Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Sessions Featuring External Enablement

Sessions featuring ‘External Enablement’ at the Academy of Management Meeting 2023

Session 945: Symposium: Societal Crises as External Enablers of Venture Development; Monday August 07, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Hynes 302 (See further separate posting)

Session 1532: Entrepreneurship and Environmental Sustainability. Paper Session including “Climate Change as an External Enabler of Entrepreneurial Activity” (ID 12845) by Mirko Hirschmann, University of Luxembourg. Monday August 07, 06:00 PM - 07:30 PM, Hynes 201

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between climate change and new entrepreneurial activity. We propose, using the emerging Theory of External Enablers (TEE), that climate change can enable entrepreneurial activity when individuals perceive environmental uncertainty as an attractive opportunity to start a business. Our multi-level analysis of 1,116,324 individuals from 100 countries over a 10-year period strongly supports the idea that climate change can stimulate entrepreneurial activity. Our moderation analysis further shows that women and individuals with a larger entrepreneurial network are even more likely to view climate change as a potential entrepreneurial opportunity. However, those with higher entrepreneurial self-efficacy are generally less likely to see climate change in this way. We discuss the implications of this evidence-based understanding of climate change as a catalyst for new entrepreneurial action for the fields of entrepreneurship and management.

Session 1629: Topics and Concepts in Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurship. Paper session including “External Enablement of Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship” (ID 17803) by Marie Madeleine Meurer, Jönköping International Business School. Tuesday August 08, 08:00 AM - 09:30 AM, Hynes 108.

Abstract: Increasingly, entrepreneurship scholars are using the external enabler framework to explain how environmental changes, so-called external enablers, impact entrepreneurial activities. By providing insights into the applicability and development needs of the external enabler framework based on social entrepreneurship literature, we tease out how this literature stream can inform the external enabler framework. To achieve this, we apply a topic modeling approach to both commercial and social entrepreneurship literature. This approach allows us to disentangle similarities and differences between external enablers of commercial as well as social entrepreneurship. While social entrepreneurship literature would mainly profit from a broader perspective on external enablers (e.g., global social impact vs. local community), social entrepreneurship literature can inform the external enablers framework regarding actor – external enabler interactions, as well as the role of external enablers in narratives. We conclude by providing a research agenda that can guide future research applying the external enabler framework to social and commercial entrepreneurial activities.

Session 1634: Entrepreneur Migration. Paper session including “Typology of Migrant Entrepreneurs’ New Venture Ideas (19483) by Muhammad Sufyan, Jyväskylä University. Tuesday August 08, 08:00 AM - 09:30 AM, Hynes 202

Abstract: Migrant entrepreneurs have diversity in their thinking about new venture ideas (NVIs), which is evident through their businesses in multiple industries, ranging from low value added to highly knowledge intensive. Nonetheless, migrant entrepreneurship literature has yet to conceptualize migrant entrepreneurs’ diversity of NVIs and explain why they vary in their thinking about new venture ideas. With this conceptual study, we have constructed a typology of migrant entrepreneurs’ new venture ideas by building on the ethnicity/non-ethnicity of market niches and value chains, which are the two essential aspects of potential business models. Consequently, we identified that migrant entrepreneurs could imagine four NVIs; ethnic NVIs, break-out NVIs, market break-out NVIs and resources break-out NVIs. In addition, we have adapted the external enablers and actors’ characteristics concepts in the context of migrant entrepreneurs’ NVIs. More specifically, we have developed ethnic, non-ethnic, and trans-ethnic enablement, embeddedness, and human capital concepts to explain variations in migrant entrepreneurs’ NVIs. We further discuss the contributions to migrant entrepreneurship and external enablers of entrepreneurship research.

Session 1788: Impact Investing. Paper session including “Impact Investment as an External Enabler of Entrepreneurship (13926)” by Gilbert Adarkwah, HEC Montreal. Tuesday August 08, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Hynes 108.

Abstract: Recently, there has been a rise in impact investment funds that seek to support the establishment and growth of sustainable ventures, especially in the Global South. But does impact investment have an effect, and if so, how? In light of the lacking evidence and theory on how entrepreneurship is enabled by the environment, there are few answers to these questions. In this study, we seek to answer whether impact investment serves as an external enabler of entrepreneurship. We theorize that impact investment enables entrepreneurship through two different mechanisms. Impact investment enables entrepreneurship through resource expansion, that is, access to funds, and through modifying the institutional environment, that is, strengthening market-supporting institutions in recipient countries, thus enabling entrepreneurship. Using a dataset of 4,691 impact investments in 122 countries, we find general support for our theorization. Our study contributes to the knowledge on impact investment as one of the first studies to show impact investment’s effect on entrepreneurship. Furthermore, our study tests and extends the nascent external enabler framework.