Citation
Jones, P. (2015), "Editorial: the coming of age", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 21 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-01-2015-0010
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Editorial: the coming of age
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Volume 21, Issue 1
The twenty-first volume of the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research (IJEBR) represents something of a coming of age in this brave new post ref 2014 era. No doubt the new journal ranking guide will shortly emerge to further challenge both our individual and organisational research strategies. Looking to the future, it is the intention of the journal to upwardly reposition itself within the league tables as a progressive and leading international entrepreneurship journal. The central aim of IJEBR is to publish original research related to the human and social dynamics of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial management in small and growing organisations, at an international level.
To achieve this aim several activities have already been undertaken. First, this issue witnesses the expansion and relaunch of the Editorial Advisory Board (EAB). The new EAB encompasses academics drawn from throughout the global academic community and includes many world renowned and significant names in the entrepreneurship discipline. It is the expectation of IJEBR that all members of the ERB contribute to the further growth and development of the journal in terms of submitting papers, developing special issues, writing review articles, contributing invited articles and journal promotion. My sincere thanks on behalf of the journal to all outgoing ERB members who have completed their term of office on the EAB.
Second, this issue sees the launch of the Journal Review Board (JRB). This new board provides a panel of experienced and emerging academics who will provide high-quality reviewers to paper submissions and thus increase the efficiency of papers through the paper processing system. There is also an expectation that JRB members will contribute papers and look to promote and support the journal. The journal would like to thank all that submitted an application and welcome all new board members to the JRB. There will of course be future opportunities to progress from the JRB to the EAB based on contribution to the journal. There will of course be an ongoing need to call on the services of ad hoc reviewers from the entrepreneurship discipline to assist the efficient processing of papers. Reviewing for the journal remains a crucial role to the success of the journal and I would urge all supporters of IJEBR to accept the role.
Third, the journal will be releasing calls for a number of Special Issues. The aim of these SIs is to provide high calibre issues that contribute significantly to the development of the academic debate in a range of current entrepreneurial topics. Currently, the SI being promoted is entitled "Measuring entrepreneurship – a collection of valid scales" guest edited by Professor Andreas Kuckertz of the University of Hohenheim. The special issue seeks to evaluate the scales that measure the entrepreneurship discipline that enables the academic community to produce rigorous and relevant research. Professor Kuckertz would welcome expressions of interest in the call. Further details can be seen on the web site.
Finally, the journal is seeking to apply for inclusion to the Thomson Reuters’ Social Sciences Citation Index and achieve IJEBR’s first Impact Factor. Achieving Thomson ISI is a key measurement of impact for any academic journal and a benchmark for a quality journal. This is a lengthy three year process but an essential step towards increasing the reputation and standing of IJEBR to international audiences.
The current issue offers six papers and two book reviews. The first paper by Müller, Korsgaard and Tanvig considers how rural entrepreneurship engages with place and space. It explores the concept of "rural" as a socio-spatial concept in rural entrepreneurship and illustrates the importance of distinguishing between ideal types of rural entrepreneurship. The study proposes two ideal types. First, entrepreneurship in the rural and second rural entrepreneurship. The former represents entrepreneurial activities with limited embeddedness enacting a profit-oriented and mobile logic of space. The latter represents entrepreneurial activities that leverage local resources to re-connect place to space. While both types contribute to local development, the latter holds the potential for an optimised use of the resources in the rural area, and these ventures are unlikely to relocate even if economic rationality would suggest it. This study contributes to the enhanced understanding of the localised processes of entrepreneurship and how these processes are enabled and constrained by the immediate context or "place".
The second paper by Vaillant, Bayon and Lafuente examines the direct effect of two individual level resources, one subjective and the other objective, and their interaction in influencing the business entry decision. The results revealed that perceived entrepreneurial ability has a distinct positive influence on the decision to initiate entrepreneurial activities and its impact is greater than that of actual abilities. Furthermore, the study found evidence of a positive interaction effect suggesting that perceived entrepreneurial ability is a key determinant of entrepreneurial initiatives among those with high actual ability.
The third paper by Thompson and Zang examines the influence of foreign investment on the local SME sector after the 2008 financial crisis. The results here indicated a complementarity relationship between foreign influence on employment and firm births is important for policy makers looking to revive struggling local economies. However, the relevant support needs to be in place to maximise the benefit from the supply of new entrepreneurs generated.
The fourth paper by Shirokova, Vega and Knatko brings together a strategic choice perspective and an institutional perspective in order to address how Russian founder chief executive officers (CEOs) perceive the institutional environment when succession issues are taken into consideration? Second, how the perceived characteristics of different formal and informal institutions affect the founder CEO’s decision to delegate authority to a professional CEO? Third, the study considers the main barriers to founder CEO succession in threshold firms in emerging markets such as Russia? The paper defines and studies threshold firms and analyses how various perceived characteristics of the institutional environment in emerging markets influence the likelihood of transition from founder management to professional management. Institutional factors such as poor security of property rights and dependence of the business on relationships with government officials have a negative impact on the likelihood of founder CEO succession in threshold firms in emerging markets. Moreover, the perception of contract law as insecure increases the likelihood of transition from founder management to professional management.
The fifth paper by Colombelli identifies the factors affecting the growth of companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the London Stock Exchange market for young and growing companies. The study findings confirm that small companies listed on the AIM grow more quickly after the initial public offering (IPO). It seems that both human capital and firm characteristics are important determinants of rapid growth.
The final paper by Gabaldon, De Anca and Galdon is a comparative analysis of time spent at work and undertaking childcare by female workers with children in Spain between 2009 and 2010, using a combination of descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis based on the Time-Use Survey 2009-2010. The results of the paper indicate that self-employed working mothers tend to spend more time with their children when these are under the age of 10, and that they work longer hours than salaried mothers. The issue is completed by two book reviews provided by Deniz Tuncalp and Keith Jackson.
In my role as Editor in Chief of IJEBR I would like to offer my thanks to the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE). IJEBR has a long standing association with ISBE. ISBE is the most significant UK-based learned society and professional membership organisation dedicated to furthering the research, policy, education and practice for entrepreneurship and small business. ISBE members provide many current members for both the ERB and JRB, reviewers to the journal and many paper submissions. Their ongoing contribution is a great support to the ongoing success of the journal.
To conclude we are looking to further develop the Editorial team to support the growth in international submissions to the journal. As always I would like to fully acknowledge the considerable contribution of both the academic team but also my gratitude to the Emerald team of Annie Simmons (Managing Editor), Heather Goss (Editorial Assistant) and Patti Davis (Publisher) for their considerable support, diligence and commitment to the delivery and further development of the journal. Finally, we would like to thank all the authors and reviewers for their efforts in developing their work to a publishable quality for this issue.
Paul Jones