PurposeUsing elements of Bourdieu's (1986) capitals framework as an underpinning conceptual architecture, this paper theorises the role of symbolic capital in resourcing a specific example of socially entrepreneurial behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThis paper relies on data collected via a qualitative variant of the critical incident technique.FindingsThe analysis resulted in three focal themes: power (a dynamic of cooperation rather than domination), age (youth as a means of legitimation) and temporality (as both lever and conduit).Research limitations/implicationsThese themes further current understanding of socially entrepreneurial behaviour and potentially catalyse additional questioning and investigation specific to the construct of symbolic capital in this context.Practical implicationsThe insights offered in the paper may assist those tasked with supporting success (policymakers and practitioners) in the social entrepreneurship domain.Originality/valueRelatively little is known about the operationalisation of capitals in the context of social entrepreneurship, and even less about symbolic capital specifically. Particular emphasis is given to moving beyond a focus on the simple mechanics of capital exchange and conversion.

This paper is derived from a study of the mission statements of a sample of 100 United Kingdom social enterprises. The purpose of the research was to reveal what insight such organisational artefacts provide in relation to the reconciliation of inherently dual social and financial objectives. It relies on multiple phases of qualitative analysis and draws out findings across two key themes: vocabulary clusters and the contextualisation of meaning; and, the presence of rhetoric in terms of communication and strategy.

We investigate what distinguishes social entrepreneurial ecosystems (SEEs) from entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) through appreciation of the importance of context-the multiplex of intertwined social, spatial, temporal, historical, cultural, and political influences. Community is incorporated as a key variable and hitherto overlooked dimension of the structure and influence of SEEs. We draw on extant literature and examples of a variety of SEEs to support our propositions and demonstrate why considerations of both context and community are critical to advance understanding of SEEs. We contribute to the study of SEEs by presenting a new conceptual framework and theorizing SEE as an evolving composite of interdependent actors who interact and collaborate across multiple levels to collectively generate positive externalities and drive sustainable solutions to social problems.

Scholarship has evidenced that context is more complicated within women's entrepreneurship because it is gendered. Failure to engage appropriately with context can lead to overly simplistic interpretations of research findings. Accordingly, in this study we explore how studies on women's entrepreneurship engage with context and demonstrate how context engagement can be enhanced by applying arts-based literary techniques such as defamiliarization, exposition, highlighting sub-texts and privileging the protagonist. Our findings show that context is still significantly under treated in women's entrepreneurship research. We make three important contributions: we enhance understanding of context, synthesize current methodological approaches to context analysis, and signpost scholars toward some effective techniques for enhancing their engagement with context. In so doing, the paper answers previous calls for more theoretical development within the field.

This paper contributes to social and cultural geographies of the COVID-19 pandemic through an exploration of the role of UK street art in documenting the remarkable shifts in the practice of wearing facemasks, the tensions and emotions involved, and the transformations in the meaning of facemasks during the pandemic. Street art has become an important outlet for political critique and social engagement, capturing the public mood in response to policies and recommendations attempting to stem viral transmission, including the requirement to wear facemasks in some public places. Drawing primarily on image analysis of street artworks produced during 2020 and sourced using online search tools, and qualitative interviews with UK street artists in 2020 and 2021, the paper first explores the changing geographies and politics of street art during the pandemic. It then examines the ways in which street art portrays mask-wearing simultaneously as reassuring, protective and fear-inducing, and reflects the meaning of masks in relation to protecting public health, managing anxieties concerning health risks, boosting morale, and symbolising solidarity and public spiritedness. The paper argues that pandemic street art contributes to public dialogue by articulating emotion and deeply held concerns, and communicating the intimate politics, semiotic meanings and social properties of objects associated with disease.

