E-Magazine
Dr Robert Smith
As a Director of ISBE, and as an early career researcher, I was delighted to be given this opportunity to write about my experiences since I became a member in 2006. As well as having an auto-ethnographic focus, this brief article works both as a piece of journalism and as an illustration of the influence a conference can have on the development of research output. The purpose of the article is to highlight the role of ISBE in (en) gendering excellence in education, research and practice, by discussing:
How the former ‘Women’s Track’ at the annual conference has evolved into the new ‘Gender and Entrepreneurship Stream’; and how this influenced my work within the niche of gender and entrepreneurship; and helped to develop my research and authorial skills
This is fitting at a time when ISBE as an organisation is seeking to introduce a renewed research ethos and is “Celebrating 3 decades of excellence in education, research and practice: at the cutting edge of international entrepreneurship”.
I became a member of ISBE by chance, having stumbled across the annual call for papers for the conference to be held in Cardiff. Being a social constructionist scholar with an interest in narrative and semiotics, I found it difficult to situate my research within the track framework of the conference. I nearly passed up the opportunity. I had been working on a paper which was basically a semiotic analysis of images of fictional television entrepreneurs such as Flash Harry, Arthur Daley and Del Boy. I had an awareness of female entrepreneurship from my doctoral thesis and from writing with Ellie Hamilton and Helle Neergaard. Nevertheless, my interest in gender and entrepreneurship really stemmed from my twin passions for social constructionism and the role of masculinity in constructing the ‘bad boy’ entrepreneur . I decided to submit an abstract to the ‘Women’s Track’ as a non-refereed paper. Much to my amusement, it was accepted.
In due course, I attended the conference and was pleasantly surprised by its atmosphere of friendliness and conviviality. Prior to then I had been a regular attendee at the Babson-Kauffman Entrepreneurship Conference. I found it easier to network at ISBE because there was less emphasis on cynical and strategic networking. In Cardiff, I enjoyed many conversations about research with Monder Ram, Ossie Jones, Colin Mason, John Davies, Laura Galloway and Bill Keogh to name but a few. However, the highlight of the conference was the inappropriately named ‘Women’s Track’. I thoroughly enjoyed my presentation and received good feedback from MaggieO’Carroll and others. I enjoyed the presentations and the banter, but the overriding impression I took away with me, was that within the overall structure of the event, the track was somehow marginalised. Undeterred, I made a mental note to submit a paper the following year in Glasgow.
Due to pressure of work I nearly missed the deadline for papers but submitted an abstract in relation to my research with Helle Neergaard. Again, I valued the feedback from participants in the ‘Women’s Track’, but was dismayed to find we were presenting in a room which was too small to accommodate all the interested delegates. It was refreshing to have a venue where I could talk about fairytales, aesthetics and flower arranging whilst keeping a straight face. I remained within the gender stream and in doing so developed a deeper interest in relation to gender and entrepreneurship. Ironically, the Women’s Track was probably the only research stream within the event which lent itself to my eclectic research interests. I was hooked, but by this time I had already expanded my research interests to include socially constructed and gendered entrepreneurial archetypes such as the Matriarch.
In 2008 I again submitted an abstract and wrote about a subject I had been toying with for several years, namely the Diva Construct. Throwing caution to the wind, I wrote the paper I wanted to write, and not, the paper that the conventions of entrepreneurship research dictated I should write. In Belfast, I had fun performing and presenting my research to the Women’s Track. I was elated to win the “best paper in the track” category and the “best paper on a gender subject” sponsored by The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Gender and Emerald Journals. I was also delighted to be elected onto the board of ISBE.
This year I have again submitted an abstract and in Liverpool, I again hope to take part in the ongoing research conversation on gender and entrepreneurship. I am encouraged that the ‘Women’s Track’ has been renamed the ‘Gender and Entrepreneurship Track’ which more appropriately matches the research interests of those who patronise it. There has never been a better time to engage in this conversation because the renewed focus on research means that the opportunities for publication have never been greater.
ISBE has played a significant part in my development as an entrepreneurship scholar and author. What I like about ISBE (and the Gender Track in particular) is that it encouraged me to develop another area of interest that I would probably not have written about, had I not become a member. Therefore, my advice to researchers, educators, practitioners and those working in small business support and policy organisations mirrors that of the official ISBE line. To paraphrase this, join us in Liverpool to explore the leading perspectives in entrepreneurship and consider how they can be applied in learning, business management, enterprise and economic development support, policy and practice. Take the plunge and submit an abstract and be part of a conference and movement which in my opinion really is “at the cutting edge of international entrepreneurship”.
Robert Smith, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, r.smith-a@rgu.ac.uk