Revitalizing Entrepreneurship Research: New Topics, New Methods, New Possibilities

Closes:
Journal
Organization Management Journal
Guest editor(s)
Dr. Vishal Gupta, Dr. Golshan Javadian,

Almost five decades have passed since a small group of scholars came together to form the entrepreneurship interest group at the Academy of Management in 1976. As a result of the pioneering efforts of these scholars, research on entrepreneurial phenomena began to gain legitimacy, so that entrepreneurship is now considered a popular area of inquiry with considerable practical applications and policy implications. Despite the impressive progress made by entrepreneurship researchers over the last five decades (van Gelderen et al., 2021), scholars have repeatedly raised concerns about the misplaced focus of entrepreneurship inquiry (Munoz and Dimov,2023). Prior research (e.g., Lundmark, Milanov, and Seigner, 2022; Pidduck, and Clark, 2021; Shepherd et al., 2025) has identified four main shortcomings of the entrepreneurship literature:

  1. steeped in positive discourse, ignoring the possibility that entrepreneurship is not always a powerful force for good in society;  
  2. steeped in a monetary discourse with the focus on financial profit, wealth creation, and economic growth, ignoring other, non-monetary drivers of entrepreneurial activity;  
  3. steeped in a gender and ethnicity-based discourse, giving insufficient attention to female and minority entrepreneurs or subjecting them to white male biased measures;  
  4. steeped in theories and methods from North America and Western Europe- the so-called WEIRD nations (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic), overlooking entrepreneurial activities occurring in non-WEIRD societies


The purpose of this special issue is to take a critical step towards redressing these discursive biases in entrepreneurship research by providing a dedicated forum to publish articles that challenge the current focus of entrepreneurship research, departing from common patterns, and otherwise question the field’s normative system. We are interested in rigorous and relevant studies centering on entrepreneurial phenomena that are downplayed or screened out in mainstream discourse in entrepreneurship journals. Examples of such topics include, but are not limited to:  

  1. venture deaths, anti-social and illegal entrepreneurship, and low-stakes entrepreneurial activity;
  2. lifestyle entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs not driven by economic considerations, new industries centered around hobbies;
  3. female entrepreneurs, feminine entrepreneurship, male entrepreneurs engaging in non-stereotypical activities, gender and entrepreneurial research;
  4. minority entrepreneurship research, encompassing but not limited to racial and ethnic entrepreneurship, transitional entrepreneurship, underdog entrepreneurship, refugee and immigrant entrepreneurship, enclave entrepreneurship, and indigenous entrepreneurship;
  5. entrepreneurial activities outside North America and Western Europe, research in non-WEIRD contexts, and entrepreneurial activity in non-weird contexts in North American and Western European countries.  


To conclude, we invite rigorous work departing from non-mainstream entrepreneurship research that can advance academic understanding of entrepreneurial phenomena in novel ways. Studies that attend to entrepreneurial practice and teaching are also welcome. We encourage scholars to submit conceptual papers, empirical works, and review articles to the special issue. Ideally, scholars from around the world contributing novel theoretical insights using new methodological approaches will submit their work for consideration for publication in this special issue.  


Submission Process and Deadlines:

  1. Submissions should be consistent with guidelines of Organization Management Journal
  2. Manuscripts should be submitted using the OMJ submission system
  3. Submissions will be double-blind reviewed  

 

Timeline:

  • Full manuscripts due to OMJ: Sunday, May 3, 2026  
  • Manuscript feedback to authors: Sunday, June 21, 2026
  • Revisions due to OMJ: Sunday, September 13, 2026  
  • Revision feedback to authors: Sunday, August 28, 2026
  • Final manuscript to OMJ: Sunday, October 25, 2026  
  • Final manuscripts submitted to Emerald: Sunday, November 15, 2026
  • Publication: Volume 24, Issue 1

 

We welcome informal inquiries relating to the Special Issue, proposed topics, and potential fit with the Special Issue objectives. Please direct any questions on the Special Issue to the Guest Editors.  

The Guest Editors will organize pre-submission events for potential authors in early-2026.

 

References:

Lundmark, E., Milanov, H., & Seigner, B. D. C. (2022). Can it be measured? A quantitative assessment of critiques of the entrepreneurship literature. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 17, e00301.

Munoz, P., & Dimov, D. (2023). Facing the future through entrepreneurship theory: A prospective inquiry framework. Journal of Business Venturing, 38(4), 106303.

Pidduck, R. J., & Clark, D. R. (2021). Transitional entrepreneurship: Elevating research into marginalized entrepreneurs. Journal of Small Business Management, 59(6), 1081-1096.

Shepherd, D. A., Wincent, J., & Chase, S. R. (2025). What If We Are the WEIRD Ones? A Call (and Roadmap) for More Non-WEIRD Entrepreneurship Research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 10422587251347051.  

van Gelderen, M., Wiklund, J., & McMullen, J. S. (2021). Entrepreneurship in the future: A Delphi study of ETP and JBV editorial board members. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 45(5), 1239-1275.