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Using the extant literature review, this paper aims to explore the relationship between gender, entrepreneurial education (EE) and entrepreneurial intention (EI) in the Indian context, which the authors believe is a novel approach to this research stream. The authors also use career preparedness as a control variable to examine this relationship.

Data were collected from 368 undergraduate students across four Indian universities (one exclusively for female students) through a standard structured questionnaire. Additionally, rather than examining, EI has been treated as a monolithic construct; however, the authors conceptualize it as comprising three different dimensions that include grand vision and risk-taking ability; opportunity exploitation; and ability to persevere. An additional analysis was conducted for the students who reported higher scores for “being well prepared for their careers” through their institutes’ academic programs and communities of entrepreneurs. The authors also interviewed some entrepreneurship instructors, who confirmed the present findings through their observations.

The findings indicate that, essentially, there is a positive relationship between EE and EI. The authors find that male students scored higher for the first two dimensions of EI but not the third. Additionally, the authors used career preparedness as a control variable for additional analysis. The authors observed that students with higher “career preparedness” reported a positive relationship between EE and EI, independent of gender, for all three dimensions of EI. Thus, it may be assumed that if a community of entrepreneurs needs to be developed in India, a focus on career preparedness is critical.

First, given that the present survey reflected a single moment in linking EE to EI (which may be considered a limitation of the study), future researchers might focus on a longitudinal approach. Second, all the respondents are attending urban universities (and, as such, very likely belong to the upper middle class of Indian society). The financial divide between urban and rural India is well known; as such, the results might be different if the sample was drawn from rural and poor India.

The salience/value of this study lies in the conceptualization of EI comprising three sub-constructs to understand the impact of formal EE (with three sub-constructs) on EI. The focus on career preparedness for a female student is a new direction of inquiry with respect to entrepreneurial intention.

We wanted to find out how infant multinationals originating from Poland enact opportunities in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.

We conducted a comparative case study of four Polish firms operating in SSA.

We found that when entering SSA, studied firms employed effectual decision-making logic. Thus, their internationalization was means-driven, serendipitous, partnership-oriented, based on the “affordable loss” principle and focused on shaping opportunities in SSA, rather than predicting, analyzing and planning any firm-specific assets or capabilities.

We illuminated the nature of the means employed in effectual internationalization and the role of partners (“effectual stakeholders”) in this process. Thus, we contribute to a deeper understanding of how infant multinationals navigate extreme uncertainty in the emerging SSA markets.

Knowledge of how entrepreneurial alertness (EA) and effectuation impact small firms' performance in uncertain markets is limited. Suggesting effectuation as a mediation mechanism between EA and small firms' performance, the authors explore how entrepreneurs of small firms apply effectual logic to translate their individual alertness to market opportunities into firms' performance.

A set of hypotheses is tested by partial least squares analysis of survey data collected from small firms in New Zealand.

The results show that effectuation works as a mechanism that mediates a positive association between founders'/managers' alertness to market opportunities and small firms' performance.

Integrating EA with the effectuation theory, the authors contribute to the literature on new market opportunity development and firm performance. The authors argue that entrepreneurs concentrate on action and resources to further develop their marketing intelligence in developing new market opportunities. The authors also enhance the understanding of entrepreneurial marketing decision-making by small firms in a relatively small economy in the Asia–Pacific region.

This study aims to assess the impact of visual multimedia in improving entrepreneurial competence and economic self-efficacy among widowed women farmers.

The participants received entrepreneurial training through visual multimedia package. The sample size was made up of 540 widowed women farmers. The entrepreneurship competence and economic self-efficacy scales were used as the instruments for data collection. The purpose of the entrepreneurial competence scale was to measure the mental competence of the participants to engage in entrepreneurial ventures. On the other hand, the economic self-efficacy scale measured the ability of the women to solve their financial problems, thus, meeting their financial needs. Both scales were administered face-to-face to the participants before, and after the training and during follow-up assessment after three years.

The result of the study showed that the women farmers reported low entrepreneurship competence and economic self-efficacy before the training. After the training, the women farmers who received the multimedia training reported an improvement, but those who did not receive the training did not show an improvement. A follow-up assessment after three years revealed stability in the improvement among women farmers who received the training. It was also indicated that interactive visual multimedia was found to be more effective than noninteractive visual multimedia.

This study has provided empirical evidence on how best to empower widowed women farmers by improving their entrepreneurial competence and economic self-efficacy. This information could be useful for policy formulation and advocacy in relation to women’s empowerment.

We explore how NGO’s local entrepreneurial initiatives to empower women entrepreneurs can compensate for weak state policies for women in a context of male-dominated socio-cultural norms.

