Search results

1 – 10 of 22
Article
Publication date: 20 July 2017

Ingrid Wakkee, Karel Hoestenberghe and Ernest Mwasalwiba

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the reasons why most Tanzanian graduates do not consider entrepreneurship as an attractive career option despite dire labor…

2383

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the reasons why most Tanzanian graduates do not consider entrepreneurship as an attractive career option despite dire labor market conditions, while a small number of them are able to benefit from local opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

Utilizing insights from capability and social capital perspectives, a qualitative investigation based on interviews, group discussions and document analysis was undertaken to explore how this phenomenon can be explained and remedied.

Findings

This study shows that many graduates value entrepreneurship as a potential career but many find their way to be act upon these aspirations blocked. Indeed, actual entrepreneurial capability is only available to a minority of graduates with access to powerful connections who are able to benefit from technological and financial conversion factors. Most graduates cannot benefit from these conversion factors due to the lack of the necessary social capital to break through to the legal, tax, financial and cultural systems. Hence, the authors argue that social capital itself is actually a critical conversion factor toward developing entrepreneurial capability.

Research limitations/implications

The insight formulated in this study are based on a qualitative analysis of the Tanzanian context and formulated specifically for this particular context. At the same time, the country shares many characteristics with other countries in Africa, many of which are struggling to move toward a more entrepreneurial society. Hence, the recommendations may partially be transferable beyond the specific Tanzanian situation. Theoretically, the notion that social capital should be considered as a key conversion factor enabling aspiring entrepreneurs in translating valued functionings into actualized functionings and thus toward enhancing entrepreneurial capability opens up novel avenues for empirical research into how entrepreneurship can be stimulated.

Social implications

This study searches for conversion factors from the actual “functioning” toward the real “capability” allowing to succeed as a new graduate and find that social capital itself might act as the critical conversion factor. That brings the authors to the recommendations for policy makers, educators and media, argued in such a way that the entrepreneurial capability of young graduates and their ability to tap into relevant social capital can be enhanced.

Originality/value

The combination and integration of the Sen’s capability approach with social capital perspectives offers a novel way to explain difference in responses to the Tanzanian institutions and their ability to act upon a valued functioning such as opportunity-driven entrepreneurship.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 25 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 May 2022

Koos Johannes, Hans Voordijk, Ingrid Wakkee and Guillermo Aranda-Mena

While digitalisation requires facilities management (FM) organisations to change at an increasing rate, little is known about the mechanisms that create ownership and enable…

Abstract

Purpose

While digitalisation requires facilities management (FM) organisations to change at an increasing rate, little is known about the mechanisms that create ownership and enable individuals to implement changes in everyday FM practice. In this study, these mechanisms are explored from a stewardship perspective. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the dynamics of organisational change in FM by analysing how stewardship behaviour leads to change.

Design/methodology/approach

A process model for implementing organisational change is constructed, based on existing theoretical insights from stewardship and intrapreneurship literature. The model is evaluated in a case study through analysis of critical events. Interviewing was the key data collection method.

Findings

The process model gives an event-driven explanation of change through psychological ownership. Analysis of multiple critical events suggests that the model explains intra-organisational as well as inter-organisational change. The case data further suggests that, compared with intra-organisational change, tailored relational and motivational support is more important for inter-organisational change because of the higher risks involved. Job crafting emerged as an unanticipated finding that offers interesting prospects for future FM research.

Practical implications

The process model offers guidance for leaders in FM organisations on providing tailored support to internal and external employees during periods of organisational change.

Originality/value

Stewardship and intrapreneurship are combined to provide insights on organisational change in FM. The study demonstrates how intrapreneurial behaviour and stewardship behaviour can be linked to create innovation within and between organisations.

