Call for Chapters! Inclusive Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals: A global research perspective!

While the topic of inclusive entrepreneurship is gaining increasing attention from academics, researchers and practitioners, there remains a dearth of research in this area (Sreenivasan & Suresh, 2023; Schaltegger, Beckmann & Hockerts, 2018). Adopting an inclusive approach helps ensure fair treatment for everyone. More specifically, it helps eradicate prejudice and discrimination based on an individual’s protected characteristics (Bakker & McMullen, 2023). Protected characteristics are those that are beyond the control of an individual and include age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation (Equality and Human Rights Commission)1. Given recent world events, forced migration could also justifiably be included here. In many countries, it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on protected characteristics.

We invite chapters

– conceptual, empirical, or thought pieces, including contributions that rely on secondary data

– that seek to:

• Conceptualize inclusive entrepreneurship in the context of the SDGs (theoretical chapters; (overviews of the field; systematic literature reviews; syntheses of current debates in the field; research agendas)

• Critically discuss parallels and intersections between academic, practice and policy debates on inclusiveness and the SDGs

• Identify challenges and approaches to solving the issues articulated in the SDGs (e.g., debating which groups are best placed to offer solutions; which groups are excluded; the role of inclusivity in helping to solve these problems)

• Debate gender and cultural differences in conceptualising and addressing the SDGs

• Consider entrepreneurship as it relates to migrants, youth, seniors, and people with special needs, exploring how it can be made more accessible

• Identify frameworks, systems, practices, and processes for promoting and measuring inclusive entrepreneurship and the incorporation of the SDGs

• Analyse country contexts (empirically based research chapters exploring how inclusive entrepreneurship and the SDGs are shaped in specific countries, parallels, and differences between developed and underdeveloped countries)

• Analyse sector contexts (empirically based research chapters exploring how inclusive entrepreneurship and the SDGs ae shaped in specific sectors, such as manufacturing, circular economy, health, food, mobility, energy, digitalization). Within these domains, topics addressing deep tech will be especially welcome

• Signpost readers toward future approaches and mindsets required to address the SDGs for a more inclusive society.

Target audience

We are targeting this book at academics, researchers, postgraduate and doctoral students – all in the field of entrepreneurship, sustainability, inclusivity; those with an interest or stake in these fields, from a research, policy and/or civil society perspective and senior managers in HEIs. However, we believe the book will also be of value to undergraduate students and educators in the field of entrepreneurship, sustainability, and inclusivity; civil society institutions and lobbyists interested in having evidence-based research to inform their policy recommendations; those engaged in enterprise promotion; academic departmental leaders and enterprise support managers.

Important Dates

• Submission of chapter abstracts to [email protected] (500 words): by 1st June 2024