Mine Karatas-Ozkan

Social entrepreneurship and enterprise: international and innovation perspectives

This paper provides an overview of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise, making reference to pertinent literature. Internationally the distribution of social enterprises is uneven and there are noticeable differences that reflect national differences in welfare, labour market and ideology. Essentially however social enterprises seek business solutions to social problems and in order to do so, we argue, it is necessary for social enterprises to foster innovation. The papers included in this volume present different models and theories of how this might be achieved. All the authors place emphasis on the need to develop a sound theoretical platform and raise methodological problems common to management research. Additionally, the papers raise policy issues, such as how outcomes of social enterprise are valued and prioritised in different societies. The work discussed points to how social enterprise may offer innovative solutions to help solve problems of social integration, socially dysfunctional behaviour and socio-economic development. It indicates the need for further research, especially to test further the models comparatively. Finally this body of work builds on and extends our thinking about entrepreneurship, and the need to tie it into social, cultural, civic and political agenda.

Understanding relational qualities of entrepreneurial learning: Towards a multi-layered approach

The aim of this paper is to present a multi-layered relational framework of entrepreneurial learning by embedding the conceptual tools of a continental thinker, Pierre Bourdieu, in a social constructionist paradigmatic approach. Through a longitudinal study based on participant observation and in-depth qualitative interviews, entrepreneurial learning processes of five nascent entrepreneurs who have formed a venture team have been examined as a case study. Relational qualities of entrepreneurial learning can be illuminated by exploring dispositions and different forms of capital that nascent entrepreneurs hold at the micro-individual level, which are inextricably linked to the meso-relational level of developing an entrepreneurial habitus as they navigate through the process of business venturing. Such a multi-layered conceptualisation of entrepreneurial learning transcends individual-, team-, firm- and network-level analyses of the subject by generating insights from both micro- and meso-layers.The aim of this paper is to present a multi-layered relational framework of entrepreneurial learning by embedding the conceptual tools of a continental thinker, Pierre Bourdieu, in a social constructionist paradigmatic approach. Through a longitudinal study based on participant observation and in-depth qualitative interviews, entrepreneurial learning processes of five nascent entrepreneurs who have formed a venture team have been examined as a case study. Relational qualities of entrepreneurial learning can be illuminated by exploring dispositions and different forms of capital that nascent entrepreneurs hold at the micro-individual level, which are inextricably linked to the meso-relational level of developing an entrepreneurial habitus as they navigate through the process of business venturing. Such a multi-layered conceptualisation of entrepreneurial learning transcends individual-, team-, firm- and network-level analyses of the subject by generating insights from both micro- and meso-layers.

Nascent entrepreneurship and learning

Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Setting the Discursive Context: Enterprise Culture Debates in the UK 3. Academic Discourses on Entrepreneurship 4. Nascent Entrepreneurs: Characteristics of Nascent Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurial Learning 5. Methodological Approach: Social Constructionist Paradigm and Bourdieu’s Relational Methodology 6. Research Design and Methods 7. Case Study I: KBrandArt – A Story of the Venturing Process 8. Case Study II: Setting up R-Games – Rosie’s Venturing Story 9. A Multi-layered Framework of Nascent Entrepreneurship from a Learning Perspective 10. Conclusions and Implications for Research, Policy and Practice References Index

Critical theorist, postmodernist and social constructionist paradigms in organizational analysis: a paradigmatic review of organizational learning literature

In an effort to clarify alternative approaches to organizational analysis, this paper is concerned to stimulate the debate on how an inquiry into organizational phenomena, in general, and organizational learning, in particular, can be accomplished. Encouraging attention to different aspects of various paradigmatic approaches, the paper focuses on critical theory, postmodernism and social constructionism and how these paradigms have contributed and can contribute to the research in the subject domain of organizational learning. To this end, a paradigmatic review of the literature on organizational learning is offered in this paper. Organizational learning, as the study of learning processes of, and within, organizations, has attracted significant attention in academe since the early 1980s. There is a plethora of studies on organizational learning, which offer rich material for a paradigmatic review. This study highlights the need for further development of the field from alternative paradigmatic perspectives, with a view to generating more insights into the multifaceted, complex and changing nature of learning in contemporary organizations.