Details

Journal of Facilities Management , vol. 22 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-5967

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2018

Sue Rossano-Rivero and Ingrid Wakkee

This study aims to extend literature on academic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial networking by examining how academics, in their role of entrepreneurial educators, network…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to extend literature on academic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial networking by examining how academics, in their role of entrepreneurial educators, network for the creation and execution of novel teaching practices in cooperation with external actors.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical investigation is based on qualitative inquiry, using a case study approach. Specifically, eight cases originating at three universities in Germany, The Netherlands and Mexico were examined. The cases which constituted innovative teaching practices were selected following a replication logic. Each involved extensive participation of societal actors in course development or delivery and aimed to stimulate students to work on real life challenges and disseminate novel knowledge back to the world of practice. All courses were either introduced or taught by educators who possessed different levels and types of academic and industrial or entrepreneurial experience.

Findings

Based on eight cases the authors found that the networking behaviour of entrepreneurial educators is crucial for the generation of proximity with external actors and for the acquisition of key resources, such as an external actor to participate in teaching practice and for the generation of legitimacy for their innovations in teaching. The entrepreneurial and industrial experience of entrepreneurial educators emerges as an affordance to network with external actors, helping them to achieve a common understanding of the opportunity and to generate trust among them.

Practical implications

This study equips managers of higher education institutions with critical insights into innovating the teaching mission of the university and developing closer and stronger relationships with external actors of the university.

Originality/value

This study seeks to advance the literature on academic entrepreneurship by shifting the attention away from academic entrepreneurs as merely founders of spin-offs and collaborators with business on research and development towards entrepreneurial educators who see opportunities in establishing collaborations with external actors as part of their teaching activities. Further, it introduces the “social networking perspective” to this field. Vissa (2012) and Stam (2015) introduced this perspective as a logical extension to the study of the generation of social capital to reach entrepreneurial goals.

Details

Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4620

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 October 2021

Burcu Kör, Adriana Krawczyk and Ingrid Wakkee

Food waste is one of the most challenging issues humanity is currently facing. Therefore, there has been a growing interest in the prevention of food waste because of world…

1573

Abstract

Purpose

Food waste is one of the most challenging issues humanity is currently facing. Therefore, there has been a growing interest in the prevention of food waste because of world hunger, environmental impacts, resource scarcity and economic costs. The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors that influence food waste and the role of technology in tackling food waste in India and the Netherlands.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to explore differences in food loss and waste further this study will examine a number of practices on both the production and the consumer side, in a developing country and a developed country with different culture/economic backgrounds: India and the Netherlands. The factors that influence food waste were examined with a preliminary qualitative study, which consists of semi-structured interviews, and quantitative research that comprises a survey. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in both India and the Netherlands, which consists of five interviews. The survey data was collected from 78 individuals from India and 115 individuals from the Netherlands.

Findings

One of the main findings of the research is food waste is divided into waste within agricultural production (i.e. food loss) and final household consumption (i.e. food waste). Different factors influence food loss in different stages in the supply chain. Some of these factors include wastage during processing, storage, transportation and at the market-place. New technologies can utilize food loss for new purposes, so food loss is reduced to the minimum. Food waste is mainly influenced by food passing expiry date, food that is left too long in the fridge and consumers buying too much food. In final household consumption, technologies such as digital platforms enable individuals or organizations to share and donate their food, thereby creating awareness on food waste prevention and the environmental and ethical benefits.

Originality/value

The authors examine to what extent and in which ways supporting consumers to minimize food waste can be achieved via three stages: (1) understanding and evaluating food loss and waste, (2) identifying the factors that influence food loss and waste, (3) understanding consumer behaviors to encourage food waste reduction and (4) identifying the technological impact that would reduce food waste. As such, this paper contributes to ongoing debates about food waste by looking at the role of context and culture and by exploring differences between developed and developing countries. Also, the authors advance the debate by exploring both the role of advanced technology such as blockchain and drones in both preventing loss and waste as well as non-technological mechanisms.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 124 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 April 2024

Saskia Stoker, Sue Rossano-Rivero, Sarah Davis, Ingrid Wakkee and Iulia Stroila

All entrepreneurs interact simultaneously with multiple entrepreneurial contexts throughout their entrepreneurial journey. This conceptual paper has two central aims: (1) it…

Abstract

Purpose

All entrepreneurs interact simultaneously with multiple entrepreneurial contexts throughout their entrepreneurial journey. This conceptual paper has two central aims: (1) it synthesises the current literature on gender and entrepreneurship, and (2) it increases our understanding of how gender norms, contextual embeddedness and (in)equality mechanisms interact within contexts. Illustrative contexts that are discussed include entrepreneurship education, business networks and finance.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper draws upon extant literature to develop its proposed conceptual framework. It provides suggestions for systemic policy interventions as well as pointing to promising paths for future research.

