Dear All,
Apologies for cross-posting
We are pleased to offer this caucus at AoM focused on the topic of Digital Entrepreneurship. This is a great opportunity to meet up with like-minded researchers looking to expand the interfaces between Digital Technologies and Entrepreneurship research. Please see the caucus description below or the program from more details and contact the organizers for more information.
Interfaces between Digital Technologies and Entrepreneurship
Session Type: Caucus; Ref Id: 1822; Date:Tuesday Aug 8 2017 from 11:30AM to 1:00PM at Hilton Atlanta in the Room 202 room
Organizers:
Fang Zhao (f.zhao@ecu.edu.au); Llandis Barratt-Pugh, l.barratt_pugh@ecu.edu.au; Pi-Shen Seet (p.seet@ecu.edu.au)
School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University
Purpose:
This caucus has a two-fold purpose: (1) to investigate the interfaces between digital technologies and entrepreneurship and (2) to advance a research agenda for further study of digital entrepreneurship. The proposed caucus addresses the Conference theme and intends to stimulate robust discussion and research collaboration among AOM members.
Caucus Description
Digital technologies have become a new economic and social force, reshaping traditional business models, strategies, structures and processes. Digital entrepreneurship (DE) is broadly defined as creating new ventures and transforming existing businesses by developing novel digital technologies and/or novel usage of such technologies. DE has been viewed as a critical pillar for economic growth, job creation and innovation by many countries. A good example is Alibaba.com, which has helped millions of Chinese people become entrepreneurs and in the process created numerous jobs. Digital technologies have also enabled the growth of the 'sharing economy' linking owners and users and disrupting the previous dualism of businesses and customers. For example, the rapid proliferation of Uber and Airbnb businesses is generating new entrepreneurial opportunities and new forms of venture models. It is evident that digital technologies have made significant impacts on the growth of entrepreneurs and their developmental process. It is imperative to develop a fine-grained understanding of DE.
However, only recently have some studies in the entrepreneurship literature started to examine the impacts of digital technologies on entrepreneurial decision-making (Fischer and Reuber 2014) and on entrepreneurial activities for venture development (Allison et al. 2014). From a digital technology perspective, the study of Nambisan (2016) posits that digital technologies have brought out two significant implications for entrepreneurship research – less stable boundaries of the entrepreneurial processes and outcomes, and less predefined and predicted locus of entrepreneurial agency. For example, 3D printing enables product ideas and designs to be quickly formed, enacted, modified, and re-enacted, which blurs the traditional boundaries of where a business model and venture starts and ends. Social media makes it difficult to predefine and predict who the actors are and when they are involved in the entrepreneurial processes. The study of Fischer and Reuber (2014, p.1) suggests that social interactions of entrepreneurs on the social media may affect the effectual cognition of entrepreneurs, which 'ultimately results in creating opportunities and developing new firms, markets, or industries'.
Prompted by the significant growth in the new form of entrepreneurship - DE, and the lack of research and understanding of the emerging concept, this caucus seeks to study the impacts of digital technologies on entrepreneurial processes and outcomes, and to advance a research agenda for further study of DE.
Given the cross-discipline nature of the topic area, the caucus is expected to attract AOM members from different divisions and interest groups to discuss and share their ideas and experience on DE research and connect them to form cross-discipline teams to advance research in this emerging subject.
References
Allison, T. H., Davis, B. C., Short, J. C., & Webb, J. W. 2015. Crowdfunding in a Prosocial Microlending Environment: Examining the Role of Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Cues. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39: 53-73.
Fischer, E., & Reuber, A. R. 2014. Online Entrepreneurial Communication: Mitigating Uncertainty and Increasing Differentiation via Twitter. Journal of Business Venturing, 29: 565-583.
Nambisan, S. 2016. Digital Entrepreneurship: Toward a Digital Technology Perspective of Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, doi:10.1111/etap.12254