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Motivated by the constant daily emerging social challenges worldwide, this special issue analyzes how entrepreneurship becomes a mechanism for social change under different institutional settings. A brief reference to the content of each of the articles included in this special issue is presented.

Institutional theory at the macro, meso and individual levels is utilized to further comprehend the inherent complexities involved in the entrepreneurship–society nexus. A brief literature analysis is offered for the different research questions that framed the current special issue.

By exploring the extant research and the articles collected in this special issue, we find that social, sustainable, immigrant and ethnic entrepreneurship, among others, emerge as a response to exclusion and market failures. However, we also observe that other forms of entrepreneurship, such as opportunity-driven, self-employment, senior, etc. transcend economic purposes to pursue societal outcomes.

Our results serve to inform scholars, policymakers and practitioners about the importance of integrating and coordinating actors and elements in national, regional, university and community ecosystems to guarantee entrepreneurial activities that bring inclusion and social solutions as a natural mission and action.

Our paper offers insights into how to bridge entrepreneurship and society. This stems from the institutional analysis of entrepreneurship as a catalyst for personal realization, industrial development, economic growth and social inclusion.

Going beyond the traditional approach of formal and informal institutions as antecedents of entrepreneurship (directly) and development (indirectly), this paper seeks to explore knowledge institutions as a necessary input for entrepreneurship and the development of societies.

Institutional economics lenses are utilized to observe other factors (e.g. the number of R&D staff and researchers from the public sector) that involve laws and socialization processes, which at the same time create knowledge useful for entrepreneurs and society. These ideas are tested through a sample of 281 observations from 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities in Spain. The information coming from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), Ministry of Economics, Industry, and Competitiveness, and INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística), was analyzed through 3SLS, which is useful for a simultaneous equation strategy.

Knowledge institutions such as the number of R&D staff and researchers from the public sector are found positively associated with entrepreneurship, which is a factor directly and positively linked to economic development across Spanish regions.

The findings help the operationalization of other institutions considered in institutional economics theory and its application to entrepreneurship research. Moreover, the results bring new insights into the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship in the public sector, in which the institutional analysis is implicit.

Microfoundations have received increasing attention in several management disciplines. This study aims to outline the uniqueness of microfoundations research in innovation, look at where it comes from and where it is going and provide rich opportunities for future work.

To advance research in this area, this study conducted a systematic literature review combining mixed methods and creating a mapping framework to take stock of progress in the innovation microfoundations research field.

This study shows how distinct subfields have formed around key ideas expressed in subsets of seminal articles, shedding light on the relational nature of knowledge creation – uncovering these subfields’ characteristics, evolution and future trajectories.

This study develops a framework that reflects a critical analysis of the microfoundations of innovation within dos three research levels – individual, process and interaction and structure – and highlights the research gaps and potential research questions for future research that reflect the broad spectrum of approaches in the microfoundations of innovation literature.

This study examines the decision-making processes and coping mechanisms of mumpreneurs (entrepreneurs who are mothers) as they navigate complex environments characterized by uncertainty and competing goals that are heightened by their circumstances and marginalization.

In-depth interviews were conducted with 26 female entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom who are raising young children.

The research develops a new framework based on regulatory focus theory. It uncovers multiple layers of uncertainty facing mumpreneurs, including traditional business-focused uncertainties such as global crises, market volatility and financial risks, but including uncertainties derived from the challenge of balancing business growth with family responsibilities. Despite these complexities, mumpreneurs pursue multiple competing goals related to their businesses, families and societal contributions. The study identifies four key coping and decision-making mechanisms employed by mumpreneurs in complex environments: intuition, adaptability, confidence and a dynamic interplay between promotion and prevention regulatory focus.

This study contributes to entrepreneurship literature by providing a nuanced understanding of how mumpreneurs are required to navigate uncertainty and competing demands and the key coping and decision-making mechanisms they use to achieve this. It challenges the binary view of regulatory focus theory and offers insights into the unique stress dynamics experienced by mother entrepreneurs. The findings underscore the need for tailored support systems, including coaching and mentoring programs for mumpreneurs with young children. Moreover, the research highlights the importance of policy interventions, such as increased childcare subsidies, to support parental entrepreneurship and advance gender equality goals.

