Gender and Entrepreneurship in the Middle East

Special issue call for papers from International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship - Emerald Publishing

Deadline: June 30, 2016

Entrepreneurship in the 21st century has gained considerable global attention as it propels the economic growth of countries (Valliere and Peterson, 2009), and is considered as both a social and an economic phenomenon (Thornton et al., 2011). To date, entrepreneurship research attention – including female entrepreneurship research - has been focused mainly on North America and Western Europe (Cetindamar et al., 2012) and not evenly dispersed through the Middle Eastern region (Chamlou, 2007). This Special Issue seeks to address this gap in scholarship.

The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on West Asia and Egypt. It is considered as a potential entrepreneurial leader in terms of emerging markets. While the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity is a global phenomenon, it is, perhaps, more specific to the Middle Eastern region due to its psycho-socio-political context. Despite increased scholarly interest in female entrepreneurship globally, stereotypes still exist, and it has been acknowledged that patriarchy negatively affects the free expression of female entrepreneurship in the UAE (Naguib and Jamali, 2015). Gender differences also exist with respect to experimenting with entrepreneurship (Dempsey and Jennings, 2014) in that female SME owners tend to be  more satisfied with both the success of their business and their lifestyle than their male counterparts (Weber and Geneste, 2014). At the macro level, religion is also considered as a salient societal level institutional order affecting the expression of female entrepreneurship generally (Thornton et al., 2011), and in the Middle East in particular (Metcalfe, 2008).

It is in this context that there is an urgent need to augment research on entrepreneurship - especially from a gender perspective - in the Middle Eastern region. This special issue on “Gender and Entrepreneurship in the Middle East” will serve as a platform for those who can make a meaningful contribution to the field of gender and entrepreneurship by drawing together the very best research contributions from across the Middle Eastern. In addition, this Special Issue seeks to platform the work of dynamic young researchers and those who are in a position to offer novel perspectives to this particular research area – Gender and Entrepreneurship in the Middle East.

The following is a list of potential topics that this Special Issue will address:

• Creativity and innovation in entrepreneurial ventures
• Entrepreneurial aspirations and gender
• Entrepreneurial culture and leadership
• Entrepreneurial intentions among youth
• Entrepreneurial leadership in SMEs
• Entrepreneurship and economic development
• Gender and family business
• Gender perspectives on SME success
• Gender, society and entrepreneurship
• ICT, entrepreneurship and Innovation 
• Islamic finance and entrepreneurship 
• SME finance for women in the Middle East
• SMEs and knowledge management

The above list is not exhaustive, and papers dealing with other topics that broadly fit the special issue theme are welcome.

Important Dates:
Paper Submission Deadline:    June 30th 2016
Initial Review Feedback to Authors:   30th September 2016
Revisions/Further Review/Editing:  December - February
Expected Publication:     Mid – late 2017   

Guidelines for Paper Submission:
Papers should be submitted to the guest editors (details below) for initial desk review. Thereafter, selected papers will be invited for submission through the double blind peer review electronic system. Successful papers will need to demonstrate a clear academic challenge together with a robust methodological approach. Papers should be original and not currently under review in another journal.

• Please visit the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship (IJGE) at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journal/ijge regarding manuscript preparation requirements.

Guest Editors:
• Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh
College of Business Administration, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Email: sanjay.singh@adu.ac.ae 

• Prof. (Dr.) Sonjaya S. Gaur
Sunway University Business School, Sunway University, Malaysia
Email: sanjayag@sunway.edu.my

• Dr. Muhammad Azam Roomi
Cranfield School of Management
E-mail: Muhammad.roomi@cranfield.ac.uk

  
References:
Cetindamar, D., Gupta, V.K., Karadeniz, E.E. and N. Egrican. (2012), “What the numbers tell: The impact of human, family and financial capital on women and men's entry into entrepreneurship in Turkey”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 24, No.1/2, pp. 29–51.

Chamlou, N. (2007), “The environment for women’s entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa Region”, Report for the World Bank, Washington DC. Available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/Environment_for_Womens_Entrepreneurship_in_MNA_final.pdf (Last accessed January 08, 2016).

Dempsey, D. and Jennings, J. (2014), “Gender and entrepreneurial self-efficacy: a learning perspective”, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 28-49.

Granovetter, M.S. (1985), “Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness”, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 91 No. 3, pp. 481-510.

Metcalfe, B.D. (2008), “Women, management and globalization in the Middle East”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 83, No. 1, pp. 85-100.

Naguib, R. and Jamali, D. (2015), “Female entrepreneurship in the UAE: a multi-level integrative lens”, Gender in Management: An International Journal, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 135-161.

Thornton, P.H., Ribeiro-Soriano, D. and Urbano, D. (2011), “Socio-cultural factors and entrepreneurial activity: an overview”, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 29, pp. 105-118.

Valliere, D. and Peterson, R. (2009), “Entrepreneurship and economic growth: evidence from emerging and developed countries”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 21, pp. 459-480.

Weber, P.C. and Geneste, L. (2014), “Exploring gender-related perceptions of SME success”, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 15-27.