Entrepreneurship education has expanded beyond business schools, yet programs do not operate uniformly across disciplines. Grounded in Shapero and Sokol’s (1982) Entrepreneurial Event Model, this study examined whether an interdisciplinary program produced differential effects on entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions, and reflection based on students’ college affiliation. Using a quasi-experimental, repeated-measures design, 104 participants (post-survey N = 92) across seven colleges completed a consulting-based entrepreneurship program over the course of 8 semesters. Pre- and post-surveys measured Entrepreneurial Attitudinal Orientation (Achievement, Self-Esteem, Personal Control, Innovation), Entrepreneurial Intention, and Reflection. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multivariate regression provided complementary analyses. Results revealed no overall program effect (Wilks’ Λ = .064, p = .116), but a significant interaction between participation and college affiliation (Wilks’ Λ = .047, p = .014, partial η² = .399). Business and Engineering students showed significantly higher gains in Achievement (p = .002), Personal Control (p < .001), and Reflection (p = .004) compared to Education, Arts & Sciences, and Fine Arts students. The presence of a program manager showed no effect (p = .974). The divergence between MANOVA detecting subscale-level effects and regression showing no composite-level effects suggests college affiliation influences specific entrepreneurial attitude dimensions differently. Findings demonstrate that students with training emphasizing problem-solving, innovation, and applied business concepts benefit most. Entrepreneurship programs should incorporate discipline-specific scaffolding that leverages existing knowledge while addressing field-specific barriers to entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

PURPOSE:The purpose of the study is to explore how healthcare employees process and cope with workplace violence (WPV) in an effort to improve employee and organizational performance. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH:This qualitative study is based on the theories of cognitive adaptation and social exchange. Research and interview questions were developed from these theories to uncover how healthcare workers process and cope with the trauma of violence. Participants gave accounts of verbal, physical and psychological acts of violence perpetrated by patients, patient family members, and colleagues. FINDINGS:Findings are discussed including WPV experiences, coping with WPV and organizational support to WPV, among others. Detailed preventive and reactive organizational strategies to help employees cope with WPV are recommended. The study offers significant theoretical implications and provides a comprehensive framework for interpreting how employees process, cope with and perceive organizational responses to WPV. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS:The study advances our understanding of how healthcare workers cope with WPV at different times and informs future research on the resources and support that are needed from employers at different stages of the coping process. The study has several limitations. First, the study relies on interview data that are the perceptions and self-reported data of healthcare workers. Another limitation is that while data saturation was achieved after 11 interviews, this number is modest considering the number of healthcare workers that experience WPV. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS:Healthcare organizations should adopt a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP) that addresses all types, forms and levels of violence, including the threat of terrorism. Selection techniques should be designed to assess candidates' responses to high-stress situations, helping to identify individuals who may struggle with workplace conflict or criticism. Organizations should implement a confidential reporting system and establish a dedicated threat management team (TMT). Healthcare organizations should routinely update their training programs and provide ongoing support to those who have experienced WPV. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS:Organizations have a responsibility to keep their employees safe and secure. Trauma resulting from violence and unsafe conditions not only harms performance but has significant implications for employee mental health and physical well-being. Organizations can and must do more to keep workers safe from deviant, violent and counterproductive work behaviors. ORIGINALITY/VALUE:To our knowledge, this is among the few research studies to examine how healthcare workers from both administrative and clinical positions cope with WPV through the frameworks of cognitive adaptation and social exchange.

This study examines how dispositional goal orientations predict entrepreneurial identity (EI) formation and investigates the moderating role of rurality in these relationships. We integrate existing identity perspectives with goal orientations research to develop our theoretical framework. We conducted two studies sampling full-time workers in the United States (Study 1: n=377; Study 2: n=405) via online platforms. Study 2 employed a time-lagged design. Path analysis in Mplus 8.8 was used to test our hypotheses. Learning and performance-prove orientations positively predicted EI, while performance-avoid orientation negatively predicted EI. Rurality amplified the positive effects of learning orientation and exacerbated the negative effects of performance-avoid orientation on EI. Contrary to expectations, rurality did not moderate the relationship between performance-prove orientation and EI. Our findings inform the development of targeted entrepreneurship promotion strategies and vocational training programs. They suggest ways to tailor interventions based on individuals’ learning and performance-avoid orientations, particularly in rural contexts. This research extends EI literature by identifying dispositional goal orientations as key antecedents and rurality as a critical moderator of EI formation. It addresses calls for research on contextual factors in EI development and demonstrates the relevance of goal orientations beyond academic settings.

