form of creating new knowledge production in the university by means of organizational entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the intensification of university–industry relationships and its impact on university research. The paper consists of recent follow-up research to an international comparative research project conducted in the 1990s. It deals specifically with the Québec (Canada) situation. Twenty-eight in-depth interviews were conducted in the winter of 2003 with university researchers and an additional five interviews with technology transfer officers. The interviews were conducted in six francophone higher education institutions in Québec. With regard to university–industry relationships, the interviews revealed that university researchers in scientific and technological fields conducted innovation-oriented research, which benefits their graduate students and the institution itself. Freedom of publication is somewhat conditioned by intellectual property constraints. Thus, a majority of university researchers adopt an “entrepreneurial ethos” which they find compatible with their academic values. The intensification of university–industry relationships may also have latent dysfunctional effects with regard to conflicts of interest, as some university researchers have created start-up companies which act both as research funding sources and as beneficiaries of research results. Thus, intellectual property and conflict of interest issues evolve in a grey zone and are often sources of stress and tension for researchers. However harsh some disputes may become over these issues, they are resolved, at least in the context analysed in this research, in ways that satisfy both the researcher and the institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of the Chinese in a Southeast Asian business cum societal context; from different approaches towards Chinese-ness via different notions of intra- and inter-ethnic relation towards a critique of the idea of a Chinese diaspora in a Southeast Asian context. The article argues that a culturalist reading of Southeast Asian Chinese modes of engaging in capitalist practices and societal entrenchments constitutes a deception that produces a variety of stereotypes of Chinese-ness, thus disregarding the complexity and dynamic developments within the ethnic Chinese community region-wise. Finally, in relation to Chinese business practices in a Southeast Asian context the paper suggests that cultural notions of guanxi and xinyong do not form a basis for doing business the Chinese way, but only options; that intra-ethnic relations do not play an important role in transnational Chinese linkages, and that contemporary conceptions of Chinese identity are always negotiated with the dominant ‘other’ so as to secure the construction of an economic ‘room’ or space from where business can be conducted in an overall societally acceptable manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper scrutinises organisational change in Japanese and UK universities which are engaged in entrepreneurial activities. The study focuses on recent changes in governance, management, leadership, and funding in these universities. The paper argues there are convergent trends between Japanese and UK universities in terms of increasing entrepreneurial activities, a review of institutional strategies, a review of the organisation, the application of market-oriented institutional policy, links with the industrial sector, the notion of a public financial crisis and changing external environment, strong leadership of the university President or Vice-Chancellor, and the notion of the accountability of the university to society as a whole. However, the application of particular institutional strategies, entrepreneurial culture, and the way in which an institution relates itself to the private sector significantly differs among institutions. The paper suggests that those differences are related to different institutional history and characteristics – including those between national and private universities in Japan, and old and new universities in the UK – as well as different government policies between Japan and the UK. The paper first proposes a theoretical model for the five types of entrepreneurial culture of the institutions. It then examines the model by using case studies: Nottingham Trent University (UK), University of Surrey (UK), University of Tokyo (Japan), and Waseda University (Japan). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a small open economy model in which entrepreneurs partially finance investment using foreign currency-denominated debt subject to an external finance premium. We use Bayesian estimation techniques to evaluate the importance of balance sheet-related credit market frictions for emerging market countries by incorporating the financial accelerator mechanism. We obtain a sizable value for the external finance premium, which is tightly estimated away from zero. Our results support the inclusion of the financial accelerator in an otherwise standard model that—acting through balance sheets—magnifies the impact of shocks, thereby increasing real and financial volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to offer an analysis of the nonprofit sector from the entrepreneurial point of view in order to show why the organizational form of nonprofit has arisen and, more precisely, why rational entrepreneurs choose to incorporate their business enterprises under the nonprofit regulation. Since nonprofit associations were formed before the emergence of the tax code, the favorable taxstatus alone cannot explain an entrepreneurial preference for the nonprofit form. Tax considerations have then to be combined with other elements. The alternative view proposed in the paper is that the supply of factors such as capital and entrepreneurship