Entrepreneurship and Crises: Business as Usual? Guest Editors: Rachel Doern, Goldsmiths University of London, UK Nick Williams, University of Leeds, UK Tim Vorley, University of Sheffield, UK

The aim of this Special Issue is to examine more closely the relationship between entrepreneurial activity and crises. Crises tend to have severe consequences for businesses, generating ambiguity and decision-making time pressures (Weick, 1988; Pearson and Clair, 1998). Crises of relevance to entrepreneurial activity range from the personal to the social or natural, and broadly include “disasters, business interruptions, catastrophes, emergency or contingency” (Herbane, 2010: 46), the impacts of which range from the individual to society in scope. It is argued that crises are becoming an integral part of business activity (Smallbone, North and Kalantaridis, 1999), and responses to a crisis can mean the difference between business survival and failure (Doern, 2014). As a key journal in the field, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development has been a leader on academic publications that investigate how context shapes entrepreneurial behaviour, and has published some contributions of relevance to this Special Issue (e.g., Williams and Vorley, 2014; Suire and Vincente, 2014). Our Special Issue would build on this previous work by bringing together multi-disciplinary approaches and examinations of entrepreneurship, crises and resilience, across different levels of analysis. A growing number of studies in the field have begun to examine questions relating to crises and entrepreneurship in and around the role that entrepreneurial activity plays in crisis recovery (Galbraith and Styles, 2006; Williams and Vorley, 2015), how small businesses respond to a crisis (Doern, 2014; Lai, Saridakis, Blackburn and Johnstone, 2015), barriers to business recovery following a crisis (Irvine and Anderson, 2004; Runyan, 2006), and characteristics of small firm survival during a crisis (Alesch, Holly, Mittler and Nagy, 2001; Tierney, Nigg and Dahlhamer, 1996; Dahlhamer and Tierney, 1998). In the latter case, Corey and Deitch (2011: 170) argue that while “studies have attempted to determine features that predict the success of recovery for individual businesses post-disaster … the results have been inconsistent regarding what matters most”. As such, further theoretical and empirical work is needed and our Special Issue would make a significant contribution towards this. In this Special Issue we will explore how in order to understand more about the relationship between entrepreneurial activity and crises demands an appreciation of themes at multiple levels of analysis. At the societal level, crises can have profound and unexpected effects on entrepreneurial behaviours; at the field level some industries are likely to be more prone to crises that affect entrepreneurial activity; at the organizational level the antecedents and consequences of crises can affect entrepreneurial ambition and orientation; and lastly, at the individual level, as businesses become an extension of entrepreneurs, there is a need to consider the personal implications of a crisis. Indeed, there is a clear lack of research that examines the relationship between entrepreneurship, crises, crisis management and resilience more generally (Galbraith and Stiles, 2006), and more specifically which seeks to explain the different scales and the interactions between them. In advancing the research agenda on entrepreneurship and crises, the Special Issue will incorporate different theoretical lenses and empirical foci, with an aim to critically understand the role of entrepreneurship in a crisis and how entrepreneurs respond. Our ambition is that the collection of 1