This paper explores the role of branding in new-venture growth, focusing on how corporate branding communicates brand identity to target markets. Early-stage new ventures require unique branding strategies that differ from the branding strategies of established small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations. Effective branding for new ventures involves targeting niche products and specific markets, utilising techniques distinct from larger organisations, such as promotional events rather than sales discounts. This theoretical study presents research-based propositions highlighting the critical importance of early-stage corporate branding in enhancing growth and survivability for new firms. By emphasising the unique aspects of new-venture branding, this study aims to guide scholars and practitioners in developing more effective branding strategies for emerging businesses.

This study explores the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions among rural students in Oman's Dhofar region, focusing on self-efficacy, skills, and education as components of human capital. Using Bandura's social cognitive theory, a quantitative approach examines how psychological factors and experiential learning influence entrepreneurial intentions. Data from 467 randomly selected students were collected via self-reported surveys. Results show a significant positive relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions, with higher self-efficacy levels correlating with greater entrepreneurial inclination. Skills also positively impact entrepreneurial intentions, highlighting the importance of diverse skill sets. Additionally, self-efficacy moderates the relationship between skills and intentions, suggesting that high self-efficacy enhances the translation of skills into entrepreneurial ambitions. Unexpectedly, no significant correlation between education and entrepreneurial intentions was found. This study emphasizes the importance of psychological factors and experiential learning in shaping entrepreneurial intentions in unique socio-cultural and economic contexts. Insights can help policymakers and educators promote entrepreneurship and economic development in rural communities, fostering resilience and empowerment. This research enriches our understanding of entrepreneurship in diverse settings by examining the under-researched Dhofar region.

Despite purportedly acting in the best interests of the organization, many Information Technology (IT) managers succumb to desires for control and power that result in behavior that is detrimental to employees and, ultimately, the organization as a whole. Drawing from Ashforth’s seminal work on petty tyranny, we highlight the unique dynamics of IT-related tyranny, characterized by micromanagement and arbitrary control over user activities. Employing models that both illustrate petty tyranny emergence and delineate the lifecycle of IT petty tyranny, this work describes how individual predispositions and organizational factors catalyze and perpetuate tyrannical behaviors. In addition, we examine the harmful effects of IT petty tyranny on employee morale, productivity, and even organizational cybersecurity. We conclude with practical advice on how organizations can recognize and mitigate IT petty tyranny to avoid negative outcomes for employees and the organization.

This Special Issue focuses on entrepreneurship education in rural areas and small towns, illuminating the dynamics of entrepreneurship education in these often-neglected contexts. The articles in the Special Issue examine the development and outcomes of entrepreneurship programs and initiatives in different parts of the world and aiming at different kinds of rural students. By doing so, they also raise questions about the effectiveness of applying one-size-fits-all approaches to entrepreneurship education regardless of the context, calling for a more nuanced approach to developing entrepreneurial mindsets, competencies and skills. The findings also identify new opportunities to improve pedagogical methods for entrepreneurship education in rural contexts. Among these, future entrepreneurship education should focus more strongly on the role played by place and community, the interplay between formal and informal pedagogical approaches, and the diverse support needs of rural students of different ages and backgrounds.

Purpose Through a resource-based theoretical lens, we elucidate conditions under which family business culture (FBC) amplifies the positive effects of high-performance work systems (HPWS) intensity and exacerbates the negative effects of low human capital uniqueness (HCU) on firm performance. By doing so, we answer the call for more research on the conditions under which FBC influences firm outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The present study sampled 226 small business owners across the USA, who provided their responses to online survey questions. Hypotheses were assessed via path analysis in MPlus 8.8, using maximum likelihood estimation. Findings FBC, HPWS intensity and HCU were positively associated with firm performance. Further, the HPWS intensity – firm performance and HCU – firm performance links were moderated by FBC. Specifically, increased levels of HPWS intensity were associated with greater firm performance when FBC was high, and firms with low levels of HCU tended to have particularly decreased levels of firm performance when FBC was low. Research limitations/implications Consistent with the resource-based view, firms' unique resources and competitive advantage may be tied to the extent to which they have an established FBC. High levels of FBC, which are characterized by shared values, loyalty, proud involvement and care toward the organization, can play a significant role in enhancing organizational performance. Family business leaders should prioritize cultivating an enhanced FBC alongside investments in HPWS and unique human capital. Originality/value This study contributes to understanding the theoretical underpinnings of FBC and its relationship with firm performance by examining FBC’s interaction with HPWS intensity and HCU. We highlight FBC as a valuable intangible resource that can enhance or diminish the effectiveness of other strategic resources in family firms, further extending the application of resource-based view theory in family business research.

