Celebrating the multidisciplinary contribution of entrepreneurial research on inclusive socio-economic development

Introduction

Despite positive growth figures in many countries, wealth and income inequality have worsened in recent decades (OECD, 2017; Chancel et al., 2021). The failure of growth to "trickle down" to "the poorest" has exacerbated inequality and exclusion. It has been reported that the richest 10% of the global population currently takes 52% of global income, whereas the poorest half of the population earns 8.5% of it” (World Inequality Lab, 2021, p. 10). Regarding wealth, the richest 10% of the global population own 76% of all wealth (World Inequality Lab, 2021).

These developments emphasise not only the continued importance of issues of poverty and distribution, but also the potential of promoting inclusive development from a relational perspective to address these persistent inequalities (Gupta et al., 2015). Income and wealth may be redistributed through political measures.

However, this seems to not solve the deeper mechanisms that cause these problems. As a result, people remain passive, and development does not become more inclusive (Anderson and Johnson, 2015). It is believed that the endeavour to find the solutions to the lack thereof has led to the merger of discussions resulting to the theory of inclusive development. The term "inclusive development" is gradually making its way into development discourse.

While some researchers define inclusive development as "a process that occurs when social and material benefits are equitably distributed across divisions of society" (Hikey, 2013, p. 3), others focus on the "voice and power of the concerns and aspirations of otherwise excluded groups" (Johnson and Anderson, 2012). Inclusive development is also "focused on achieving equity and citizenship rights" (Hickey, 2013, p. 3). This definition broadly represents the meaning of the concept of inclusive development, knowing that its benefits necessarily include not only economic and material gains, but also widely felt increased well-being.

On another note, as businesses led by entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds can bring innovative perspectives and solutions to the social and economic challenges facing communities, entrepreneurship may nurture job creation, economic growth, innovation and inclusion. Scholars argue that by linking both entrepreneurship and inclusive behaviour and therefore, promoting inclusive entrepreneurship, academia and policymakers can strengthen social cohesion (Joseph et al., 2023), stimulate local development (Qian and Acs, 2023), and create more equitable (Fernandez-Bastidas, 2023) and sustainable societies (Bouncken et al., 2023).

Interestedly, the review of the literature on the impacts that entrepreneurship as on other academic fields has questioned the absence of an entrepreneurial discourse in macroeconomic theories including economic growth and development (Thurik et al., 2024). Thurik et al. (2024) contended that "Entrepreneurship may be a proximate cause of long-run economic development, but it is not a proximate cause of adaptation and change." (p. 739). In other words, despite the possible direct contributions of entrepreneurship to development, many studies appear to not highlight them.

This special issue aims to remedy this situation by celebrating theoretical and empirical contributions to this field and expending its venues to socio-economic inclusion.

List of topic areas

• Multidisciplinary approaches to entrepreneurship research.
• Entrepreneurial incubators programs and entrepreneurial education contributions to economic inclusion
• Best practice in entrepreneurship for inclusive development.
• Entrepreneurial innovation for sustainable socio-economic development.
• Public policies and government initiatives to promote inclusive entrepreneurship.
• The impact of youth, student and teen entrepreneurship on economic opportunities.
• Informal entrepreneurship dynamics and its contribution to economic development.
• Women's entrepreneurship and its consequences on societal transformation.
• Digitalization, social media and artificial intelligence impacts on entrepreneurial dynamics
• Senior entrepreneurship challenges and inclusion in a demographic changing world.

Guest Editors

Prof. Dr. Susanne Durst, Department of Business and Economics, Reykjavik University (Iceland) and Society for Inclusive and Collaborative Entrepreneurship (Germany)

Dr. Celine Viala, University of Sorbonne Paris Nord (France)and Society for Inclusive and Collaborative Entrepreneurship (Germany)

Prof. Dr. Bruno Emmanuel Ongo Nkoa, University of Yaoundé II; Centre for Economic and Management Studies and Research - CEREG (Cameroon)

Dr. Jacques Yana Mbena, Society for Inclusive and Collaborative Entrepreneurship (Germany) and University of Sorbonne Paris Nord (France)

If you have any questions about the special issue before the deadline, please contact: [email protected]

Submissions Information

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Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key Deadlines

Open Date: 15th of March 2024
Close Date: 25th of August 2024.
Email for submissions: [email protected]