papers will go beyond the ‘preoccupation’ in the entrepreneurship literature that lies with examining business survival from the perspective of barriers (e.g. Doern and Goss, 2013; Lee and Cowling, 2012; Kouriloff, 2000; Storey, 1994) and business failure (e.g., Cardon, Stevens and Potter, 2011; Shepherd, 2003; Mcgrath, 1999), to include a broader perspective on entrepreneurship and crises as it relates to the individual, the business, the industry/field and society as a whole. In so doing the Special Issue will advance our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of crises in relation to entrepreneurship, and explore the effects of a crisis or major set-back on entrepreneurial activity. By examining entrepreneurship and crises, the Special Issue will make valuable theoretical, empirical and policy contributions, with implications for the future direction of entrepreneurship research. In the former case, we are looking for papers that conceptualise how crisis events unfold and how entrepreneurs/businesses react to and recover from such by applying existing frameworks [e.g. on crisis preparedness and management (Mitroff and Pauchant, 1990)] and theories [e.g. conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1988, 2001)], by drawing on theories from other disciplines or by developing new theories inductively. The empirical contributions of this Special Issue will highlight the less obvious risks to entrepreneurs associated with running a business and shed light on the different strategies entrepreneurs may use to minimise the negative effects of a crisis. Additionally, this research will underscore the need for entrepreneurs to develop an anticipation mindset in order to identify different kinds of crises that may occur and in taking preventative steps; it also encourages entrepreneurs to find ways of being more flexible and adaptive during a crisis situation by adopting a containment mindset and thus making themselves and their organizations more resilient (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2007). The Special Issue will also consider the implications for policy in terms of how societal institutions and communities, including public, private and third sector organizations, can help build resources in developing resilience to mitigate the effects of a crisis or bounce back (or forward) following a crisis (Bonanno, 2004). Such post-crisis responses and resilience ultimately are dependent, in part, on having access to financial and social resources, as well as access to information and advice. We welcome submissions to the Special Issue that are multi-disciplinary in nature, which draw insights from fields such as psychology, sociology, geography and economics, and that utilise different methodological approaches – qualitative, quantitative and/or mixed methods. Like the journal, the Special Issue will also have a global focus and, as such, it welcomes submissions from around the world. We also encourage submissions that focus on the role that entrepreneurship plays following a crisis and those submissions that concentrate on entrepreneurship and crises at or across different levels of analysis (individual, business, field/industry, and societal).

Potential themes to be addressed within the special issue: Theoretical Contributions We welcome submissions that theorise the nature of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in crisis. How can entrepreneurial activity in times of crisis be conceptualised? Can we identify conceptually distinct archetypes of entrepreneurs (e.g., as saviours or survivors) and their roles/responses in times of crisis? How can the impact of entrepreneurial activities in (times of) crisis be conceptualised across different societal, industry/field, organizational and individual levels?

Empirical Contributions

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We welcome submissions that provide conceptually grounded empirical studies of entrepreneurship in the context of different crisis situations. We have identified the following empirical foci as being of particular interest for the Special Issue, and while not intended to be exhaustive includes: -

conflict situations (e.g., war-torn countries) external shocks (e.g. financial crises, recessions) natural disasters (e.g., floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, earth quakes), accidents or human-induced crises (e.g., riots, acts of war, terrorism) business interruptions personal crises – physical/mental health, relational, work-life balance issues adversity/trauma, loss, persistence and recovery

We are also interested in the relationship between entrepreneurship and resilience/vulnerability prior to, during and in the aftermath of crises as they relate to the individual, organization, the field/industry and society. In particular, there is also a need to understand crisis management and its different phases - anticipation, consequences, containment and learning – at each level of analysis. Policy Contributions We also welcome submissions that conceptualise the role of policy in developing and sustaining more resilient economies to support entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial growth. The nature of such interventions may include policies and programmes aimed at entrepreneurs at risk and/or take in to consideration how such interventions can aid recovery from different types of crises.

Examples of questions that would meet the objective of the special issue:          

What kinds of crises impact on small businesses and how do they do so? What are the societal impacts of entrepreneurial activity, both during and following a crisis? What factors make entrepreneurs more vulnerable/resilient to crisis situations? How do entrepreneurs make sense of a crisis situation? What are the cognitive, emotional and/or behavioural consequences of a crisis for the entrepreneur and for entrepreneurship? How do entrepreneurs respond to or cope with crisis situations? How do entrepreneurs experience a crisis during the pre-crisis, immediate crisis and post-crisis stages? What are the implications of a crisis situation for business start-up, survival and/or growth? What role do different stakeholders play in the recovery of small businesses following a crisis? How do societies or economies already in a state of crisis affect entrepreneurial prospects?

Notes for prospective authors: Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Papers regarded as potentially suitable for publication in the Special Issue will be double-blind reviewed following the ERD's review process guidelines. Full papers must be in a Word-compatible format and emailed to Rachel Doern ([email protected]). The first page of the manuscript must contain the title, author(s), affiliation(s) and contact information 3

(including the email address) for the corresponding author. No identifying information should be found elsewhere on the manuscript. For additional guidelines on style/referencing, please see the ERD’s ‘Instructions for Authors’, in particular the section on Manuscript Preparation. Manuscripts must be received by no later than February 28th 2017. While general queries may be directed to any of the Special Issue editors ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected]), the final submission must be sent to Rachel Doern ([email protected]).

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