The leadership of schools in England is increasingly complex due, in part, to the role of the politics of education in setting the agenda for schools. This agenda is becoming increasingly problematised due to the absence of clear policy accompanied by various interpretations and assemblages of ideology, promulgated by those in power. Populist agendas operate. In this apparent crisis of truth-telling, where truth as politically constituted is factual and axiomatic, school leaders in ever-increasing dark times, are having to navigate knowledge in what constitutes the truth and, in some cases, resort to ways to expose untruths through action. Using Arendtian thinking to illumine how two leaders lead schools through their labour and work in actively seeking truth enables thinking about the present issues issues of lying in politics and how school leaders must both understand this and expose lying in politics through truth-seeking. In doing so these two leaders adapt, translate and actively work not only to gain clarity but to actively seek truth where they become truth-tellers of a different truth.

This paper is about equity crowdfunding syndicates as a form of entrepreneurial finance and looks specifically at the lead investors' human capital and their ability to raise funds.

The authors develop regressions on a unique hand-collected dataset of 178 lead investors taken from the US-based platform AngelList.

Results indicate that lead investors' specialized human capital has a positive effect on their syndicate fundraising performance. However, it does not find a significant effect of general human capital. It also finds that specialized human capital is mediated by the reputation of the lead investor on the platform.

This study extends human capital theory in the crowdfunding context by providing a more comprehensive portrait of human capital and in doing so, shifts the focus from an entrepreneur to an investor perspective, an approach much neglected in the crowdfunding literature.

This study advances the current knowledge on crowdfunding as it is one of the first to understand syndicate investment as an innovative and alternative platform-based financial channel. It also contributes to the current debate on the role of human capital in crowdfunding and more generally to entrepreneurial finance.

This article examines, elementary leveled graphic history, a genre of literature relatively untouched by research. Due to graphic nonfiction’s growing popularity in the realm of children’s literature and its potential benefits for young readers, teachers may want to incorporate this genre of literature into their social studies curriculum. Despite the genre’s appeal, educators should be careful when introducing graphic histories to their students, as nonfiction texts of any kind can possibly contain inaccuracies and biases that might foster misconceptions. In this study, we used a critical content analysis approach to investigate both images and text in four graphic histories on the Battle of the Alamo. We found these books contain several instances of factual errors and biased perspectives. After our analyses, we discussed implications for using these types of books in the classroom to help students enhance critical literacy skills. We connected recommended critical literacy activities to Common Core State Standards for informational texts and writing.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

Increasing productivity gaps and declining manufacturing bases create complex challenges for mature small to medium enterprises (SMEs). One solution advocated by academia is to reposition along the value chain – moving to a position of greater value. The purpose of this paper is to examine strategies used by firms to reposition through creating a new product development (NPD) capability. In doing so, the paper seeks to resolve gaps in extant literature on NPD in mature SMEs.

An exploratory approach is taken, analysing in‐depth case studies of three mature UK manufacturing SMEs.

Four strategic approaches to enable the creation of a NPD capability (strategic alliances, licensing key technologies and ideas, outsourcing and deploying an internal development process) are found. Each may facilitate an SME to reposition but the findings highlight that these strategies are not mutually exclusive as different combinations were employed to accelerate and leverage change.

Limited number of case studies constrains wider understanding despite providing richness. The findings highlight four different strategies for repositioning but there may be other routes.

Deeper understanding of how to climb the value chain, providing valuable lessons for mature SMEs facing a need to reposition to generate new growth opportunities.

The paper provides an understanding of how mature manufacturers utilise different strategies to overcome resource constraints and generate a NPD capability to assist in repositioning. This resolves weaknesses in current literature that so far have not adequately examined the process of shaping a NPD capability and the strategies used to reposition.