Understanding Entrepreneurship: Challenging Dominant Perspectives and Theorizing Entrepreneurship through New Postpositivist Epistemologies

Entrepreneurship is characterized by complex, dynamic and emergent processes, and the interplay between actors, processes, and contexts. Postpositivistic approaches offer the opportunity to examine subtleties of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship by placing emphasis on a range of its dimensions and the interplays between dimensions. Despite a growing body of postpositivistic research in response to such calls, the legitimacy of these approaches is still subject to debate on the grounds of rigor and relevance. This special issue challenges these prevailing but often hidden assumptions governing the conduct and publication of scholarly inquiry in the field of entrepreneurship and offers alternative perspectives for future research.

Gender Inequalities in Academic Innovation and Enterprise: A Bourdieuian Analysis

This paper demonstrates that engagement in innovation and enterprise activity in SET departments within three UK universities is, in part, gendered. A Bourdieuian approach is adopted to identify underlying structures and practices that have causal powers to generate gender-based inequalities. Drawing on empirical research with 52 participants, this study reveals gendered science enterprise experiences, characterized by a field that is considered strong in shaping the habitus and presenting stark options to women in pursuit of their careers. It demonstrates the multilayered nature of the fields that shape gendered experiences and resultant inequalities by taking into account individual dispositions of academics and their habitus, including their science enterprise experience and the wider commercial field beyond the university, and generates a number of implications for practice and policy.

The process of choosing a management career: Evaluation of gender and contextual dynamics in a comparative study of six countries: Hungary, Israel, North Cyprus, Turkey, UK and the USA

Purpose – The aim of this article is to identify the reasons MBA students have for their career choices, and to explore the contextual and gender‐related aspects of career choice and development, based on a comparative study carried out with participants in six countries, i.e. Hungary, Israel, North Cyprus, Turkey, the UK and the USA. The paper seeks to investigate how cultural values and beliefs and gender differentially influence the career choices of MBA students towards managerial or entrepreneurial careers.Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative research design was applied by using a survey instrument that draws on a cross‐national study.Findings – Differences exist in influences on career choice and development between women and men in one of the research settings (Turkey). In all six countries, women have a more societal value orientation and tend to undertake more charity work. Men are more likely to believe that “competition is the law of nature” and men appear to opt more for an entrepreneu...

Women in Turkish family businesses: drivers, contributions and challenges

The number and importance of women in family businesses have increased in the recent years. This is reflected in the growing academic and practitioner interest in the topic. In this paper, we have explored the role of women in family business in the context of Turkey by examining the key drivers for their active involvement, their contribution and the challenges they face. The conceptual framework of the article presents key drivers and challenges identified in the extant literature and introduces additional angles on the problematisation of the topic, mainly issues of succession, conflict and balance of work-life relationships. Drawing on empirical material collected through semi-structured interviews with participant Turkish women, we have highlighted importance of cultural dynamics in analysing drivers, contributions and challenges.

University Incubators in the UK

The overall aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of forming and effectively managing university incubators in the UK. Recognizing that the term ‘business incubator’ embraces a wide range of institutions, all of which aim to foster the creation and development of enterprises – SMEs or corporate ventures – by established organizations, the formation of different types of university incubators is explored from the perspective of the incubator managers who are involved in the process. Four case studies are presented, which show how the incubator managers discern incubation practices within the current UK system of business incubation and develop their particular programmes. The case studies are constructed by generating in-depth case material through interviews with the incubator managers, participant observation in one setting, and documentary search during 2002 and the first half of 2003. Evaluating the contextual constraints and opportunities in the UK, it is illustrated that the contextual issues are by their nature complex, dynamic and diverse, and they are also central to understanding the way the incubation programmes are shaped and reshaped over time. Some core ideas and lessons have been drawn from the research and it is hoped that they can help incubation community members to re-evaluate their own experiences and assist public policy makers in gauging their policies.

Practising knowledge workers : perspectives of an artist and economist - professional insights

Purpose – The paper aims to generate insights into practitioners’ understanding of global knowledge work/workers by exploring the perspectives of an artist and economist.Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews with the two participants were conducted; and the interview material was transcribed and analyzed.Findings – Global knowledge work is a multifaceted concept; it can exist in different fields, including art, technology and social sciences. Global knowledge work is about knowledge that is acquired, accumulated, shared and enriched through relocation, travel or integration into networks. Global knowledge workers are equipped with some form of specialized knowledge, skills set and different communication strategies. Their motivation varies from intellectual curiosity, financial and career benefits, personal reasons to seek a life in another country to the prestige of global knowledge work.Practical implications – Diversity is a defining attribute of global knowledge work. Diverse backgr...