Innovativeness and performance are keys to understanding the capability of SMEs. However, scant research examines the motivational frames that enhance behaviors, such as innovation, in SMEs. Regulatory focus theory provides the lens through which to we examined how SME owner motivation impacts innovation and firm performance, given that the SME owner primarily displays either a promotion or prevention focus. As such, we hypothesize the moderating effects of dominant regulatory foci radical on the relationship between innovation and SME performance. Based on a sample of 422 small business owners, we find a positive and significant direct relationship between both incremental and radical innovation on performance. Further, we report that prevention focus heightens the positive relationship between incremental innovation and performance, while radical innovation negatively impacts the relationship between radical innovation and performance; thus, highlighting the critical nature of strategic alignment that exists between regulatory focus strategy, innovation type and performance outcomes. This study brings the entrepreneur back into focus for small business research and investigates the intersection of firm-level and individual-level units of analyses.

Many universities have adopted Administrative Withdrawal Policies that allow administrators to remove students from classes without the student’s permission. These policies potentially protect students but also provide a means of artificially improving key funding metrics. This study uses Agency Theory to examine over 1,100 Division I, II, and III U.S. universities and compares the usage of Administrative Withdrawal Policies to state and federal funding. Results show Division II schools receiving less state funding have adopted these policies at a higher rate than Division II schools receiving more. Recommendations for future use of these policies is provided.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine work values among job seekers and how these values differ across experience and gender.Design/methodology/approachThis study asked participants to rate the importance of various intrinsic and extrinsic work values on a five-point Likert scale. Responses were compared for 865 participants.FindingsThis study found that individuals differed in their ratings of work values based on experience. Individuals with more experience assigned greater importance to intrinsic job characteristics, while those with less experience assigned greater importance to extrinsic job characteristics. Findings further reveal differences in gender ratings of work values, with females assigning greater importance ratings to both intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics as compared to males.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of this study include that it drew its data exclusively from a sample of US respondents. Research investigating populations from other geographic regions within the same study may uncover important cross-national similarities/differences. Moreover, although this study examined experience and gender, it excluded other potentially important factors such as ethnicity. Future research should explore international samples and broaden its focus to include additional factors.Practical implicationsOrganizations should be aware of how experience and gender shape work values to impact job choice and retention. They may wish to target their recruitment efforts toward certain groups to ensure alignment between candidates' work values and those of available positions.Originality/valueThis study improves on prior research by examining the dual impact of experience and gender in shaping work values.

Integrating leadership theories and understanding the interactions between these theories is a goal for many leadership scholars. The dark side of leadership has become a topic of interest for researchers and practitioners alike in recent years. Dark leadership is likened to poison in an organization, embedding toxins in the company’s culture and instilling deep-rooted behaviors, attitudes, and actions that are a source of internal organizational decay. After viewing a brief introductory video, this article uses a cross-sectional design to investigate followers’ evaluations of a potential leader’s toxic leadership, destructive leadership, and identity leadership propensities. Relevant theory relating to identity leadership, toxic leadership, and destructive leadership constructs is reviewed and empirically tested to clarify how these topics interrelate. Most studies examining follower personality and leadership attributions have focused on positive leadership styles (e.g., transformation or transactional). This study addresses this gap in the literature in several ways. First, we examine how identity leadership is related to destructive and toxic leadership characteristics. We examine how the perceived relationship between these variables varies based on the follower’s personality, a need identified in previous studies. Further, this study contributes to Pelletier’s (2012) discussion of the lack of research that considers leader-follower relationships in the context of the dark side of leadership. Specifically, to clarify the influence of followers’ evaluations, the role of follower personality is explored as a moderating variable. These results support research from others showing that personality affects the interpretation of leadership actions. However, the current study extends this notion to show that even a short period of contact with the leader allows followers to make judgements about the leader.