provides the motivation for the rise of nonprofit enterprises. The entrepreneur and the managers enjoy control of the activity and see to it that service are produced in such a way as to maximize their net income. They do not ignore nonmonetary income in the sense that they find it rewarding to seek pecuniary gains as well as nonmonetary profits in any given period. To explain why an entrepreneur organizes his business as a nonprofit entity we investigate a theater production process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper raises two questions. Do donors to nonprofit organizations care about whether nonprofit organizations pursue commercial activities? Do donors more approve commercial activities that are related to or advance the mission of a nonprofit organization than those commercial activities that do not? The paper uses data collected from donors and volunteers with one human services nonprofit organization in the United States. The principal conclusions are two. Most donors and volunteers have little interest in the sources of nonprofit organizations' funds. Among the relatively small percentage of donors and volunteers who attend to use of commercial activities, the use of activities that are consistent with or advance the organization's mission is approved, and the use of commercial activities that do not advance the mission is relatively disapproved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the expansion of access to Australian higher education in the past decade, the participation shares of rural and isolated people and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have altered little and remain unacceptably low. This paper reports findings from two national studies at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education that have examined student choices about higher education, especially the inhibiting factors still present for non-traditional students. The discussion focuses on the dilemmas and challenges for Australian universities in balancing the adoption of entrepreneurial approaches to student recruitment with an unfinished equity agenda. The paper raises questions about the new ideology of individual choice influencing university policy and whether or not this can be reconciled with social equity objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can a country grow faster by saving more? The paper addresses this question both theoretically and empirically. In the theoretical model, growth results from innovations that allow local sectors to catch up with frontier technology. In poor countries, catching up requires the cooperation of a foreign investor who is familiar with the frontier technology and a domestic entrepreneur who is familiar with local conditions. In such a country, domestic savings matters for innovation, and therefore growth, because it enables the local entrepreneur to put equity into this cooperative venture, which mitigates an agency problem that would otherwise deter the foreign investor from participating. In rich countries, domestic entrepreneurs are already familiar with frontier technology and therefore do not need to attract foreign investment to innovate, so domestic savings does not matter for growth. A cross-country regression shows that lagged savings is positively associated with productivity growth in poor countries but not in rich countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the goal of the vocationalisation of school curriculum has been viewed as fallacious and mythical, many countries have continued to introduce practical subjects in schools. This paper reports on the views of three teachers involved in the development of the technology studies curriculum. The curriculum developers' views were corroborated with a focus group discussion involving teachers that were invited for the first ever primary school technical teacher training. The in-depth discussions focused on their understanding of the rationale and future of technology studies in the primary school curriculum and how to build teacher capacity for the subject. The teachers viewed the programme as providing primary school learners with skills for their survival after school as chances of proceeding to secondary were limited. Learning in this programme was also seen as likely to develop attitudes necessary for technology studies at tertiary level. In conclusion, the teachers hold the assumption similar to skills development for jobs and employment while technological literacy is not viewed in its broad sense and this has implications on how and what to teach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article departs from the observation of a widely heralded shift in the governance of welfare, which is claimed to represent a more complex and uncertain institutional environment for third sector organizations (TSOs). It has been argued that hybrid organizations carry innovative potential compared to traditional nonprofits in terms of more effectively or creatively dealing with contradictory pressures from multiple institutional logics. Using a recently developed theory to study nonprofit hybrids, this paper explores the concrete organizational practice of 'managing hybridity.' A qualitative study of institutional logics and participant interactions in a purposively sampled 'post-corporatist' hybrid TSO in Belgium was conducted. Our analysis first revealed that at the organization-level, our case represented a blended nonprofit hybrid. The particular combination of competing logics, however, put complex demands on staff members, who used three types of coping strategies in their everyday routines. A managerial and service logic prevailed, at the expense of the TSO's participatory and emancipatory mission. Implications of the findings for nascent theorizing on nonprofit hybrids are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]