Ethical judgment and radical business changes: the role of entrepreneurial perspicacity

This study examines the implications of practical reason for entrepreneurial activities. Our study is based on Thomas Aquinas’ interpretation of such virtue, with a particular focus on the partition of practical reason in potential parts such as synesis, or common sense, and gnome, or perspicacity. Since entrepreneurial acts and actions deal with extremely uncertain situations, we argue that only this perspicacity, as the ability of correctly judging in exceptional cases, has the power to find wisdom under such blurred conditions. Perspicacity frees entrepreneurs from their cognitive schemata rendering them able to be truly entrepreneurial. Based on this vision and thanks to a semantic analysis of the meaning of the Greek word gnome, we construct an interpretative model for entrepreneurial judgment composed of three dimensions, specifically, knowledge-cognitive, external-affective and personal-reflective. The model highlights how a ‘successful’ entrepreneurial judgment is also such from a holistic point of view

What sparks ethical decision making? The interplay between moral intuition and moral reasoning: lessons from the scholastic doctrine

Recent theories on cognitive science have stressed the significance of moral intuition as a counter to and complementary part of moral reasoning in decision making. Thus, the aim of this paper is to create an integrated framework that can account for both intuitive and reflective cognitive processes, in order to explore the antecedents of ethical decision making. To do that, we build on Scholasticism, an important medieval school of thought from which descends the main pillars of the modern Catholic social doctrine. Particularly, the focus will be on the scholastic concept of synderesis, which is an innate human faculty that constantly inclines decision makers toward universal moral principles. Managerial implications are discussed, stressing how a rediscovery of decision makers’ intuitive moral judgments could be relevant in the reflective thinking practice of managers’ ethical reasoning, thus saving them from rational insensitivity to ethical dilemmas

Philosophy Theory Into Entrepreneurial Education Practice: A Holistic Model

In the entrepreneurial education field, the “perfect” program of teaching entrepreneurship has been largely debated. In this paper, provocatively, we used only different philosophical thoughts in order to reconstruct a holistic pedagogical model suitable for entrepreneurial education. The model is based on two famous philosophical dichotomies, respectively the Kantian opposition of freedom versus determinism and the Aristotelian division into praxis and poiesis. These elements, specifically adapted to an entrepreneurial context, may lead educators and curricula developers in the “tangle forest” of contents and skills that should be transferred to students. In particular the model offers an easy tool that clearly defines areas of intervention to teach entrepreneurship. The final scope is to offer simultaneously appealing to students concerning entrepreneurial activities, as desirability, and tools for such activities as feasibility, articulated in two degrees of outcomes: one internal, as conduct and experience, and one pragmatic, as technical skills

Entrepreneurial education and internationalisation of firms in transition economies: a conceptual framework from the case of Croatia

The aim of this paper is to offer an integrated perspective on internationalisation process in transition economies and the role that an entrepreneurial education can play in it. The context of a transition economy, such those countries belonging to the former Yugoslavian republic, deeply affect the entrepreneurial activities established. Internationalisation offers a viable advantage to entrepreneurs and their firms to overcome a limited internal market and hostile conditions faced in the local environment. Thanks to the results obtained by a stream of studies focused on the entrepreneurial context in Croatia, we build a framework to explore the problems faced by entrepreneurs when internationalisation is considered and possible solutions. Our main contribution is the proposition of an entrepreneurial education as facilitator of the process. Indeed, entrepreneurial education, considered as formal education and an entrepreneurial university context, can directly ameliorate the process of internationalisation. Simultaneously it can also affect the networking strategy that in literature is another prominent element tackled regarding the problem of internationalisation in transition economies. Thus, entrepreneurial education may represent a strong boost in which to invest with public policies and targeted interventions

Negotiating with your kids: family business succession and conflict management

Through a conceptualization of two bodies of literature, the conflict management and the family business, with this paper we aim at stimulating a debate and further research on the intersections of the two fields. We argue that scholars and researchers have not yet deepened several areas of conflict management in family businesses, and the two fields of literature are yet not well integrated. Focusing on the pivotal moment of the succession in the family business, we propose a research agenda identifying the issues and the research gaps that should be explored by researchers to reach a more integrated literature on conflict management and negotiation in family businesses

Conflict management and negotiation in family business succession: Critical Literature Review and research agenda

