Volume 7, Issue 2 -

The purpose of this paper is to explore the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing an appreciative inquiry approach for entrepreneurship research within the family business context. We argue that there is an opportunity to shift the focus of family business studies from a“deficit oriented approach” toward adopting a positive organizational lens through“appreciative inquiry” principles. We review the background to appreciative inquiry including from its inception in the 1980s; the definitions, principles, models for appreciative inquiry; and the theoretical foundations of the appreciative inquiry approach. We will draw on examples from a recent study that applied appreciative inquiry principles to investigate what worked well in entrepreneurial family businesses. By exploring the generative characteristics, we are better placed to understand the strengths of a family firm. This leads to research that presents what works well, and can be built on in family businesses, rather than objectifying the problems to be solved. Our contribution lies in how, as a positive organizational lens, appreciative inquiry principles inform research in the entrepreneurial family business context. In practice, finding the advantages and disadvantages of using an appreciative protocol could lead to future studies adopting this lens, and possibly past studies being reinvigorated with a shift of focus.

Women as the emergent economic power influence the shape of the global economy. For the prosperity of the nation, it is important that women should be involved in the job creation activities rather than providing with the job opportunities, as businesses are more time flexible than being an employee especially for women; where they are playing multiple roles at a time. In order to work on the efficiency and efficacy of the entire women, this paper studied the relationship between successful antecedent such as motivation, personality trait, creativity, access to finance, family factors and success of women entrepreneurial endeavors was being assessed. For this purpose data were collected from women entrepreneurs through a purposive sampling technique by using five likert scale questionnaire. Analysis of the study revealed that antecedents plays a positive role in the success of women entrepreneurial endeavors, however family support also appears to have a strong mediation effect on the success of women entrepreneurial endeavors but a negative value of beta indicates that women in under-developed society generally are not warmly encouraged by the family to opt for entrepreneurial endeavors. So, there is a need to work on this aspect in order to encourage other female participation in the economic growth.

Crowdfunding is an emerging phenomenon that has attracted significant interest from scholars and practitioners alike, mainly due to its appeal as an alternative source of funding. As crowdfunding has grown exponentially, so have the associated challenges and opportunities. In this conceptual paper, we define crowdfunding; discuss its characteristics, related terminologies, key elements and ethical issues. We also propose a typology for crowdfunding and indicate various issues associated with it. The final section includes the implications of this study and suggestions for future research. This paper aims to inspire a scholarly debate and further develop the theoretical foundation of the crowdfunding literature. This may also prompt practitioners to take note of the emerging concerns as the crowdfunding phenomenon is transforming from a marginal to a mainstream discipline.