We use the case of a local entrepreneurial initiative launched in the Atlas region of Morocco, the Empowering Women in the Atlas Initiative (EWA). We collected data through 51 semi-structured interviews of women entrepreneurs in three cooperatives which exploit the natural resources of their region to establish a social venture. Our data are longitudinal as they were collected at two time periods: before and after the initiative.

The findings of this study suggest that local entrepreneurial initiatives can have a significant impact on rural women entrepreneurs’ empowerment. The improved perception of empowerment has not only helped them develop capacities to leverage the business opportunities linked to the natural resources of their region, but it has also increased their status and role within their family and community.

We make recommendations for policymakers to encourage this type of initiative to compensate for the absence of supporting policies geared toward women.

Our study is one of the first to look at empowerment as a policy instrument to develop women entrepreneurial activities in rural areas of developing countries. Our paper uses a unique hierarchical perspective and a multidimensional framework for analyzing social cooperative ventures and rural women entrepreneurs’ empowerment. Our paper unravels interesting insights for women entrepreneurs’ narration strategies.

Recognizing novel entrepreneurial opportunities arising from a crisis is of paramount importance for firms. Hence, understanding the pivotal factors that facilitate firms in this endeavor holds significant value. This study delves into such factors within a representative empirical context impacted by a crisis, drawing insights from existing literature on opportunity recognition during such tumultuous periods.

The authors conducted a qualitative inspection of 14 Italian firms during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The authors collected a rich body of multi-source qualitative data, including 34 interviews (with senior managers and entrepreneurs) and secondary data (press releases, videos, web interviews, newspapers, reports and academic articles) in two phases (March–August 2020 and September–December 2020).

The results suggest the existence of a process model of opportunity recognition during crises based on five entrepreneurial influencing factors (entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial proclivity, entrepreneurial personality and entrepreneurial purpose).

Various scholars have highlighted that, in times of crises, it is not easy and indeed very challenging for entrepreneurs to identify novel entrepreneurial opportunities. However, recent research has shown that crises can also positively impact entrepreneurs and their capacity to identify new entrepreneurial opportunities. Given these findings, not much research has analyzed the process by which entrepreneurs identify novel entrepreneurial opportunities during crises. This study shows that some entrepreneurial influencing factors are very important to identify new entrepreneurial opportunities during crises.

Previous research features the international experience of managers in the decisions regarding internationalisation speed. However, the vitality of the role a chairperson plays in shaping the internationalisation decisions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from emerging economies is intriguing. Moreover, the decision-making process and leadership context of SME internationalisation are not fully understood. Drawing upon the upper echelons decision-making theory and the cognitive perspectives of decision, this paper examines the impact of a chairperson's previous experience on the post-entry speed of internationalisation, highlighting the conditioning effects of leadership contingencies – the functional variety and power of the chairperson.

The study uses a panel data set of Chinese SMEs active from 2010 to 2019 to test the research hypotheses. A feasible generalised least-squares estimator was applied to test the hypotheses.

The results show that the international experience of a chairperson speeds up the depth and breadth of the post-entry speed of internationalisation. However, the strength of these relationships depends on the leadership context. The chairperson's functional variety alleviates the influence of international experience, whilst the power of the chairperson reinforces its impact.

The results show that the international experience of a chairperson speeds up the depth and breadth of the post-entry speed of internationalisation. However, the strength of these relationships depends on the leadership context. The chairperson's functional variety alleviates the influence of international experience, whilst the power of the chairperson reinforces its impact.

This study investigates the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and knowledge management (KM) on firm performance (PERF), as well as the mediating role of KM in the EO–PERF (EO-PERF relationship). In particular, this study aims to explain the impact of KM on the relationship between the EO dimensions and PERF; dimensions are risk-taking (RT), innovativeness (IN) and proactiveness (PR).

This study uses structural equation modelling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methodologies to explore target relationships. The sample consists of 150 small furniture manufacturers operating in Poland (out of 1,480 in the population).

The study findings show that KM partially mediates the IN–PERF relationship. Furthermore, fsQCA reveals that KM accompanied by IN is a core condition that leads to PERF. Moreover, the absence of KM (accompanied by the absence of RT and IN) leads to the absence of PERF. In addition, the results show that all the variables examined (RT, IN, PR and KM) positively impact PERF.

This study explores the role of KM in the context of EO and its impact on PERF in the low-tech industry. The study uses simultaneously two methodologies that represent different approaches in the search for the expected relationships. The findings reveal that KM mediates the EO-PERF relationship.

