Keywords
Citation
(2014), "2013 Awards for Excellence", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 22 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-03-2014-001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2013 Awards for Excellence
Article Type: 2013 Awards for Excellence From: International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Volume 22, Issue 1
The following article was selected for this year’s Outstanding Paper Award for International Journal of Organizational Analysis
"The evolution of entrepreneurial learning"
Dermot Breslin
The Management School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Colin Jones
Australian Innovation Research Centre, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an evolutionary perspective on entrepreneurial learning, whilst also accounting for fundamental ecological processes, by focusing on the development of key recurring, knowledge components within nascent and growing small businesses.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper relates key developments within the organizational evolution literature to research on entrepreneurial learning, with arguments presented in favor of adopting a multi-level co-evolutionary perspective that captures and explains hidden ecological process, such as niche-construction.
Findings – It is argued in the paper that such a multi-level focus on key recurring knowledge components can shed new light on the process of entrepreneurial learning and lead to the cross-fertilization of ideas across different domains of study, by offering researchers the opportunity to use the framework of variation-selection-retention to develop a multi-level representation of organizational and entrepreneurial learning.
Originality/value – Entrepreneurial learning viewed in this way, as a multi-level struggle for survival amongst competing knowledge components, can provide entrepreneurs with a set of evolutionary heuristics as they reinterpret their understanding of the evolution of their business.
Keywords: Ecology, Entrepreneurial learning, Entrepreneurialism, Evolutionary theory, Learning, Niche construction
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/IJOA-03-2014-001
This article originally appeared in Volume 20 Number 3, 2012. International Journal of Organizational Analysis
The following article was selected for this year’s Highly Commended Award
“Pragmatism and heterodoxy in organization research: going beyond the quantitative/qualitative divide
Mihaela Kelemen and Nick Rumens
This article originally appeared in Volume 20 Number 1, 2012, International Journal of Organizational Analysis
Outstanding reviewers
Dr Demetris Vrontis
Dr Shlomo Tarba