Entrepreneurial Innovation in the New Normal: Navigating Hybrid Uncertainty

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to submit to this Special Issue that aims to collate advanced research on the determinants of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship as behavioral phenomena at individual and organizational levels. Building on established perspectives that treat entrepreneurship as encompassing the creation and management of new ventures (including small and family businesses) and intrapreneurship as entrepreneurship within existing organizations, this Special Issue focuses on the emergence-related intentions and behaviors (e.g., organization formation, innovation) that distinguish entrepreneurial action from routine management of customary activities (Antončič & Hisrich, 2001; Kearney et al., 2013). We emphasize rigorous, theory-informed work that explains how psychological and sociological drivers—together with contemporary technological shifts—shape entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial intentions, behaviors, and outcomes across contexts (Antončič & Auer Antončič, 2023).

Focus, scope, and purpose of the Special Issue:

(a) Focus: This Special Issue centers on determinants of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, with a particular focus on personality, cognition, competencies, and sociological factors, and how these drivers operate in contemporary settings where new technologies (e.g., AI, blockchain) reshape opportunity recognition, venture creation, and corporate innovation (Kalar & Antončič, 2015; Antončič & Prodan, 2008).

(b) Scope: We welcome contributions spanning entrepreneurial intentions and behaviors, firm creation and performance, corporate entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship, technological entrepreneurship, and related interdisciplinary perspectives. We encourage cross-cultural comparative designs and studies integrating sociological elements (e.g., networks, social embeddedness, gender, minority status) that may influence or co-develop with individual-level dispositions and behaviors (Hoang & Antončič, 2003; Ruzzier et al., 2007; Antončič et al., 2015; Auer Antončič et al., 2018; Antončič & Auer Antončič, 2023).

(c) Purpose: This Special Issue aims to consolidate and extend knowledge on what drives entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, clarify mechanisms linking individual and contextual determinants to emergence-related outcomes, and identify promising directions for cumulative research—especially as technological and organizational transformations change the conditions under which entrepreneurial agency is enacted (Antončič & Hisrich, 2001; Kearney et al., 2013).

How this Special Issue supplements existing literature:

Existing work has robustly demonstrated that psychological factors and social context determine entrepreneurial activity and firm outcomes, including the role of intrapreneurship in connecting external environments to performance and growth (Kearney et al., 2013; Auer Antončič & Antončič, 2011). However, important opportunities remain to integrate personality-based explanations with sociological and ecosystem-level factors in cross-cultural, comparative, and multi-level designs, and to update theory to reflect how technology-intensive contexts shape entrepreneurial curiosity, self-efficacy, networks, internationalization, and innovation (Jeraj & Antončič, 2013; Antončič et al., 2016; Hoang & Antončič, 2003; Ruzzier et al., 2007). By explicitly inviting reviews/meta-analyses and empirical studies on intentions and behaviors, this Special Issue supports theory accumulation, measurement advancement, and clearer boundary conditions across contexts and time (Antončič & Hisrich, 2001; Antončič & Auer Antončič, 2023).

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 300-500 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors (Email A) or to /Administrative Sciences/ editorial office (admsci@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

We welcome original research articles from diverse research areas and perspectives that examine determinants of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. Submissions may include (1) scholarly reviews or meta-analyses in an area of entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship; (2) empirical studies focusing on determinants of entrepreneurial intentions; and/or (3) empirical studies focusing on determinants of entrepreneurial behaviors—particularly research that advances interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cultural comparative evidence (Antončič & Auer Antončič, 2023; Antončič & Hisrich, 2001). We especially encourage work that leverages contemporary technological shifts to generate new insights into intrapreneurship and technological entrepreneurship, as well as broader entrepreneurial phenomena (Kalar & Antončič, 2015; Antončič & Prodan, 2008).

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Specific personality constructs (need for achievement, locus of control, need for independence, risk-taking propensity, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, innovativeness, creativity, curiosity, passion)
• Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism)
• Cognition
• Competencies
• Design thinking
• Intrapreneurship/corporate entrepreneurship
• Technological entrepreneurship and knowledge/technology transfer
• Entrepreneurial networks and sociological factors
• Female entrepreneurship
• Minority entrepreneurship
• International entrepreneurship and SME internationalization
• Entrepreneurial start-up decisions and firm creation
• Business performance and growth

We look forward to receiving your proposed titles and abstracts and to showcasing innovative, methodologically rigorous, and theoretically impactful work in this Special Issue.

Sincerely,

References

Antončič, B., & Auer Antončič, J. (2023). Psychological and sociological determinants of entrepreneurial intentions and behaviors. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1076768. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1076768.

Antončič, B., Bratkovič, T., Singh, G., & DeNoble, A. F. (2015). The big five personality–entrepreneurship relationship: Evidence from Slovenia. Journal of Small Business Management, 53(3), 819–841. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12089.

Antončič, B., & Hisrich, R. D. (2001). Intrapreneurship: Construct refinement and cross-cultural validation. Journal of Business Venturing, 16(5), 495–527.

Antončič, B., & Prodan, I. (2008). Alliances, corporate technological entrepreneurship and firm performance: Testing a model on manufacturing firms. Technovation, 28(5), 257–265.

Auer Antončič, J., & Antončič, B. (2011). Employee satisfaction, intrapreneurship and firm growth: A model. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 111(4), 589–607. https://doi.org/10.1108/02635571111133560.

Auer Antončič, J., Antončič, B., Kobal Grum, D., & Ruzzier, M. (2018). The big five personality of the SME manager and their company’s performance. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 23(4), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946718500218 Hoang, H., & Antončič, B. (2003). Network-based research in entrepreneurship: A critical review. Journal of Business Venturing, 18(2), 165–187.

Jeraj, M., & Antončič, B. (2013). A conceptualization of entrepreneurial curiosity and construct development: A multi-country empirical validation. Creativity Research Journal, 25(4), 426–435. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2013.843350.

Kalar, B., & Antončič, B. (2015). The entrepreneurial university, academic activities and technology and knowledge transfer in four European countries. Technovation, 36/37, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2014.11.002.

Kearney, C., Hisrich, R. D., & Antončič, B. (2013). The mediating role of corporate entrepreneurship for external environment effects on performance. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 14(sup1), S328–S357. https://doi.org/10.3846/16111699.2012.720592.

Ruzzier, M., Antončič, B., & Hisrich, R. D. (2007). The internationalization of SMEs: Developing and testing a multi-dimensional measure on Slovenian firms. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 19(2), 161–183.

Antončič, B., Auer Antončič, J., & Aaltonen, H. M. (2016). Marketing self-efficacy and firm creation. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 23(1), 90–104. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-07-2015-0093.

Prof. Dr. Boštjan Antončič
Guest Editor

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• entrepreneurship
• intrapreneurship
• personality
• networks
• technology
• performance
• growth