This chapter sets the scene for the edited collection of chapters in the book. It discusses the importance of entrepreneurship policy - especially in the context of women's entrepreneurship. The authors highlight the fact that entrepreneurship policy development is not without its challenges. Policy makers must differentiate between entrepreneurship and small business policies; appreciate that policy initiatives offered in isolation are likely to be ineffective; and realise that when it comes to developing women's entrepreneurship policy, 'one size does not fit all." The chapter also outlines the process adopted by the editors to invite contributions to the book and the associated reviewing and editing protocols. An overview of the chapters selected for the book is also provided. Based on the this, several recommendations for policy makers are offered. These relate to policy and programme evaluation; the development of a dedicated women's entrepreneurship policy; involvement of women in the design, management, delivery and evaluation of policies and programmes; and linking women's entrepreneurship policy to the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Street artists around the world have been prominent in depicting issues concerning COVID-19, but the role of street art in public-making during the pandemic is unexplored. Despite burgeoning street art scenes in many African countries since the early 2000s, African street art is relatively neglected in critical street art scholarship. In response, this paper examines street art created during the pandemic in East African countries, principally Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, and explores the ways in which it is engaged in highly distinctive forms of public-making. Drawing primarily on qualitative online interviews with East African artists creating street art, and image analysis using online search tools, the paper argues that street art in urban areas is attempting to create knowledgeable publics through countering disinformation about the pandemic, to responsiblize publics through public health messaging and, through community activism, to build resilient publics. The paper concludes that street art is potentially an important tool in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in East African countries due to the proximity, and mutual constitution of, creative practices and publics, which emerge from the embedding of street art within the social spaces of cities and everyday experiences of the pandemic.

Using the theoretical lens of identity work, the objective of the article is to explore how the identity of an entrepreneurial, female, artisan food producer is constructed and enacted. Emphasis is given to a gendered examination of how artisan and entrepreneur as facets of identity co-exist, compete or integrate. The article relies on a phenomenologically oriented case study that comprises numerous sources including primary data from multiple, in-depth, interviews. The data are used to examine identity work undertaken by the case subject across the following categories: dramaturgical, socio-cognitive, psycho-dynamic, discursive and symbolic. The article makes a modest contribution to furthering understanding of the female entrepreneurial identity from a novel perspective.

The concept of “Legacy Scholars” as a special issue series was originally developed by the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship (IJGE) at one of our editorial meetings in London. Led by IJGE Consulting Editor Dr Kate Lewis, the series was launched in 2020 with the special issue: Celebrating a Decade of Research in Gender and Entrepreneurship: The Legacy Special Issue. This vehicle was appropriate for our core objectives – platforming eminent research scholars in the field while also reaching out to the next generation of excellent scholars by way of building a legacy of research scholarship. Hence, for our first legacy special issue, we invited established eminent gender and entrepreneurship scholars to submit papers that reflected on the developments within the field through their personal lens and then to nominate young talented scholars whose work would be platformed in a subsequent legacy special issue. The 2020 eminent scholars (Vol. 12, Issue 1) included Professors Brush, Greene, Welter, Marlow, Hughes, Jennings, Watson, Holmquist, Sundin and Nelson. We are extremely grateful to these leading lights for not only sharing their research insights with the IJGE community by allowing us to publish their scholarly contributions but also for taking the time to pass the baton to the next generation by offering their personal nominations for the subsequent legacy special issue; it is the work of these young scholars that we platform here. Consistent with our original intention to build a legacy of gender and entrepreneurship scholarship, we will be reaching out to the 2021 scholars to offer their nominations for the legacy special issue III.

The aim of the article is to explore the barriers and drivers to (and associated incentives and disincentives of) engaging with environmental management practices for small businesses. The data are derived from a sample of 148 small New Zealand manufacturing firms within one geographic region of New Zealand and analysed using non-parametric testing. Acknowledging the heterogeneity of small businesses, four categories of comparison are investigated, namely firm-focus, family-focus, firm size and age. Variable levels of engagement with environmental management practices are reported and disconnects between intention and action are evidenced. Despite a strong moral imperative for action being reported, this was not translated into firm-based practice. Further, lack of clarity as to the value of pursuing environmentally oriented change from a business perspective is evident. The article addresses a knowledge gap in respect of small firms and environmental management in this location and using these specific foci of empirical enquiry.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to review recent published research on entrepreneurship education (EE) specifically within the special issue collections of the journal Education + Training, and to assess the overall contribution to the field. The research questions focus on: What topics are explored by these SI papers? What trends can be observed in relation to country context and methodological approach? How is EE defined in these papers, and how do the papers contribute to the wider entrepreneurship research agenda?Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses an adapted version of the systematic literature review approach, focusing on the discrete special issues on entrepreneurship/enterprise education published in the journal Education + Training since 2010. A comprehensive reading guide was used to review the papers, with completed data compiled into a single excel spreadsheet to facilitate analysis. A total of 66 papers were reviewed.Findings - A considerable range of themes, geographical contexts and methodological approaches were used in the papers reviewed. A mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches were also found. The papers were characterised by a strong international and applied dimension, with the core collective contribution of the SI papers laying in their direct relevance to practice.Research limitations/implications - The paper is limited by its deliberate focus on a discrete set of special issue papers; however, the total of 66 papers included in the review is noteworthy.Practical implications - The paper demonstrates the considerable learning that can be garnered from the Education + Training special issue collection for EE practitioners.Originality/value - To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time this discrete collection of special issue papers has been reviewed.

