'Do No Harm' (DNH) as a principle, process and system of innovation : balancing innovation and sustainability outcomes

The author introduces a novel concept and the transformation guidance required for organisations to manage innovation, "Do No Harm," which is a concept successfully used in healthcare practice. He believes the DNH concept is a critical and inseparable response to the overseen continuous economic and innovation growth, responsible for the growing challenges to sustaining our lives on earth. The author believes it will guide fulfilling our capacity to address those goals by 2030 or beyond

Understanding legitimacy building in contexts through digital entrepreneurship

Purpose This paper, through empirical evidence, presents a framework for exploring how entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of building legitimacy in a digital context. In so doing, this paper goes beyond the seemingly forgone conclusion that legitimacy is important for the entrepreneur's success by focusing on the contextualised mechanisms through which digital legitimacy is built. Design/methodology/approach Empirical findings are drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted with 21 digital entrepreneurs in Nigeria, a leading example of the West African context and analysed using a phenomenological approach. Findings The paper shows how digital entrepreneurs in a non-Western context draw on an aspect of legitimation in the digital space, and in particular, highlights three mechanisms via which this takes place, namely: digital shielding, digital curating and digital networking. Presented via an inductive approach, the three mechanisms described in the paper provide a scaffold for thinking about and understanding entrepreneurial legitimacy within a contextual framework, which incorporates institutional, cultural and digital dimensions. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on digital entrepreneurship by empirically identifying and theoretically elaborating themes that are important for understanding how entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of digital entrepreneurship and build entrepreneurial legitimacy in complex contexts

Cosmopolitanism or globalisation : the anthropocene turn

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance the debate on “cosmopolitanism or globalization” by (a) approaching this rich literature from cultural, ethical and governance angles, and (b) by introducing key notions from the work that has taken place in the natural sciences, around the Anthropocene. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on analytical tactics that draw on a literature review and thematic analysis. Findings – The composite analytical “lens” introduced here (crafted around cultural, ethical and governance angles) to approach the debate on “cosmopolitanism or globalization” plus the engagement with the literature on the Anthropocene, allow us to engage with current understandings of the global and the “planetary” that are the heart of cosmopolitanism. Research limitations/implications – The paper deals with and merges two complex streams of literature (“cosmopolitanism or globalization” and the Anthropocene), and as such needs to be seen as part of an initial, exploratory scholarly effort. Practical implications – The analytical “lens” described here shall be of further use to develop current trends reclaiming cosmopolitanism for the study of organizations. Social implications – Our work can help to nurture a cosmopolitan sensitivity which celebrates difference, highlights expanded concerns for the ‘distant other’, and fosters involvement in new forms of governance. Originality/value – The approaches introduced here bring new angles to continue thinking about the planet as the ‘cosmos’ of cosmopolitanism, and to explore new understandings around organizations and (global) responsibility

Cosmopolitanism and transnational elite entrepreneurial practices: manifesting the cosmopolitan disposition in a cosmopolitan city

Purpose The paper aims to focus on the role that cosmopolitanism and, in particular, “the cosmopolitan disposition” (Woodward et al., 2008) plays in the process of entrepreneurial business by transnational business elites in Dubai. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a relational perspective based on Bourdieu and Wacquant’s (1992) Reflexive Sociology, as well as an inductive design, the authors conducted 30 semi-structured interviews focusing on both expatriates and Emiratis (locals/nationals) who displayed key features of a transnational business elite. Findings The findings indicate that the cosmopolitan disposition is an asset for transnational business elites when they venture in the context of Dubai. Research limitations/implications The findings would have to be further replicated in similar contexts, i.e. other major cities displaying similar cosmopolitan features with Dubai. A theoretical framework that calls for further study of transnational entrepreneurship via the lens of cosmopolitan disposition and Bourdieuan “habitus” is proposed. Practical implications The research outlines cosmopolitan skills for a transnational business elite which are required when entrepreneurial ventures are developed in the context of a city like Dubai. Social implications Cosmopolitanism and transnational entrepreneurship change cities like Dubai around the world constantly. Therefore, this study aims at achieving a better understanding of these changes and the ways in which they occur. Originality/value Studies on transnational entrepreneurship have already adopted Bourdieu’s theory (1977/1986), but this is the first time the cosmopolitan perspective and disposition is researched using this approach

Involving, countering, and overlooking stakeholder networks in soft regulation : case study of small-to-medium-sized enterprise's implementation of SA8000

To achieve effective stakeholder governance in the context of international social accountability certification (SA8000) requires constructing a network of agreement. In a case study of a small-to-medium-sized enterprise (SME), we examine managers’ attempts at enrolling participants in the supply chain to investigate how they strive to engage these stakeholders. We adopt actor-network theory (ANT) and sensemaking theory to develop a novel approach to understanding social accountability (SA) standards’ certification in stakeholder networks. We argue that the design and operation of any SA standard across a network requires not only attempts at enrolling other participants in the supply chain but management contextualizing and problematizing the terms of their involvement

Challenging the assumptions of social entrepreneurship education and repositioning it for the future: wonders of cultural, social, symbolic and economic capitals