Findings

A literature-generated conceptual framework is developed to explain and address the systemic barriers faced by opportunity-driven women as they engage in entrepreneurial contexts. This conceptual framework visualises the interplay between gender norms, contextual embeddedness and inequality mechanisms to explain systemic disparities. An extra dimension is integrated in the framework to account for the power of agency within women and with others, whereby agency, either individually or collectively, may disrupt and subvert the current interplay with inequality mechanisms.

Originality/value

This work advances understanding of the underrepresentation of women entrepreneurs. The paper offers a conceptual framework that provides policymakers with a useful tool to understand how to intervene and increase contextual embeddedness for all entrepreneurs. Additionally, this paper suggests moving beyond “fixing” women entrepreneurs and points towards disrupting systemic disparities to accomplish this contextual embeddedness for all entrepreneurs. By doing so, this research adds to academic knowledge on the construction and reconstruction of gender in the field of entrepreneurship.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 February 2013

Peter van der Sijde, Ingrid Wakkee, Eveline Stam and Mirjam Leloux

Valorization of research results is becoming increasingly important today. Since academic research should not only contribute to our “quest for fundamental understanding,” but it…

Abstract

Valorization of research results is becoming increasingly important today. Since academic research should not only contribute to our “quest for fundamental understanding,” but it also needs to “consider use” (Stokes, 1997); these dual goals give rise to tension in academic institutes that need to carefully balance research and its exploitation (Ambos, Mäkelä, Birkenshaw, & D’ Este, 2008). Nevertheless, valorization, commercialization, technology transfer, knowledge exploitation or exploitation of research are different labels for a similar activity and have become part and parcel of academic life. Most universities own the intellectual property rights of their research, meaning they have the legal rights (in some countries the legal obligation) to exploit it in a way they see fit. Research (e.g., Van der Heide, S., Van der Sijde, P. & Terlouw, C. (2010). Exploring ‘transnational’ university cooperation in technology transfer: A European perspective. Industry & Higher Education, 24(1), 17–27) shows that universities have different objectives (e.g. regional development, spin-off creation) for engaging in this process and every university has developed its own approach to deal with this in the sense of funding and support. On an abstract level, there are two scenarios for commercialization (Derksen, J. T. P. (2000). De Ondernemende Onderzoeker: Paradox of Pleonasme [The entrepreneurial researcher: Paradox or pleonasm]. Nijmegen: UBC). In the first scenario the university takes the role of “entrepreneur” and in the second scenario it is the researcher (or the research group) who is involved in research that takes this role with the university being the context in which entrepreneurship takes place. In this contribution our focus is on the university as entrepreneur and we regard valorization as an entrepreneurial process. In order to visualize how the activities of different actors associated with the university contribute to the entrepreneurial process of a university, we will build on ideas postulated by Wakkee and Van der Sijde (2010) regarding the fluid and moldable nature of opportunities. We conceptually elaborate the consequences of their approach for bringing knowledge (and technology) from university to the market.

Details

New Technology-Based Firms in the New Millennium
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-315-5

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 15 June 2015

Paula Danskin Englis and Ingrid Wakkee

Using a series of case studies, we show that global mindset is at the heart of global growth and opportunity for entrepreneurial ventures. We review how having an entrepreneurial…

Abstract

Using a series of case studies, we show that global mindset is at the heart of global growth and opportunity for entrepreneurial ventures. We review how having an entrepreneurial mindset and international experience influence the rapidity of internationalization by discussing the entrepreneurial process and how the global mindset of founders of born global firms influences their choices in the competitive landscape. This chapter closes with a discussion of a continuum — globalization frustrated (focusing on firms with entrepreneurs that have global mindsets but cannot internationalize) to globalization mandated (focusing on firms that are forced to be global).