BACKGROUND: As interest in foreign business enterprises rises between the U.S. and Brazil, companies have encountered added challenges in the areas of staffing and gender inequity and inequality against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies must address these challenges head on to continue to thrive. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to identify and diagnose the differences in job expectations of employees in the early stages of their career and personal development in terms of their gender and nationality. METHODS: This study asked male and female workers from the U.S. and Brazil to rate the importance of various intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics on a five-point Likert scale. Responses were compared for 1,431 total participants. RESULTS: This study found both cultural (U.S. and Brazil) and gender (male and female) differences in rank order ratings across an array of job expectations. Findings also revealed significant cultural and gender differences in mean importance scores for job expectations rated by these groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study’s findings are relevant to guide managerial practices as companies seek to attract, develop, and retain future generations of technical and managerial staff following the uncertainty brought about by COVID-19 and the Great Resignation.

It is intuitively appealing and common in the literature to describe social ties as one large category that represents multiple constructs which have similar relations across operationalizations. However, that approach does not capture the nuance in the literature and might obscure notable differences between subjective and objective network tie measures, and how those differences extend to relations with venture-level outcomes. Drawing upon novel objective measures of network ties derived from analyses of entrepreneurs’ Gmail data, we offer an empirical assessment of subjective social ties relative to objective social ties. In examining how those assessments relate to multiple metrics of venture performance, we look at both subjective and objective measures. We find that objective network measures predict overall subjective (but not objective) venture performance at an average of r = .31 (for network size) and r = .29 (for network engagement). We delve into the implications of our work, and discuss how future research can progress more effectively and efficiently with an eye towards the practical usefulness of our findings for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship service organizations.

PurposeThis study explores the role of both trait-like (i.e. adaptability) and situational (previous small business ownership and rurality) variables, on entrepreneurial identity (EI) through a social identity theory lens.Design/methodology/approachPath analysis was used on 376 individuals from across the United States who met various criteria and were recruited using Prolific.FindingsAdaptability and previous small business ownership were found to be predictors of EI. Findings also highlight the moderating role of adaptability on the previous small business ownership-EI and rurality-EI links. Notably, highly adaptable individuals who have previously owned businesses tend to hold more of an EI, and those who are less adaptable and live in rural locations also tend to hold less of an EI.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the conditions under which individuals are likely to hold more of an EI may provide several benefits to organizations and individuals within society, including information that can be used to develop more fine-tuned career counseling and training, risk management strategies, and a more calculated allocation of finite resources.Originality/valueDespite both personal trait-like (i.e. focus/adaptability) and situational (i.e. rurality and previous small business ownership experience) factors likely playing a crucial role in the formation of individuals' perceptions, previous work has largely ignored their interaction in the development of EI. The authors test a model encompassing trait-like (i.e. focus/adaptability) and situational (rurality, previous small business ownership experience) predictors of EI, along with their interactive effects, and illuminate a more holistic picture of EI's antecedents.

This chapter presents an overview of the history, programs, successes, and structure of the Miller School of Entrepreneurship at East Carolina University under the leadership of Michael L. Harris.

This paper focuses on the role of the Small Business Institute® (SBI) program in academic program expansion and sustainability by embedding the student consulting model throughout the curriculum. East Carolina University has used the SBI model since 1974, and it served as a foundational element in the creation of a comprehensive School of Entrepreneurship. A central theme has been the focus of experiential learning as a key tool in expanding curricular and co-curricular offerings. This includes integration into multiple courses and impactful community partnerships. Best practices are provided on how to utilize the SBI student-consulting model to guide program development, expansion, and longevity.

What should researchers say when recruiting entrepreneurs to participate in their study? Using a sample of entrepreneurs (N = 1,450) who were being asked to participate in an academic research project, we conducted an experiment to determine recruitment message efficacy. Drawing on best practices from the behavioral insights literature, we developed different email message recruitment statements that were randomly assigned across four phases of our experiment. Results indicate that a message grounded in the "descriptive norms" (i.e., social norms) approach resulted in the highest percentage of participants who clicked on the link to participate in our online survey. We discuss the theoretical as well as practical implications of our work.

Prior research shows that rural entrepreneurship has its own distinct elements and deserves additional attention within the research community. The frameworks and methodologies from studies focused on high-growth and technology-based entrepreneurship are often used to explore rural entrepreneurial activities. This incongruence limits our understanding of the true impact entrepreneurship can have on rural communities. The articles in this special issue help advance our knowledge of rural entrepreneurship as a distinct field of study, and add to our understanding of its impact in the rural context. Additional research avenues are suggested.