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To date, insufficient research has been conducted on gender differences in entrepreneurial activity among entrepreneurs in developing countries. This study aims to analyse the influences of formal and informal institutional factors on entrepreneurial activity among men and women in the context of Saudi Arabia.

This research involves a quantitative analysis of recently collected primary data. Hypotheses are formulated and tested using the Mann–Whitney U test and a binomial logistic regression analysis. Also, the present study draws on institutional economics as a framework to explore how formal and informal institutional factors influence whether Saudi Arabian men and women become entrepreneurs.

The results revealed that compared to the effects of formal institutional factors, the effects of informal institutional factors are more reliable predictors of women’s entrepreneurship behaviour. Specifically, women are more likely than men to be stereotyped and more likely to benefit from networking.

Regarding policy implications, this study suggests several checks for different institutions to increase entrepreneurship among each gender.

The findings presented here advance entrepreneurial research by empirically examining factors that influence men’s and women’s desires to become entrepreneurs in a fast-growing emerging economy. The findings show a substantial shift in the institutional environment and indicate an extremely collectivist society. This study provides a basis for future studies on factors within the institutional environment and their impacts on whether men and women become entrepreneurs in Eastern nations. Regarding policy implications, this study suggests several ways for different institutions to increase entrepreneurship among each gender.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how mindfulness training impacts creativity with individuals in a workgroup and propose a methodology for future research.

The methodology developed drew on existing laboratory-based research and applied those designs in a real-world application. The sample participants were from a mid-sized real estate firm that included ten realtors and support staff, six in the treatment group and four in the comparison group. The study took place over 16 weeks where pre-test and post-test mindfulness and creativity assessments were administered. A five-week mindfulness training was conducted with the treatment group and following the post-tests with the comparison group.

Results indicated that the mindfulness training positively impacted creativity in the moment and over time. There was evidence that the mindfulness training positively impacted an individual’s level of attention and awareness in daily activities which is likely to influence creative outcomes in organizational settings.

This study shows that it is possible to design experimental studies in work settings and contribute to the empirical research about mindfulness despite the widely held perception about scarcity of time and lack of access to do such research. The findings also build on existing literature and address some of the gaps in current research. The most notable limitation relates to the small sample size.

The finding affirms that even a short but consistent practice of mindfulness in organizations can lead to a measurable increase in creativity.

This empirical study adds value to existing literature by expanding laboratory-based methodology to a practical application. One of the unique aspects of this research relates to the sample population. This research was conducted with an intact workgroup and translates the insights gained from laboratory research to a potential benefit for an organization by applying a version of this methodology to enhance its workgroup creativity.

In this volume of Advances in Appreciative Inquiry, leading scholars from the fields of management, organization development, information technology, and education come together to chart new directions in Appreciative Inquiry theory and research as well as new intervention practices and opportunities for design in organizations. While diverse in topic and discipline, each of the following original chapters treats the reader to a view of Appreciative Inquiry's revolutionary way of approaching familiar questions of management, organization design, and sustainability.

This chapter provides an in-depth analysis of the cleanup and closing of the nuclear weapons facility at Rocky Flats (RF), Colorado, United States, which was completed 60 years ahead of schedule and $30 billion under budget. We demonstrate how the events leading to the successful completion of the project was an instance of generativity made possible by the Appreciative Intelligence of the project leaders and participants. At the end of the Cold War, production at RF was terminated and experts considered cleaning up of the dangerous facility technically impossible, risky, and impractical. Yet, working in collaboration with contractors, local officials, and community leaders, the RF team achieved extraordinary results. After the unprecedented cleanup, 4,000 acres were transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and became a national wildlife refuge. Generativity is an approach to life that directs our actions toward positive outcomes. For generativity to happen, stakeholders in the RF project had to care about the environment around them for innovative solutions to emerge. Instead of stagnation or blind acceptance of circumstances, they chose to reframe and find new ways to perceive situations facing them. This case study shows that individuals with high Appreciative Intelligent acknowledge present circumstances, choose to reframe, see possibilities for the future, and take the necessary actions to achieve them. They also expand their Appreciative Intelligence beyond their personal lives. At RF, despite the imminent closing of the plant, stakeholders generated socially responsible solutions and transformed a public liability into a community asset.

For decades, the Altiplano farmers of Bolivia had been marginalized by the remoteness of their home and exploitation by the private sector and injustices inflicted by the government. The notion that this impoverished region could sustain economic development might correctly have been described as hopeless. The Altiplano farmers’ inability to develop a sustainable source of income threatened their very cultural identity. The only manner in which the farmers’ culture might be sustained was through charitable donations from international NGOs. But it is exactly in this situation, when obstacles are stacked against success, where appreciative intelligence can provide an avenue to overcome despair. After years of working with NGOs, Javier Hurtado was able to identify a source of value that could provide hope and a path to sustainable development for the Altiplano farmers. This is the story of the impact that one individual's application of appreciative intelligence can have on a community. The Irupana story illustrates how our destinies are shaped by our ability to discover that which is best within ourselves and the communities in which we live. This is the story of Javier Hurtado and Martha Cordero, founders of Irupana Organic Foods located in the Bolivian Altiplano, as they discover the unique potential in the harsh Bolivian landscape and the impoverished peasant farmers that inhabit this setting. Through the framework of appreciative intelligence, the researchers observed the entrepreneurs reframe their circumstances around the positive potential that is within the Altiplano-farming community and its unique natural resources, and create a successful organic foods company.