Advancing the understanding of value in entrepreneurship editorial

Abstract

Introduction By issuing our call for papers on ‘Advancing the Understanding of Value in Entrepreneurship’, we sought to examine heterogeneous perspectives on the varied contributions that entrepreneurship can make to the economy, society, and the individual. In contrast to the focus on (entrepreneurial) value in terms of economic output measures found embedded across different settings including in policy (Smith et al., 2019) and research (Ketchen Jr. et al., 2007), the collection of papers in this Special Issue give a voice to diversity, interrelationships, and context as key components of entrepreneurship and its value. For example, the interplay and heterogeneity of place and space, time, type of entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurs themselves, in the creation and experience of value in different forms are examined. The studies in this Special Issue, therefore, both create and shift knowledge regarding the value(s) being created in and by entrepreneurship. Thefive articles in this Special Issue span contexts, business models, sample groups, andmethodological approaches. These articles examine (a) themotivations of older entrepreneurswith a focus on affective value creation related to family and personal well-being and how these may influence subsequent business model choices made, (b) poverty and the multiple, and unexpected, value(s) of entrepreneurship that may provide a route out of poverty (c) the context-informedmotivations of Indigenous peoples in South America, (d) cultural values and their role in agricultural-based entrepreneurship in rural Scandinavia, and (e) the role of foundational (value) embeddedness in small firm decision making in the creative sector. Consequently, each engagement in entrepreneurship, or ‘entrepreneuring’ as per Hashim and Gaddefors, can be positioned as an ‘opportunity’ to achieve idiosyncratic value (Kapasi et al., 2021). In summary, these papers provide an opportunity to develop the conversation regarding the construct, concept, andmeasurement of ‘value’, thereby enhancing our knowledge on theoretical and empirical understanding of myriad and idiosyncratic value in the entrepreneurship context. Overview of papers The first paper, ‘Affective value creation through business model value decision making’ by Stirzaker et al., explores the motivations of older entrepreneurs with a focus on affective value creation related to family and personal wellbeing and how these may influence subsequent business model choices made. Informed by socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen et al., 1999), a theory that addresses non-economic value creation, the paper reports motivations that prioritise family-based affective value external to the enterprise itself. This is a move away, suggest the authors, from a common understanding on the interaction between business and family as underpinned by a presupposition that the family services the firm and in turn, the firm contributes income and employment to the family. To date, there is little exploration of the family as an influence on the choice to pursue enterprise rather than other types of employment beyond the ‘family business’. The paper contributes new knowledge on the role of value sought in shaping motivations for entrepreneurship and the embedded nature of family and business, as particularly experienced by older entrepreneurs. As such, the paper provides evidence on how older entrepreneurship motivations may be prompted to realise specific age-related affective rewards that make contribution to both personal and family wellbeing. Relatedly, the paper provides evidence of the embedded nature of older entrepreneurship in terms of being a feature of, and contribution to, the improvement of personal wellbeing and family life through business model value decision making related to ongoing operations of older entrepreneurship that is deliberately shaped to make sure affective rewards are protected.