The Journal of Entrepreneurship

Extant research proves the central role of passion for individual development and entrepreneurial performance. However, the phenomena of multiple sources and domains of passion and their effects are largely unexplored. Particularly, this concerns individuals whose entrepreneurial journeys originate from pursuing interesting ideas and activities unleashed by a passion that is basically not entrepreneurial. Current passion theories can neither entirely capture nor consistently explain the effects of complementing and conflicting domains of passion. It is thus a theoretical and empirical puzzle of how and why multiple sources of passion(s) develop and impact performance. This article identifies and compares predominant theories and elaborates an interest-based approach that reconciles constitutional theoretical differences by proposing self-concordance of interests, activities, goals and passion(s) as the precondition for extraordinary entrepreneurial outcomes. The resulting framework facilitates a new empirical perspective to explore the dynamics of passion(s) and makes an important contribution to the literature of passion and performance.

This article conducts a bibliometric analysis of published research on the topic of franchising during the last three decades (1988–2017). This analysis is based on 570 articles related to franchising, from 108 journals published by 785 authors, taken from the Web of Science database. This article complements our understanding of the intellectual foundations of franchising research by highlighting the impact of authors, articles, journals and topics of interest. Given that franchising research cut across many functional areas and disciplines, the analysis provides insights for established and novice researchers, educational institutions and policymakers in understanding the evolution of this field.

Entrepreneurship literature has examined the effects of social capital and cultural capital on entrepreneurial outcomes. However, the articulation of these concepts has not been clearly resolved. We employ a unique dataset of entrepreneurs from 51 African countries, introducing the level of slave trade as both a measurement of mistrust and a proxy for social capital. We use majority religion as a proxy for cultural capital. We found that social capital has a significantly positive impact on entrepreneurship only through its moderating effect on cultural capital. Results have significant policy implications for the articulation of social and cultural capital.

Equity crowdfunding allows entrepreneurs to directly access financing from a large number of investors via Internet platforms. Recent research has started to examine additional, non-financial benefits of crowdfunding campaigns. This article connects to this emerging research stream by investigating these additional benefits while discussing their potential to contribute to the success of equity crowdfunding projects. Building on interviews with entrepreneurs and investors from Norway and Israel, we find that the benefits offered by investors to entrepreneurs can be divided into two categories: inward benefits and outward benefits. The latter are aimed at increasing public exposure and advancing the project’s success by recruiting additional investors. By contrast, inward benefits are implemented through investors’ contributions of personal experience and expertise. These benefits are aimed at the entrepreneurs and, when harnessed, can become resources that advance future success. We also find that investors receive personal gain by participating in crowdfunding, which takes the form of personal growth and the development of social capital. These benefits are based on intrinsic motives and complement the financial returns, which are more related to extrinsic motives.

Social networks serve as an important source for new business opportunities in foreign markets and are considered as one of the most significant resources for the internationalising firm in emerging markets. This article empirically examines how internationalised firms in under-researched African context access and use social networks to increase their recognition of opportunities. Hypotheses are formulated based on several social networking principles and are tested statistically. The findings highlight that interacting with international contacts more fre-quently is associated with higher levels of opportunity recognition when compared to firms with fewer interactions. Additionally, internationalised firms tend to spend more time developing and maintaining contacts which are associated with higher levels of opportunity recognition. The article makes a contribution to the international entrepreneurship literature by demonstrating that multiple social networking factors will raise the level of opportunity recognition for internationalised firms in South Africa.

Entrepreneurial ecosystem is the interacting socio-economic environment that facilitates entrepreneurs to start and develop their enterprises. A vibrant and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem is necessary for the start-up and growth of an enterprise. The entrepreneurial action would largely depend on the perception of entrepreneurs about the ecosystem. In this context, a study was designed to understand the perceptions of actors (entrepreneurs) and observers (non-entrepreneurs) on various components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Data for this study were collected from 296 entrepreneurs and 315 non-entrepreneurs from India, who responded to a 77-item questionnaire by giving their ratings of various aspects of the ecosystem on a 5-point scale. Findings of the study showed that perceptions of the entrepreneurial ecosystem were significantly different for most of the subgroups. Most notable among these differences was those between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, where the mean scores on all dimensions were found to be significantly higher for non-entrepreneurs than for entrepreneurs except for entrepreneurial capability which was found to be higher for entrepreneurs. Hence, the hypothesis of actor–observer bias in the perceptions of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs is supported.

Alain Fayolle (Ed.), A Research Agenda for Entrepreneurship Education, MA, USA; Gloucestershire, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018, 309 pp.

Robert D. Hisrich and Veland Ramadani (Eds.), Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Practical Managerial Approach, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018, 202 pp.

Dean A. Shepherd and Holger Patzelt (Eds.), Trailblazing in Entrepreneurship: Creating New Paths for Understanding the Field, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 294 pp.