Purpose: Social entrepreneurship education (SEE) is gaining increasing attention globally. This paper aims to focus on how SEE may be better understood and reconfigured from a Bourdieusian capital perspective with an emphasis on the process of mobilising and transforming social entrepreneurs’ cultural, social, economic and symbolic resources. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on qualitative research with a sample of social entrepreneurship educators and mentors, the authors generate insights into the significance of challenging assumptions and establishing values and principles and hence that of developing a range of capitals (using the Bourdieusian notion of capital) for SEE. Findings: The findings highlight the significance of developing a range of capitals and their transformative power for SEE. In this way, learners can develop dispositions for certain forms of capitals over others and transform them to each other in becoming reflexive social agents. Originality/value: The authors respond to the calls for critical thinking in entrepreneurship education and contribute to the field by developing a reflexive approach to SEE. The authors also make recommendations to educators, who are tasked with implementing such an approach in pursuit of raising the next generations of social entrepreneurs

Challenging the assumptions of social entrepreneurship education and repositioning it for the future : wonders of cultural, social and symbolic capitals

Purpose Social entrepreneurship education (SEE) is gaining increasing attention globally. This paper aims to focus on how SEE may be better understood and reconfigured from a Bourdieusian capital perspective with an emphasis on the process of mobilising and transforming social entrepreneurs’ cultural, social, economic and symbolic resources. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on qualitative research with a sample of social entrepreneurship educators and mentors, the authors generate insights into the significance of challenging assumptions and establishing values and principles and hence that of developing a range of capitals (using the Bourdieusian notion of capital) for SEE. Findings The findings highlight the significance of developing a range of capitals and their transformative power for SEE. In this way, learners can develop dispositions for certain forms of capitals over others and transform them to each other in becoming reflexive social agents. Originality/value The authors respond to the calls for critical thinking in entrepreneurship education and contribute to the field by developing a reflexive approach to SEE. The authors also make recommendations to educators, who are tasked with implementing such an approach in pursuit of raising the next generations of social entrepreneurs

Practising knowledge workers: perspectives of an artist and economist: professional insights

Purpose – The paper aims to generate insights into practitioners’ understanding of global knowledge work/workers by exploring the perspectives of an artist and economist. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews with the two participants were conducted; and the interview material was transcribed and analyzed. Findings – Global knowledge work is a multifaceted concept; it can exist in different fields, including art, technology and social sciences. Global knowledge work is about knowledge that is acquired, accumulated, shared and enriched through relocation, travel or integration into networks. Global knowledge workers are equipped with some form of specialized knowledge, skills set and different communication strategies. Their motivation varies from intellectual curiosity, financial and career benefits, personal reasons to seek a life in another country to the prestige of global knowledge work. Practical implications – Diversity is a defining attribute of global knowledge work. Diverse backgrounds, expertise and viewpoints of global knowledge workers are becoming an increasingly significant asset for organizations. This has implications in terms of developing effective diversity management strategies in global and knowledge-intensive organizations, such as universities. Originality/value – The paper draws on two interviews with practising global knowledge workers, in the fields of art and economy. Useful insights are generated for practitioners in all fields, combining interesting perspectives on global knowledge work and its future value

Social entrepreneurship between cross-currents : towards a framework of theoretical restructuring of the field

Scholars have characterized social entrepreneurship as an “accumulative fragmentalism,” primarily characterized by the use of case studies featuring prominent and innovative profiles of social enterprises and entrepreneurs. However, today, social entrepreneurship is between cross-currents. On the one hand, it seeks, as a subfield, to solidify its theoretical and methodological underpinnings and standpoints. On the other hand, it is consistently exposed to field expansion, given that a number of its underlying frameworks, commonly shared with other fields (such as sustainability and corporate social responsibility [CSR]), are opening up to wider vistas of conceptualization and theorization. This is often through the influence of practice as well as theory. The contribution of the paper is threefold. First, it enhances our understanding of social entrepreneurship field development by identifying cross-currents and by highlighting new angles for paradigmatic and theoretical positioning. Second, it implements a framework that scholars previously employed within the original field of entrepreneurship (Bourdieu's theory of capitals and their transformations); in doing so, it also proceeds to propose an enrichment to the framework by including additional capitals that are specifically relevant for the field of social entrepreneurship and that are influenced by common agendas, as those exist in the fields of sustainability and CSR. Third, it offers insights for theory, as well as practice, which relate to understandings from the first two contributions

Global Knowledge Work : Diversity and Relational Perspectives

Global Knowledge Work is an up-to-date account of theoretical approaches and empirical research in the multi-disciplinary topic of global knowledge workers from a relational and diversity perspective. It includes contributions from international scholars and practitioners who have been working with the concept of global knowledge workers from a number of different perspectives, including personal and academic life trajectories. They reveal that the relational framework of the three dimensions of analysis (macro-meso-micro) is relevant for analyzing the phenomenon of global knowledge workers, as expertise and specialised knowledge and its innovative application, together with the attraction and retention of talent remain key topics in the current socioeconomic conditions