This article has been translated with DeepL.
WINNERS | Grand Slam for Sweden at the world’s largest management research conference
- Published: 21 Aug 2024,
- 11:36 AM
- Updated: 21 Aug 2024,
- 8:07 AM
More than 10,000 researchers from all over the world recently gathered in Chicago, USA, at the world’s largest and foremost conference in management – the Academy of Management, AoM. In the field of entrepreneurship, ENT Division, several Swedish-linked researchers received awards.
Marina Vorholzer, Lund University, together with her supervisor Anna Brattström, received the “Best conceptual paper” award. They have studied how ethical dilemmas shape the behavior of entrepreneurs. For example, the conflict between being truthful and “fake it until you make it”.
What is your main contribution?
– We want to highlight the need for reflection on ethics, both by entrepreneurs themselves and by support actors, such as incubators. It’s easy to leave ethics behind when decisions need to be made quickly and exciting ideas need to be realized. But given the impact entrepreneurs can have on employees, investors or society at large – and in the light of scandals such as Theranos’ blood tests or Neuralink’s animal testing – we believe a discussion on ethics is important and valuable.
Read more about Anna Brattström’s research here and here.
Mateja Andric, Stockholm School of Economics, received the NFIB Dissertation Award for her doctoral thesis on how the life events of entrepreneurs and CEOs, such as parental divorce in childhood and their own divorce in adulthood, affect entrepreneurial performance and company results.
What have you found out?
– With each life event, the priorities and performance of the entrepreneur/CEO may change, and the strategic priorities and performance of the company may consequently also change.
– Major life events have an impact in the short term but also over very long periods of time. And they tend to have multifaceted effects on businesses, often both negative and positive at the same time, even in the case of a divorce. It is therefore important for entrepreneurs and managers to be prepared for and successfully manage major life events.
Mohamed Genedy, Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), together with Lucia Naldi and Karin Hellerstedt, won the category “Best Family Business Paper”. The research is about children of entrepreneurs and their willingness or unwillingness to work in and take over the family business.
Tell us about some of the results?
– The propensity to get involved or make a career choice in the family business differs depending on the position in the sibling group. Younger siblings tend to be more likely to join the family business, but they are also more likely to leave the business after a while. Thus, once the first-born join the company, they are more likely to stay.
– Younger siblings usually have lower levels of post-secondary education than older siblings. As a result, they are less qualified in the labor market early in their career, which may be one reason why they are more likely to join the family business. However, it is the older siblings who are more likely to start their own business compared to the younger siblings.
Read more about Mohamed Genedy’s research
Per Davidsson, Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), received the “Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award” for his dedicated work in entrepreneurship research and contribution to the development of the field.
Congratulations on this great award! What are you most proud of in your career in entrepreneurship research?
– Thank you very much! I am proud to have played a significant role in the development of Jönköping International Business School. And of course the influence I have had on entrepreneurship research both in Sweden and in Australia.
– And of course, I am proud of my own research and the breadth of it. In addition, I have influenced the practice of entrepreneurship at policy and company level. It feels good.
