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CALL FOR PAPERS

Special Issue of the International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal

(ISSN Print: 1554-7191)

“Women Entrepreneurship within Science, Technology, Engineering, and


Mathematics (STEM) fields”

Special Issue Editors:

Katherina Kuschel – Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

Kerstin Ettl – University of Siegen, Germany

Cristina Díaz-García – Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Spain

Gry Agnete Alsos – Nord University Business School, Norway

Full Paper Submission Deadline: 31 August 2017

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (the so-called STEM fields) are
notably important for innovation and technological development, which in turn are
cross-national drivers of social and economic growth. The STEM disciplines are
considered major sources of increased competitiveness due to the potential for
technological innovation and job creation, provided that technological inventions and
developments are transferred and commercialized. For this, entrepreneurial activity
plays a crucial role (Di Gregorio & Shane, 2003; O'Shea et al., 2007). A variety of
policy initiatives is put forward to support such activity (Rasmussen et al., 2006). Such
efforts have been found to be gender biased (Marlow & McAdam, 2012), and women
are less seldom than men involved in entrepreneurship related to the STEM fields. Ahl
et al. (2015) recognize that there has been a political change, influenced by neo-liberal
thought, in which politicians have handed over the welfare state’s responsibilities to the
market and they encourage entrepreneurship, not least among women and, if possible,
within STEM fields.

The gender breakdown of students entering STEM fields shows about 60% male and
40% female students. At the PhD level the numbers are closer. However, over time,
these women start to drop out of technical and industrial careers. By the time careers
reach leadership levels, as few as 15% are women (Vongalis-Macrow, 2016). Although
governments all over the world try to close existing economic gender gaps, women are
still less educated in STEM fields and less often participate in the workforce or owning
companies in those areas. These two facts lead to a high number of educational and
governmental programs, which try to close the gap and foster women in STEM and/or
women in opportunity-driven entrepreneurship.

Although there is a broad number of books, articles and special issues on Women in
Entrepreneurship (Ahl, 2006; Alsos et al., 2013; Bollough & Abdelzaher, 2012; Brush,
2009; Hughes et al., 2012) and a considerable number on studies on gender aspects in
STEM (add current sources), seldom publications dealt so far explicitly with Women
Entrepreneurship in STEM fields. In the past women entrepreneurship research was
more often narrowed to “innovation” or “technology” (Castillo et al. 2014); Research on
women in STEM focused mostly on women’s educational choices (Stout et al., 2011;
Simon et al., 2016), women faculty (Xu, 2011) and women in leadership positions
(Eagly & Carli, 2007).

Following Alsos et al. (2013) we argue that women's activity needs to be understood as
embedded in the normative frames and structural factors at play. The ideal type of
entrepreneur embedded in notions of entrepreneurial identity is a male prototype,
suggesting that normative constructions of femininity do not fit well with this role,
posing challenges to women which aim to enter a social space which is unsympathetic
to their gendered characterization (Marlow and McAdam, 2014). Marlow and McAdam
(2014) show that technology business incubation is a gendered process shaping the
identity work by women entrepreneurs who seek legitimacy as technology business-
owners, encouraging them to reproduce masculinized representations of the normative
technology entrepreneur. Also, Politis et al. (2014) find that female academic
entrepreneurs face barriers, for example with regards to their exclusion from high-level
industrial links and commercial networks. This can be related to Rönnblom and Keisu's
(2013) finding about the inevitability of de-politicization processes of the neo-liberal
audit culture of innovation in academia and the difficulties of working for political
change for women academics. At the same time, this fact can be also related to women's
ideas (creativity) being less likely to be implemented to the same degree as men's, since
the later have greater decision-making authority within the team (Foss et al., 2013).
Recently Xie and Lv (2016) show how social networks of female tech-entrepreneurs
have a positive effect on new venture performance, which is negatively moderated by
discrimination (direct negative effect) and positively moderated by entrepreneurial
alertness (direct positive effect).

Against this background the aim of this Special Issue is to combine the debate on
Women in Entrepreneurship with the debate about Gender aspects in STEM and thus
addressing both fields in a broader than usual way. In doing so, we achieve to gain new,
continuative and contrasting insights through widening the established focus. Finally,
the Special Issue contributes to both research on Women Entrepreneurship as well as
research on gender aspects in occupational choice within Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics areas.