Details

New Technology-Based Firms in the New Millennium
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-032-6

Article
Publication date: 30 March 2010

Mats A. Lundqvist and Karen L. Williams Middleton

Several types of entrepreneurship with a societal purpose coincide in Sweden today, some stemming from older domestic traditions, others being more recent foreign influences. This…

1616

Abstract

Purpose

Several types of entrepreneurship with a societal purpose coincide in Sweden today, some stemming from older domestic traditions, others being more recent foreign influences. This paper aims to interrelate social, civic, community, and other entrepreneurships in search of a more unifying concept of societal entrepreneurship for Sweden and beyond.

Design/methodology/approach

As part of a larger study, Swedish researchers and practitioners promoting some kind of entrepreneurship with societal purpose, are interviewed and asked for examples and literature references. Altogether 176 actors are identified and 59 are interviewed. The main distinguishing factors between different discourses of entrepreneurship are accounted for as well as results from workshops where actors representing different discourses partook.

Findings

Seven societally oriented entrepreneurship discourses are distinguished, with different foreign or domestic origins. Key characteristics for interrelating different discourses are the type of actor (individual and/or collective) and purpose (social/ecological and/or economic) emphasized in a discourse. Interactions documented from workshops indicate a potential in unifying different entrepreneurships within a widened understanding of societal entrepreneurship.

Research limitations/implications

The field of entrepreneurship emphasizing societal utility is fragmented with many parallel discourses. The conceptual analysis and empirical findings imply that there is potential in a more unifying concept. Furthermore, in the limited Swedish setting, collective dimensions of entrepreneurship stand out. This nevertheless implies that collective engagements into entrepreneurship of any kind are worthy of more research and recognition.

Practical implications

Implications are primarily limited to societal entrepreneurship within uncontested welfare states, such as Sweden, where most established societal needs are taken care of through taxes utilized by a public sector. Societal entrepreneurship in such a setting becomes a mechanism for renewal and experimentation.

Originality/value

The paper is original in its approach to identifying and interrelating current discourses in Sweden.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 March 2010

Pascal Dey and Chris Steyaert

Responding to recent pleas both to critically analyze and to conceptually advance social entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the political “unconscious”…

3899

Abstract

Purpose

Responding to recent pleas both to critically analyze and to conceptually advance social entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the political “unconscious” operates in the narration of social entrepreneurship and how it poses a limit to alternative forms of thinking and talking.

Design/methodology/approach

To move the field beyond a predominantly monological way of narrating, various genres of narrating social entrepreneurship are identified, critically discussed and illustrated against the backdrop of development aid.

Findings

The paper identifies and distinguishes between a grand narrative that incorporates a messianistic script of harmonious social change, counter‐narratives that render visible the intertextual relations that interpellate the grand narration of social entrepreneurship and little narratives that probe novel territories by investigating the paradoxes and ambivalences of the social.

Practical implications

The paper suggests a minor understanding and non‐heroic practice of social entrepreneurship guided by the idea of “messianism without a messiah.”

Originality/value

The paper suggests critical reflexivity as a way to analyze and multiply the circulating narrations of social entrepreneurship.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 March 2010

Jan Donner

The purpose of this paper is to argue that there is a clear distinction between using public funds and non‐public funds for development cooperation.

379

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to argue that there is a clear distinction between using public funds and non‐public funds for development cooperation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes initiatives in development cooperation that the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) has taken in collaboration with partners in the private sector.

Findings

With their partners in the private sector and local partners in developing countries, the KIT is producing at viable costs for willing markets.

Originality/value

The paper provides a privileged, insider's view into working entrepreneurially in developing countries.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

1 – 10 of 22