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to focus on the meaning of entrepreneurial work for young female entrepreneurs. Specific domains of exploratory emphasis are: the link between the individual and the business; the entwinement of self-esteem and business outcomes; and the language of attachment. Design/methodology/approach - Four longitudinal case studies using multiple in-depth, phenomenologically oriented interviews inform the paper. Findings - The nature of the relationship between the entrepreneurs and their work was intense and all-encompassing. Further, this sample overlaid their stories with an emotional dimension that was inseparable from the narratives of "business life" and openly advocated this emotional way of working. Originality value - Coverage of age and gender in relation to entrepreneurship is virtually non-existent.

Purpose - Micro and small enterprises face growing expectations from stakeholders to behave responsibly in respect of environmental management. However, many continue to exhibit patterns of relative disengagement with both environmental management and associated training. The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitudes and experiences that underpin both.Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on survey data from 148 owner-managers of micro and small firms in New Zealand's manufacturing sector. Binary logit regression and non-parametric testing were employed to examine influences on engagement with both environmental management and environmental training.Findings - There is a lack of knowledge of, and participation in, training related to environmental management. Awareness tends to be from firms already engaged in training; signalling a potential circularity of exposure effect. A distinct division in attitude exists between those who identify with personal responsibility and autonomy as the pathway to responsibility in respect of their firm's environmental impact and those who cede to the collective actions of other communities to dictate engagement (i.e. industry associations and government).Research limitations/implications - The survey is based on the perceptions of the respondents to the survey statements and as such it is a self-assessment.Originality/value - The paper is one of few that investigate the challenge of securing engagement with training and development in environmental management by micro and small enterprises in the New Zealand context.

Côté's model of 'identity capital' is said to comprise a set of strengths and psycho-social skills that are deployed by individuals to both define themselves and represent how others define them. Identity capital is multi-dimensional by nature, both tangible and intangible in character and acquired through the application of resources in identity exchanges. The identity capital framework is built around the youth experience and is, therefore, germane to an exploration of the meaning, motivation and value of youth engagement with socially entrepreneurial endeavours. The young are described as an increasingly important cohort in terms of the creation of socially innovative solutions to the world's 'wicked problems' – and as leaders, not merely followers. In this paper, the model is applied to a single case study of a young New Zealand social entrepreneur using multiple sources of both primary and secondary data (with a longitudinal orientation). Particular emphasis is given to probing how identity capital in this example is accumulated, deployed and exchanged in relation to the lived experience of being a young social entrepreneur, and through a socially entrepreneurial cultural frame of reference.

Purpose - This paper aims to report an empirically grounded theoretical framework within which to understand the role of entrepreneurial identity development in the discovery, development and exploitation of opportunity, and to elaborate on how these identity transitions both mobilise and constrain female entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative case study-based research design was used in this study. Primary and secondary data were collected from eight female participants (all of whom can be categorised as "mumpreneurs") and analysed to inform the theoretical framework that is the foundation of the paper.Findings - The authors describe how identity conflict, role congruence and reciprocal identity creation play a critical role in venture creation as a form of entrepreneurship. Drawing on the constructs of identification, self-verification and identity enactment, the authors build a theoretical framework for understanding entrepreneurial identity transitions in relation to opportunity-seeking behaviours.Research limitations/implications - The work is theoretical in character and based on a sample that, whilst rich in the provision of theoretical insight, is small in scope. Additionally, the sample is located in one geographical context (New Zealand) which likely has implications for the way in which the key constructs are perceived and enacted.Originality/value - This paper is an attempt to integrate conceptualisations of entrepreneurial identity development with opportunity-related processes in the context of venture creation. A holistic focus on identity transitions and their relevance to perception and action in relation to opportunity (the root of entrepreneurial behaviour) is novel; at this point, it is exploratory in intention and tentative in reach.