7 February 2008

Call for papers: Community-based Entrepreneurship

Call for papers: Community-based Entrepreneurship

A special issue of International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development

Since Johannisson and Nilsson’s (1989) seminal paper on community-based entrepreneurship, the literature on how regional development is facilitated by community interaction has grown. The increasing sentiment of people and businesses worldwide to “act locally but think globally” has meant that community-based entrepreneurship is becoming more important in encouraging businesses and public policy practitioners to focus on the significance of people working together to facilitate regional development (Kapelus, 2002; Lyons, 2002).

In this special issue, we define community-based entrepreneurship as “a community acting corporately as both entrepreneur and enterprise in pursuit of the common good” (Peredo and Chrisman, 2006:310). Thus, community-based entrepreneurship involves a process through which new enterprises are created and operate in a communities existing social structure (Peredo and Chrisman, 2006). The economic and social role of community-based entrepreneurship has been recognised by a growing number of disciplines, including sociology, management and urban studies (e.g., Bull and Winter, 1991; Johannisson and Nilsson, 1989; Light and Karageorgis, 1994; Mezias and Kuperman, 2001; Selsky and Smith, 1994). Community-based entrepreneurship is encouraged through personal networking that influence local venturing processes and regional development (Johannisson and Nilsson, 1989).

The special issue takes a multi-disciplinary perspective to help examine the role of community-based entrepreneurship in the international context. Thus, its aim is to study how community-based entrepreneurship is encouraging regional development as people become part of a number of different communities worldwide. We are looking for new theoretical insights and empirical studies that will contribute to the literature on community-based entrepreneurship.

Papers should address research questions in the field, including but not limited to the following topics
  • Market conditions for community-based entrepreneurship (openness of markets, regulations, transparency of market and resource mobilisation).
  • The importance of cognitions and emotions in community-based entrepreneurship.
  • The role of human resource management practices and in community-based entrepreneurship.
  • Public perception of community-based entrepreneurship.
  • The antecedents and consequences of family participation in various aspects of community-based entrepreneurship.
  • How has community-based entrepreneurship influenced regional development in global contexts and will this change in the future?
  • Comparative differences in community-based entrepreneurship by countries, city, ethnic/national subgroup, sector and periods.
  • The role of social capital and social networks in community-based entrepreneurship.
  • The role of technological innovation in community-based entrepreneurship.
  • The importance of communities for the perception, evaluation and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities.
Important Dates
Manuscript due: 30 June 2008
Acceptance notification: 30 August 2008
Final manuscript due: 30 October 2008

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