Although commitment and employability are legitimized in the current world of work, they also have a dark side that has been ignored in the extant literature. To tackle this gap, the study developed and examined a comprehensive theoretical framework including learning, motivation, commitment, employability and self-exploitation. Limited research exists that explicitly examines this relationship or explores its potential implications. The author theorizes employability as a cultural fantasy that ends up in self-exploitation.

The study concretizes Lacan's (1977; 1981 and 1988) psychoanalysis, utilizing a sample of 658 subjects from eight industries. The hypothesized relationships were examined using structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS.

The findings provided support for the hypothesized relationships. Employability escorts to self-exploitation. Those employees who try to remain relevant to their firms continue to engage in employability activities end up being exploited in this process.

The study provides a new roadmap to scholars of employability who wish to explore the domain further.

The theoretical knowledge from this research will inform practice. It will influence managers and policymakers in the organization as well as politicians. Although the macroaspects of the organizational environment are beyond the control of an organization, the development efforts of the organization should be real and should not estrange individuals from their true nature. The real intent should be to unite the individual with its true nature. This way, it will be real development and will empower individuals rather than exploitation.

The finding that commitment is linked to self-exploitation via employability has implications for managers and policymakers. To avoid estrangement and exploitation, the organization should focus on employee real development. To have an ideal workplace, where employees unite with their nature, the organization should invest in employees, focus on their real needs, emphasize their career prospects and constantly provide them with learning and growth opportunities. In addition to material compensation, the organization should connect people with their true spirit. An organization that is concerned with people's real needs and real development will have a pool of human capital that will create real value for the organization and society as well.

The dark side of employability has been ignored in the extant literature. Limited research exists that explicitly examines this relationship or explores its potential implications. This study is an initiative for such debate.

In developing countries like Tanzania, gems and jewellery industry mainly consists of disintegrated and unstable micro and small workshops which operate in a way that misalign value addition processes. This study is aimed to bridge gap by focussing on exploitation of industrial clusters in social normalisation and economic resilience to developing countries. The world economic shocks has been not only individually experienced but also globally shared while disrupted lives across all countries and communities and negatively affected global socio-economic growth.

Furthermore, the explorative design was adopted in this study in order to explore needs of respondents, and with the aim to direct the study towards a descriptive design. The sample frame consists of participants in gems and jewellery activities in Tanzania whereby sample was drawn from Dar es Salaam and Arusha. Semi-structured interview was used to collect quantitative data to establish evidence of Tanzanians’ SSJs linked to global value chains (GVCs).

Results revealed the benefits of exploitation of artisanal industrial clusters to Tanzanians’ SSJs when linked to global value chains (GVCs). Findings of the study demonstrate the importance of artisanal industrial clusters in facilitating Tanzanians’ SSJs to access GVCs. Further, insufficient education, trust and social protection directly affects inclusive GVCs, inferring that the impact of artisanal industrial clusters on inclusive GVCs in social normalisation and economic resilience.

Study findings reveals shortcomings in existing regulatory framework of linking Tanzanians’ SSJs to artisanal industrial clusters, for improvements to better support the inclusiveness in GVCs. Findings of this research invite interventions on institutional capabilities and entrepreneurial competencies to enhance the capabilities of small-scale jewellers (SSJs). Like other studies, this study involved cross-sectional data, limit targeted study population as representative of SSJs in industrial clusters and GVCs in economic crises at limited time.

The study findings makes important practical contributions to the Tanzania’s SSJs by examining mediating role of artisanal industrial clusters hence informing policymakers of mining sector how to improve accessibility on GVCs by focus on offering great institutional capabilities and entrepreneurial competencies. These findings will help SSJs and policy makers to get better understanding of the relationships in exploitation of artisanal industrial clusters when accessing GVCs. Therefore, they can make better decisions on implementing artisanal industrial clusters as well as management accessing GVCs, so that SSJs will attain the best possible performance.

This emphasises the importance of community empowerment in the GVCs process through artisanal industrial clusters. Study findings indicate the influence of industrial relations to social dynamics which are previously inadequately addressed and scantly researched. In actual fact study propose initiatives that ensure local communities benefit socially from the integration of SSJs into GVCs through artisanal industrial clusters. Findings suggest local communities that take into account inter-sectionality of artisanal industrial clusters and inclusive GVCs, by considering how factors like education, trust and social protection status intersect to influence the social inclusiveness of SSJs.

There is limited evidence of linking Tanzanians’ SSJs to GVCs in social normalisation and economic resilience and few researchers have explored this topic. This article leverages exploitation of industrial clusters in normalisation and economic resilience to developing countries such as Tanzania as way of improving shared prosperity, sustainability, inclusive growth, cohesion, value chain upgrading and financial inclusion to SSJs.