Small Business Economics - Call for Papers: From Founder to Employee: Rethinking Entrepreneurial Career Transitions
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This special issue of Small Business Economics is open to contributions that rigorously address important and understudied issues related to entrepreneurial founder transitions to organizational employment. While transitions from employment into entrepreneurship has been extensively studied, founder transitions to organizational employment have received much less scholarly attention. This is surprising given the prevalence of the phenomenon (Burton et al., 2016; De Vos et al., 2021; Mahieu et al., 2021). For instance, a study in Belgium found that 85% of entrepreneurs who exited their businesses between 2004 and 2016 transitioned to paid employment (Mahieu et al., 2022). Likewise, over half of the entrepreneurs tracked in the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1991 to 2016 made at least one transition from self-employment to paid employment (Koch et al., 2021).
KEY DATES
Submission of abstracts for In-Person PDW: June 14, 2024
Submission of extended abstracts for Virtual PDW: December 20, 2024
Submission of full papers: June 30, 2025
EDITORIAL TEAM
Daniel L. Bennett, University of Louisville (daniel.bennett.2@louisville.edu)
Jeffrey Hornsby, University of Missouri Kansas City (hornsbyj@umkc.edu)
Dan Hsu, North Dakota State University (dan.hsu@ndsu.edu)
Rob Mitchell, Colorado State University (rob.mitchell@colostate.edu)
Boris Nikolaev, Colorado State University (boris.nikolaev@colostate.edu)
Maija Renko, DePaul University (maija.renko@depaul.edu)
RELEVANCE AND NOVELTY
This special issue solicits rigorous theoretical and/or empirical studies that draw on various theoretical perspectives to examine the widespread phenomenon of organizationally employed former entrepreneurs. For example, a resource-based view could be used to understand how the former entrepreneur can contribute to the organization that they have joined (Ployhart, 2021). Socially-situated cognition theory (Mitchell et al., 2011) might be used to understand the situated and distributed nature of the cognitive processes that enable and/or constrain the former entrepreneur in contributing to the organization. Attraction-selection-attrition theory could clarify how former entrepreneurs adapt to a new work environment (Ahmetoglu et al., 2021; Hsu et al., 2017). Institutional theory may be helpful to understand how entrepreneurs gain legitimacy as potential employees and/or how differences in cultural and institutional environments shape entrepreneurial traits (Boudreaux et al., 2021; Mueller & Thomas, 2001; Nikolaev & Bennett, 2016) that may influence occupational choice dynamics (Gohmann, 2012). Theoretical perspectives that account for experiences of women, minorities, and those coming from underserved backgrounds can provide novel insights as the experience of entrepreneurship is always embedded in its societal context. In addition to advancing the theoretical understanding of this multi-faceted phenomenon, the special issue also encourages a wide variety of empirical approaches. Understanding this phenomenon in a robust way will also have practical implications for organizations or policymakers that seek to leverage the unique knowledge, skills, mindsets, and experiences of former entrepreneurs.
COMPLETE TIMELINE
• June 14, 2024: Extended abstracts for In-Person Paper Development Workshop (PDW)
• June 30, 2024: Decision on abstracts for In-Person PDW
• August 8, 2024: Host In-Person PDW in Chicago, IL
• November 15, 2024: Deadline to submit papers for Virtual PDW
• December 20, 2024: Decisions for Virtual PDW
• January/February, 2025 (date TBD): Host Virtual PDW
• June 30, 2025: Initial Paper Submissions Due
• October 31, 2025: First Round Decisions
• February 28, 2026: Paper Revisions Due
• June 30, 2026: Second Round Decisions
• October 31, 2026: Final Papers Due
• December 31, 2026: Final Decisions