We welcome high quality manuscripts that link Women Entrepreneurship and STEM.
Manuscripts can be both international in scope as well as investigating domestic issues
with global relevance. Manuscripts accepted for publication should include implications
for business practice. Both conceptual and empirical papers, from different analytical
and methodological perspectives, can be submitted. In doing so, we can together build a
body of high quality, cumulative research that extends our current knowledge.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following aspects:

Situation

· Participation of Women Entrepreneurs in Science/Academia, Technology,


Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) in different contexts and regions

· Characteristics and variations of Women Entrepreneurship within STEM related


industries

· The involvement in entrepreneurial activities among women academics within


STEM fields

Antecedents and impacts

· Linkages between STEM and Entrepreneurship Education, and the role of gender

· Barriers experienced by women entrepreneurs in STEM – and ways to overcome


them

· The influence of gender in STEM related innovation and entrepreneurship policy,


including technology transfer, technology incubator programs and venture capital

· Impact of initiatives to foster Women (Entrepreneurship) in STEM

· Economic impact of women's entrepreneurship in STEM fields


Experiences

· Role-Models, Motivation, Networking & Mentorship encouraging Women


Entrepreneurs in STEM

· Learning and Opportunity Recognition of Women Entrepreneurs in STEM

· Specific contextual influences and challenges (unconscious biases,


discrimination, unwelcoming climates, culture) on women entrepreneurship positioning
in STEM fields (e.g. institutions either public –academic entrepreneurship- or private –
incubators-, policies, networks)

· Reflexive identity work undertaken by women in STEM fields

· Entrepreneurial legitimacy, the credibility potential of women in STEM fields

· Manners in which mainstream theorizing in STEM fields is steeped within


masculinity under a masquerade of neutrality

· Team building and leadership

Important dates

Deadline for submission of full paper is: August 31, 2017. Please send your papers
directly to the guest-editors and make sure to follow the Submission Guidelines
available at:

http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/entrepreneurship/journal/11365

Papers should be a maximum of 10,000 words in length.

For informal inquires related to the Special Issue, proposed topics and potential fit with
the Special Issue objectives, please send a voluntary abstract (250 words) until March
31st to Katherina Kuschel kkuschel@wlu.ca

Guest Co-editors’ contact details: Katherina Kuschel – Wilfrid Laurier University,


Canada (kkuschel@wlu.ca); Kerstin Ettl – University of Siegen, Germany
(kerstin.ettl@uni-siegen.de); Cristina Díaz-García – Universidad de Castilla La
Mancha, Spain (Cristina.Diaz@uclm.es); Gry Agnete Alsos – Nord University Business
School, Norway (Gry.Agnete.Alsos@uin.no)
References

Ahl, H. (2006). Why Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Directions.


Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30(5), 595–621. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-
6520.2006.00138.x

Ahl, H., Berglund, K., Pettersson, K. and Tillmar, M. (2016). “From feminism to
FemInc.ism: On the uneasy relationship between feminism, entrepreneurship and the
Nordic welfare state”, International Entrepreneurship Management Journal, 12 (2), 369-
392.

Alsos, G. A., Ljunggren, E., & Hytti, U. (2013). Gender and innovation: state of the art
and a research agenda. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 5(3), 236–
256. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-06-2013-0049

Brush, C.G. (2009). Women Entrepreneurs: A Research Overview. The Oxford


Handbook of Entrepreneurship.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199546992.003.0023

Bullough, A. & Abdelzaher, D. (2012). “Global Research on Women’s


Entrepreneurship: An Overview of Available Data Sources & Limitations”, Business
and Management Research, 2 (3), 42

Eagly, A. H. & Carli, L.L. (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women
become leaders. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Castillo, R., Grazzi, M., & Tacsir, E., (2014). Women in Science and Technology: What
Does the Literature Say? Inter-American Development Bank.

Di Gregorio, D. & Shane, S. (2003). "Why do some universities generate more start-ups
than others?" Research Policy, 32 (2003), pp. 209–227

Foss, L, Woll, K. and Moilanen, M. (2013). "Creativity and implementations of new


ideas: Do organisational structure, work environment and gender matter?", International
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Hughes, K. D., Jennings, J. E., Brush, C., Carter, S., & Welter, F. (2012). Extending
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Marlow, S., & McAdam, M. (2012). Analyzing the Influence of Gender Upon High-
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Politis, D.J., Gabrielson, J. and Dahlstrand, A.L. (2014). “Academic entrepreneurship:


Multi-level factors associated with female-led incubator projects”, in Women’s
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Rasmussen, E., Moen, Ø. & Gulbrandsen, M. (2006) "Initiatives to promote


commercialization of university knowledge." Technovation, 26 (4 ), 518-533.

Rönnblom, M. and Britt-Inger, K. (2013) "Constructions of innovation and gender


(equality) in Swedish universities", International Journal of Gender and
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Simon, R. M., Wagner, A., & Killion, B. (2016). Gender and choosing a STEM major
in college: Femininity, masculinity, chilly climate, and occupational values. Journal of
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Stout, J. G., Dasgupta, N., Hunsinger, M., & McManus, M. A. (2011). STEMing the
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100(2), 255–270. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021385

Vongalis-Macrow, A. (2016). “What it will take to keep women from leaving STEM”,
Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2016/09/what-it-will-take-to-keep-women-
from-leaving-stem

Xie, X. & Lv, J. (2016). “Social networks of female tech-entrepreneurs and new venture
performance: the moderating effects of entrepreneurial alertness and gender
discrimination”, International Entrepreneurship Management Journal, 12 (4), 963-983.

Xu, Y.J. (2011). A Report on the Status of Women Faculty in the Schools of Science
and Engineering at MIT, 2011.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/images/documents/women-report-2011.pdf
http://www.springer.com/journal/11365

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