This paper intends to stimulate a serious debate on the topic of conflict in family businesses and the theory of negotiation as a tool to resolve these conflicts. The methodology is based on the collection and systematization of the main literature on these topics. The study results show that, despite the literature on conflict management is highly developed as well as literature on family business, scholars and researchers have not yet deepened several areas of conflict management in family businesses, so the two fields of literature are yet not well integrated. The paper then proposes a research agenda identifying the issues and research gaps that should be explored by researchers in order to reach a more mature literature on conflict resolution in family businesses

Finding the extraordinary and creating the unexpected: Gnome and Genius combined in an entrepreneurial ethical heuristic

Purpose – This paper aims to present an integrated framework for ethical decision making in uncertain conditions, such as those of entrepreneurship. The model aims to build an exceptional ethical heuristic employable by entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical framework is anchored to Aquinas’ theory of practical reason virtue, specifically its minor virtue gnome, and the Kantian faculty of genius or to better say its modus operandi. Thanks to the composition of these prima facie distant ontologies it is possible to build a ‘ready-to-use’ heuristic. Findings – The paper through a philosophical discussion offers a ready-to-use heuristic that may help entrepreneurs and businesspersons when ‘navigating’ uncertain and troubled situations. In such situations, firstly it is important to recognize the ‘exceptionality’ of the situation, disregarding where necessary the ordinary criteria of judgment (an act directed by gnome). Secondly, a creative reconstruction of available knowledge able to re-shape the ‘rules of the game’ is needed (an act directed by PR but with connotations drawn from genius). Research limitations/implications – The paper provides only a theoretical conceptualization of the heuristic model. However, the result is a ready-to-use heuristic rule for entrepreneurs, who work in uncertain and unclear conditions. Empirical validation of the framework can represent an opportunity for future research to test the operative impact of such an exceptional ethical heuristic. Originality/value – Little attention has been dedicated to ethical decision making in the entrepreneurial setting built on a virtue ethics approach. This paper’s proposed model may represent an innovative alternative to strictly rational models for ethical decision making

Supporting opportunities for female entrepreneurs in Jordan

Female entrepreneurship in developing countries is a growing body of research that tries to address the main challenges faced in such a context. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the real opportunities for female entrepreneurs in terms of support for their start-ups. A lack of studies with this specific focus may detach the pertinent literature from real business practice and the true conditions faced by women during the start-up process. We grounded our analysis in Jordan, a country that has received little attention, despite the fact that it has one of the liveliest entrepreneurial contexts in the Middle East. A sample of 28 institutions operating in Jordan that offer support for entrepreneurial activities were examined. This is followed by a discussion of the main implications of the initiatives dedicated to female entrepreneurs

Exploring entrepreneurial decision-making and behaviour: contexts, processes and dynamics

The aim of the present special issue is to gain a deeper understanding of decision-making processes and the behaviours of individuals involved in the entrepreneurial activities from an holistic and anatomic perspective of the matter

Conflict in Virtual Teams: a bibliometric analysis, systematic review, and research agenda

Design/methodology/approach: A dataset of 107 relevant papers on the topic was retrieved using the Web of Science Core Collection database covering a period ranging from 2001 to 2019. A comparative bibliometric analysis consisting of the integration of results from the citation, co-citation, and bibliographic coupling was performed to identify the most influential papers. The systematic literature review complemented the bibliometric results by clustering the most influential papers. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to map the intellectual structure of the research concerning conflict and conflict management in virtual teams (VT), to contribute to the further integration of knowledge among different streams of research, and to develop an interpretative framework to stimulate future research. Findings: The results revealed different intellectual structures across several types of analyses. Despite such differences, 41 papers resulted as the most impactful and provided evidence of the emergence of five thematic clusters: trust, performance, cultural diversity, knowledge management, and team management. Research limitations/implications: Based on the bibliometric analyses an interpretative research agenda has been developed that unveils the main future research avenues. The paper also offers important theoretical contributions by systematizing knowledge on conflict in identifying VTs. Managerial contributions in the form of the identification of best practices are also developed to guide conflict management in VTs. Originality/value: The uniqueness of this paper is related to its effort in studying, mapping, and systematizing the knowledge concerning the topic of handling conflicts in VTs. Considering the current contingencies this research is particularly timely