Emerald-ISBE Book Series
Call for Chapter Contributions
Nurturing Modalities of Inquiry in Entrepreneurship Research: Seeing the world through the eyes of those who research
Editorial Team – Prof. Paul Jones, Catherine Brentnall, & Prof. Pauric McGowan
Background
Over the last decade entrepreneurship research has become a popular field of inquiry with a growing research community covering a wide spectrum of subjects, resulting in a large body of research publications and outputs (Weiskopf and Steyaert, 2009; Jennings et al., 2005). However, despite the developing richness of the field, it still suffers from a lack of methodological diversity (Acs and Audretsch, 2003; Zahra, 2007; Neergard and Ulhoi, 2007; Wiklund et al., 2011). The field is said to have an issue surrounding the replication of certain dominant approaches, with empirical research often using the same methods again and again (Chandler and Lyon 2001; McDonald, Gan, and Anderson 2004; McElwee and Atherton 2005; Mullen, Budeva, and Doney 2009; Neergaard 2007). There have been increasing calls for methodological and theoretical variety when researching entrepreneurship and related areas, to mobilise creative ways for developing, generating and analysing empirical data (Bygrave 1989, 2007; Gartner and Birley 2002; Hindle 2004; Huse and Landström 1997; Jack 2010; Neergaard and Ulhoi 2007; Fayolle, Verzat & Wapshott, 2016). Techniques and approaches that capture context, richness and diversity can help advance our understanding of entrepreneurship and its related issues and topics, as they can accommodate a greater degree of complexity (Neergard and Ulhoi, 2007). But there are currently few journals or book-based publications which offer or encourage the use of differing ontological, epistemological, methodological or data capture/analysis modes of inquiry.
Therefore, the aim of this publication is to stimulate discussion, share practice and explore challenges around current and new approaches to inquiry – encompassing all aspects of entrepreneurship research spectrum, from its conception through to its execution and related issues such as entrepreneurship education, training and learning. Our goal is to advance the manner in which we learn, think about and engage with various modalities of inquiry in entrepreneurship research and practice, and its related subjects and areas of interest. The publication will serve as a timely point to reflect upon and critique the skills and knowledge which are required by researchers to develop meaningful and interesting research which challenges assumptions and leads to new insight.
We aim that readers have space to explore new or existing approaches to inquiry and think critically about their adoption and use, as well as being introduced to diverse and challenging methodological and philosophical approaches. As such, areas of interest are those including, and related to:
- current cutting-edge debates which critically engage with the various issues and concerns relating to doing social research from methods and methodologies, through to philosophical, theoretical, ethical, political and practical issues within research design;
- discussing, problematising, and challenging assumptions regarding aspects of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods of data collection and analysis;
- Questioning ideologies and dominant assumptions/grand narratives and how taken for granted assumptions inform and shape research designs, questions and findings;
- discussion on the purposefulness of specific approaches in order to provide arguments or findings that are robust yet relevant in relation to a particular method or methodology;
- new, innovative or challenging methods/perspectives regarding data collection and analysis, research design, theoretical perspectives and philosophical positions, and the learning of unorthodox or novel approaches and methods in research;
- the application of various and surprising epistemological and ontological positions and the implications of this use for the theories and logics of entrepreneurship and related areas of interest;
- impacts for scholarship and practitioners when utilising different research approaches and conversing with academic and non-academic populations and audiences,
- connecting with and drawing from fields outside of entrepreneurship which may offer important lessons for, or approaches to, inquiry, and related issues,
- strategies for establishing the value of research in ways analogous to the demands for internal and external validity and reliability in positive research
- exploring how relevant existing research approaches are as a means of developing meaningful knowledge to the practitioner or educator;
- ethical issues and dilemmas within scholarship and research;
- commentaries, exemplifications, critiques regarding the knowledge and skills required by researchers to develop trustworthy and insightful research;
- demonstrations or explorations regarding reflexive, self-aware research and the role of the researcher in creating research products,
- the relationship between reflexivity and becoming a researcher, the relationship between researcher development and more critically understanding of research methodology;
- alternative presentations and writing styles of research products which exemplify and enact creative and challenging approaches to inquiry.
As editors we take the position that research is a craft where the researcher’s knowledge of methods and paradigmatic debate alone is not enough. Thoughtful inquiry requires the questioning of the relationship between ourselves, our roles as researchers, writers, educators, our pre-understandings and interpretations (Alvesson and Skoldberg, 2017). As the subtitle of the book suggests, we seek contributions which embody this reflexive sensibility. The development of such reflexive research skill is an important challenge for the field. Our emphasis on modes of inquiry will support scholarly discussions about ways to foster new and insightful ways of researching in the future and create space for reflection in regards to various approaches and dimensions of research design and application now. In conclusion, this publication will provide a focus for on-going and emerging methodologically related conversations within the field by our focussing on modalities of inquiry. The editors encourage the contribution of reflexive articles, both conceptual and empirical, which illustrate the messy, heterogeneous, challenging and problematic nature of research into entrepreneurship and its related sub-topics and issues.
Guidance for authors / Submitting Author Requirements
Contributors are initially invited to submit an extended chapter abstract (1500 words) which offers the readership new and insightful ways of researching utilising new and various approaches and dimensions of research design and application.
- Interested contributors to this publication are required to please send a 1500-word abstract together with up to six keywords and a 100-word biography for each author by 10 January 2022.
- If the abstract is accepted (with revisions where necessary), the full paper will be required within 10 months. Acceptance of the abstract at the proposal stage does not mean an automatic acceptance of the chapter following peer review. Completed chapters will have a length of 8.000-10.000 words, including tables and references and should provide an abstract, keywords, introduction, key literature, description of the case study and conclusions. All submissions will be blind peer reviewed.
- All final chapters will be peer reviewed and contributing authors will be encouraged to join in with the peer review process, also aiding cross-chapter connections to be made.
Please send your Initial Extended Abstract by 10 January 2022 to –
******If you would like to informally discuss a possible contribution, then please contact either members of the Editorial Team listed above. Please note that we will ONLY accept proposals for which the data collection has already been completed.
Publication Deadlines –
- May / December 2021: Call for Contributions – Extended Chapter Abstract (1500 words)
- 10th January 2022: Initial Extended Abstract Submission Deadline
- 25th January 2022: Extended Chapter Abstract Review Outcome to Authors
- January / October 2022: Chapter Submission
- November 2022: Final Acceptance Notification
- Jan – April 2023 – Projected Publication
