Capturing action from within:The use of personal diaries

This chapter discusses methods to study entrepreneurial behavior, practice, and process and advocates the use of personal diaries to capture entrepreneurial action and processes from within. It describes the diary research method, its origins and main references, as well as its strengths and weaknesses. An illustration of a study on networking actions serves to show possibilities but also challenges that come with using diaries in this type of research. We come to the conclusion that personal diaries are ideally suited, but an underexploited data source for investigating entrepreneurial processes, especially in its early phases

Religious beliefs and entrepreneurship among Dutch protestants

Religious beliefs affect the economic behavior of individuals. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between religious beliefs and entrepreneurship. Empirical evidence that entrepreneurship rates differ among religions suggests that religious beliefs influence the pursuit of entrepreneurship. However, how and which specific religious beliefs play a role in this relationship remains unknown. Therefore, we study the relation between two key religious beliefs and entrepreneurship within one specific branch of Christianity, namely, Protestantism. Using a unique sample of 756 Christian protestant entrepreneurs and employees from the Netherlands, we show that protestant entrepreneurs have a stronger belief than comparable protestant employees that their work is a calling from God and that protestant entrepreneurs are more likely to perceive a duty to add value to society through their occupational work. These results indicate that research on the relation between religion and entrepreneurship is instrumental in explaining the engagement of people in entrepreneurship

Development of national space governance and policy trends in member states of the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) has been the main programmatic and industrial capacities development organisation of the European space sector since its establishment in the early 1970s. Understanding the national policies of its member states is crucial for the future development of a coherent European space policy. Over the last years, ESA has developed a methodology to track the development of national space policies of its member states and collaborating states. The “Member States Observatory” is a basic resource for understanding the complexity of the European national space strategies available to the national delegates, ESA experts and employees. The main objective of this study is to present the findings and methodology of two surveys performed in 2013 and 2017, in order to identify the main space strategy developments of the ESA member states. The study suggests two main dimensions, which serve to identify trends in ESA member states. These are space governance structure and public policy priorities in technology domains, areas of sustainability, and motivations for engaging in space activities

Called to volunteer and stay longer:the significance of work calling for volunteering motivation and retention

This article reviews the literature on non-profit volunteering to argue that the concept of 'work calling' is critical to broadening the understanding of volunteer motivation and retention. As an emerging concept, work calling is generally used to explain how individuals satisfy their calling by doing meaningful work. This concept is introduced to the issue of volunteer motivation and retention to detail why volunteers decide to join non-profit organisations and then willingly stay longer. Current theories explain volunteer motivation and retention by focusing on individual (commitment and job satisfaction) and organisational factors (management practices, volunteer tasks, and organisational reputation). This article integrates work calling in these theories and thus contributes two important insights: (1) volunteers may choose to engage in meaningful work and, therefore, experience self-satisfaction and meaningful life by volunteering; and (2) work calling improves current theories of volunteering motivation and retention at both the individual and organisational levels

Dynamics of effectuation and causation in technology-based new ventures (INTERACTIVE PAPER)

The creation of new ventures is a process characterized by the need to decide and take action in the face of uncertainty, and this is particularly so in the case of technology-based ventures. Effectuation theory (Sarasvathy, 2001) has advanced two possible approaches for making decisions while facing uncertainty in the entrepreneurial process. Causation logic is based on prediction and aims at lowering uncertainty, whereas effectuation logic is based on non-predictive action and aims at working with uncertainty. This study aims to generate more fine-grained insight in the dynamics of effectuation and causation over time. We address the following questions: (1) What patterns can be found in effectual and causal behaviour of technology-based new ventures over time? And (2) How may patterns in the dynamics of effectuation and causation be explained

Advancing Qualitative Entrepreneurship Research: Leveraging Methodological Plurality for Achieving Scholarly Impact

This editorial aims to advance the use of qualitative research methods when studying entrepreneurship. First, it outlines four characteristics of the domain of entrepreneurship that qualitative research is uniquely placed to address. In studying these characteristics, we urge researchers to leverage the plurality of different qualitative approaches, including less conventional methods. Second, to help researchers develop high-level theoretical contributions, we point to multiple possible contributions, and highlight how such contributions can be developed through qualitative methods. Thus, we aim to broaden the types of contributions and forms that qualitative entrepreneurship research takes, in ways that move beyond prototypical inductive theory-building