Editorial

Citation

Jones, P. (2017), "Editorial", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 2-3. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-11-2016-0382

Redefining entrepreneurial contribution

This editorial welcomes the release of Volume 23 of the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research (IJEBR). The editorial team Dr Martina Battista (Co-editor), Professor Lois Shelton (Co-editor), Dr Richard Tunstall (Co-editor) and Dr Claire Seamen (Book Review Editor) remains constant.

The year 2016 has proved to be a successful one for IJEBR. We successfully hit our target of 40 published papers. To date we have seen over 488 submissions, with a year to date acceptance rate of 14.7 per cent. All other statistics remain favourable with an increasing citation profile within both the Scopus and Web of Science systems. In addition, 2016 witnessed IJEBR’s acceptance into the Thomson Reuters Emerging Sources Citation Index.

Volume 23 offers new exciting challenges for IJEBR. I am delighted to announce that our annual paper quota has increased to 44 papers. This is another indication of our intention to further develop the journal’s standing in our field. Issue 1 will see some interesting features including a special section including five papers complied by Professor Andreas Kurkertz on the effective measurement of entrepreneurship using valid scales. Professor Kurkertz includes a detailed editorial on his special section within this issue. This issue also includes three standard papers and two book reviews. The paper from Ahmed, Govindaraju and Klobas considers the role of specialised entrepreneurship education in Pakistan and provides fresh insights into it evaluation within a developing world context. The study by Dempsey, Cong and Xie contributes to the development of a unified theory by considering how the nexus of entrepreneurial orientation and venture performance is contingent on the construct of political skill of the managers/entrepreneurs guiding the venture, and in relation to a sense of organizational justice as it influences stakeholder commitment to the venture. The final paper by Stouraitis, Mior Harun and Kyritsis considers motivators of SME export initiation choice and the European Union regional effect in manufacturing. The study suggests there is a critical difference in the impact of host country and home country motivators (amongst which EU membership) in managers’ attitude towards initiating exporting and regionalization, particularly for sequential exporters. It also finds an association between home country motivators and exporting and a positive relationship between host country motivators and the EU market which conforms to previous research on exporting motivations and risk.

Issue 23/2 will feature a special section on radical entrepreneurship developed by Dr Lucrezia Casulli, Dr Dominic Chalmers, Professor Sarah Drakopoulou Dodd, Dr Russell Matthews and Dr Stoyan Stoyanov from the Strathclyde University. Moreover, a further special issue exploring entrepreneurial learning dynamics in knowledge intensive enterprises will appear in Issue 23/3 from Dr Giustina Secundo, Dr Giovanni Schiuma and Dr Giuseppina Passiante. Two further special calls have recently successfully recruited sufficient papers to develop viable special issues entitled “Rebels with a cause: the revolutionary attitudes, behaviors, and cognition of entrepreneurs” by Professor Andrew Corbett, J. Robert Mitchell, Professor Lois Shelton and Matthew S. Wood. Second, “Advancing sustainable entrepreneurship through substantive research” by Dr Pablo Muñoz, Dr Katerina Nicolopoulou, Professor Frank Janssen and Professor Kai Hockerts. Both these special issues will appear in 2017.

Three further calls for special issues are currently being promoted, namely:

1. “Institutional influences on entrepreneurial behaviours of business families, family businesses, and family business groups” by Claire Seaman, Celine Barredy, Kathleen Randerson and Joshua Daspit.

2. “Organizational resilience and the entrepreneurial firm” by Martie-Louise Verreynne, Marcus Ho, Martina Linnenluecke.

3. “Challenging tensions and contradictions: critical, theoretical and empirical perspectives on social enterprise” by Mike Bull, Geoff Whittam, Rory Ridley-Duff and Sue Baines.

As can be seen from the above, IJEBR is seeking a progressive series of special issues which inform our core topics and provide novel contributions to the entrepreneurship discipline. The journal would welcome new special issue proposals.

In terms of future plans, IJEBR will be seeking application in 2017 to the full Web of Science impact factor system (formerly Thompson Reuters, now Clarivate) since the journal has now spent a year under evaluation within the Emerging Sources Citation Index. There will be a period of evaluation and assessment of IJEBR’s performance.

As previously discussed, IJEBR has also applied to the Chartered Association of Business Schools for an uplift in our ABS ranking. Based on qualitative feedback from our readers, and the growing impact of the journal, we are hopeful that IJEBR is in good shape to be successful in this request. The outcome of this application will be known in early 2018.

Furthermore, IJEBR will also be seeking upgrade in individual European countries journal grading systems. We continue to grow the Editorial Advisory Board and Editorial Review Board with leading and developing international scholars in the entrepreneurship discipline. In coming years, IJEBR will seek to increase the number of published papers from 44 up to 60. All of these initiatives are evidence of IJEBR’s ambition to develop and grow its global profile. We would urge our readership to continue to support the journal through submission of high-quality papers, paper review, special issue development and book reviews. Please look to cite the journal in your research and to promote the journal in your networks.

It was extremely interesting to read Patrick Wright’s (2015) editorial article in the Journal of Management which discussed the nature of academic contribution. Such debate is essential. All IJEBR articles must consider how they inform theory. However, articles which claim the creation of new theory are relatively rare in most journals. IJEBR recognizes the importance of articles which updates or presents theory in different contexts or through alternative perspectives. I would urge all prospective authors to carefully consider the framing of their work and contribution claimed when considering a submission.

I would like to conclude this editorial by thanking all contributors to IJEBR, including authors, reviewers and general readership and wishing them a happy and prosperous new year.