Adisu Fanta Bate, Luke Pittaway and Danka Sàndor
How national culture induces entrepreneurship and business growth remains elusive in research. Questions remain, for example, how can we determine whether a given national culture…
Abstract
Purpose
How national culture induces entrepreneurship and business growth remains elusive in research. Questions remain, for example, how can we determine whether a given national culture is good or bad for entrepreneurial activities? What are those pro-entrepreneurship national culture dimensions that could be promoted across nations? These questions are yet open for discussion. The purpose of the study seeks to address these questions and unveil how various national cultural dimensions affect entrepreneurship in different national contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The systematic literature review (SLR) method is meticulously applied. Key terms related to Hofstede’s national culture dimensions are traced alongside entrepreneurial aspects associated with entrepreneurial actions and orientations. By developing series of search queries from these terms, studies within the Web of Science and EBSCO databases are explored.
Findings
The review reveals that individualism, long-term orientation, low power distance, feminism, indulgence and low uncertainty avoidance dimensions of culture enable and foster entrepreneurial activities across countries. This study proposes that they be considered Hofstede’s pro-entrepreneurship cultural dimensions. The research suggests that countries endowed with more of these cultural factors tend to create favorable conditions for entrepreneurship. The authors argue that the bundling of these cultural dimensions makes a difference in entrepreneurial performance, not the isolated effect of individual dimensions.
Practical implications
The study reveals the intricate relationship between national culture and entrepreneurship, a relationship that is particularly crucial in today’s globalized work environment and cross-cultural entrepreneurship. The findings underscore the significant role of national culture in shaping the entrepreneurial activities of nations. To enhance the effectiveness of entrepreneurial practices, it is essential to consider the cultural context of societies. While the review does not identify a specific national culture dimension that distinguishes developing countries from developed ones in terms of entrepreneurial performance, it does suggest that promoting pro-entrepreneurship national cultural dimensions, rather than individual dimensions in isolation, can create a fertile ground for entrepreneurship to thrive.
Originality/value
This study significantly advances the understanding of the relationship between national culture and entrepreneurship, considering Hofstede’s six national cultural dimensions and their respective and concurrent influences. This research provides a clearer framework for understanding and promoting cultures that support entrepreneurship, particularly by focusing on how cultural “bundling” rather than isolated traits can drive success in entrepreneurship across different countries. The study also offers practical suggestions to stakeholders on how to promote a pro-entrepreneurship national culture. The use of the SLR methodology enhances the reliability of the findings, shedding light on the most critical national cultural dimensions that must be configured to achieve the maximum returns from entrepreneurial endeavors.
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Keywords
Lurdes Esteves, Mário Franco and Margarida Rodrigues
The study of mindfulness is still shown to be of interest in different aspects of organisations and/or businesses. Therefore, this study aims to present an integrative…
Abstract
Purpose
The study of mindfulness is still shown to be of interest in different aspects of organisations and/or businesses. Therefore, this study aims to present an integrative, multi-level model of mindfulness based on a holistic approach that can contribute to better governance practices and lead to competitive advantages.
Design/methodology/approach
To fulfil this aim, an extensive integrative review of the literature, from the main articles about this topic, was made.
Findings
This study shows that the concept of mindfulness, a conscious presence or full attention and its relation with organisations or firms’ personal, behavioural and social characteristics, in the current context of great adversity, uncertainty and unpredictability, is of interest at the individual, organisational and social level.
Practical implications
This conceptual study has important implications for both practice and theory. It demonstrates that mindfulness significantly impacts the manager/business person’s ecosystem at the individual, organisational and social levels, particularly in relation to Sustainable Development Goals.
Originality/value
This study introduces a comprehensive theoretical model that explains this relationship and organises information from a multi-level perspective. This approach can contribute to the advancement of theory by clarifying and discussing the role of mindfulness at the individual, organisational and societal levels. It also identifies opportunities and outlines future research directions, aiming to promote more sustainable development.
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Dina M. Abdelzaher and Muna Onumonu
The COVID-19 pandemic was an eye-opening experience that put to the test our crisis management competencies across many institutions, including those offered by institutions of…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic was an eye-opening experience that put to the test our crisis management competencies across many institutions, including those offered by institutions of higher education. This study aims to review the literature on international business (IB) risks and IB education (IBE) to question whether business graduates are equipped to make decisions in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) marketplace.
Design/methodology/approach
While the IB literature has discussed the importance of various sources of risks on global business operations, IBE did not effectively adopt an integrative approach to building the needed risk management competencies related to those risks into our education. The authors argue that this integrative approach to teaching IB is critically needed to prepare future global managers for addressing crises, like that of the pandemic and others. Specifically, this study proposes that this integrated risk management competency can be developed through the building of “synergistic mindsets”.
Findings
This study presents a conceptual framework for the components of the synergistic mindset, with intelligence that directly links to present IB risks. These components are cultural intelligence (CQ), emotional intelligence (EQ), public policy intelligence (PPQ), digital intelligence (DQ) and orchestration intelligence (OQ).
Originality/value
Insights related to IBE effectiveness in addressing today’s VUCA market demands and IB risks are discussed.
Details
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The paper aims to address a gap in foresight study and practice relating to the lack of unifying theoretical systems frameworks capable of examining empirical data from across a…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to address a gap in foresight study and practice relating to the lack of unifying theoretical systems frameworks capable of examining empirical data from across a wide range of different ecological, social, political and economic systems. It attempts to develop a new “collective forward intelligence” that can not only make sense of these disparate trends and processes as symptoms of a wider planetary system but also, on this basis, construct accurate and plausible future scenarios to underpin national and international decision-making.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducts a transdisciplinary integration of C. S. Holling’s adaptive cycle with phase-transition phenomena across biology, physics and chemistry, applied on societal and civilisational scales. A systems methodology is then applied to integrate historical and empirical data across the energy, food, transport, materials and information sectors of civilisation’s production system.
Findings
The paper develops planetary phase shift theory as a new collective forward intelligence framework for foresight study and practice, formalising the notion that humanity has arrived at an unprecedented historic and geological turning point. It finds that multiple global crises across both earth and human systems are symptoms of the last stages of the life-cycle of global industrialisation civilisation, which is the potential precursor either for collapse, or for a new civilisational life-cycle that may represent a new stage in the biological and cultural evolution of the human species.
Research limitations/implications
The research sets out a new empirically grounded theoretical framework for complex scenario analysis. This can develop more robust approaches to foresight study and practice, scenario development and forecasting. It suggests the need for a new research programme to understand the dynamics of the planetary phase shift and its diverse implications for societies, industry, technology and politics. The research is limited in that the current paper does not explore how it can be applied in this way. It identifies broad scenarios for a post-industrial civilisational life-cycle but does not identify the variety of complex subsets of these.
Practical implications
The paper provides powerful practical implications to develop new methodology based on planetary phase shift theory for strategic planning, risk assessment and management, as well as public policy and decision-making.
Social implications
The paper suggests the urgency and necessity of bold and radical societal transformation and implies key areas for civil society to focus on in innovating new values, worldviews and operating systems with a focus on the next life-cycle.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper provides the first integrated transdisciplinary theoretical and empirical framework to understand how the interplay of earth system crises, societal change and technology disruptions is driving large-scale civilisational transformation with complex local ramifications.