Digital financial inclusion (DFI) has been widely recognized for its potential role in reducing poverty by fostering entrepreneurship. However, whether DFI benefits all social classes equally remains an open question. Integrating technology adoption and income stratification research, this study investigates the impact of DFI on income stratification – specifically lower-, middle-, and upper-income classes – across key entrepreneurial stages, including venture creation, investment, and performance. Using data from 36,557 household-wave observations in the China Household Financial Survey (CHFS), we find that (1) lower-class households are less likely to establish entrepreneurial ventures compared to upper-class households but are more likely to do so than middle-class households, and (2) they make lower investments in entrepreneurial ventures compared to their upper-class counterparts, and experience lower entrepreneurial performance than middle- and upper-class households. The results also show that, whereas DFI positively influences entrepreneurial venture creation, investment, and performance for lower-class households, these effects are less pronounced compared to those observed in middle- and upper-class households. The study advances an integrated view of DFI by examining its differential impacts across income classes and entrepreneurial stages and contributes to the ongoing debate about its effectiveness as a universal poverty reduction solution.

We investigate the impact of corruption on female leadership in Brazil using cross-sectional municipal-level data. Our findings suggest that corruption significantly reduces the proportion of working women in leadership roles. Additionally, corruption decreases female representation in leadership relative to men, though this effect is less robust. When examining sectors most vulnerable to corruption, the results remain largely consistent, but we also note that women tend to avoid these sectors entirely. Our findings suggest that corruption acts as a significant barrier to female leadership.

How has caste influenced entrepreneurship in India in the past and how does it do so in the present? Using the Industrial Census of 1911, this paper provides the first detailed caste-level mapping of firms in Indian business history and links it to the present by an analysis of the Economic Census of 2013–2014. It finds that while trading castes were dominant, there were significant regional variations and nontrading castes were far more important than usually posited in the literature. Over the course of a century, the social base of entrepreneurship has widened slowly but significant barriers remain. The paper argues that “caste embeddedness” through the nature of wealth distribution, social capital, and ritual purity affects entrepreneurial choices and presents a typology of “caste,” “caste-advantage,” “caste-restricted,” and “noncaste” businesses that characterize the economic life of India.

This paper explores the relationship between entrepreneurship, measured by the number of new firms per million inhabitants, and modern economic growth in Spain between 1886 and 2000. Following Audretsch and Keilbach’s methodology, our analysis seems to confirm that entrepreneurship has had a positive and statistically significant effect on GDP per capita and labor productivity. This finding challenges the traditional view that the entrepreneurial factor has hindered the country’s economic growth. Additionally, using data on the size and legal form of start-up firms, our results suggest that neither characteristic has been an important driver of Spain’s long-term economic growth. However, we find that the impact of both variables differs depending on the years studied. To our knowledge, this study is the first attempt to test econometrically the long-term contribution of entrepreneurship to Spain’s economic growth.

The Journal of Management and Organization (JMO) is celebrating its 30th birthday, which is a significant event given how the journal has shaped and influenced global management research and practice. As part of the commemorative activities this perspective article aims to highlight how the journal has contributed to the development of several sub-management themes. Each theme is analysed in terms of articles published in the journal in terms of establishing existing knowledge then explaining future research ideas. This helps to solidify the journal’s reputation and standing in the field in order to foster more management research that contributes to both theory and practice. Novel social and business approaches to future organizational and manager’s needs are addressed. This will inspire more meaningful management engagement in order to further support the evolution of management research.

Customer engagement is crucial for success and innovation in digital businesses, but its impact on digital startups, particularly on business performance, is underexplored. This study investigates the relationship between customer-related digitalization factors, engagement, and business performance. Using a cross-sectional survey and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, data from 125 startups were analyzed. The findings reveal that digitalization factors, encompassing Data Security, Transparency, Consumer Reviews, and Effective Communication, significantly impact customer engagement and digital business performance. Additionally, customer engagement mediates the relationship between digitalization factors and digital business performance, highlighting its critical role in fostering customer loyalty, communication, and co-creation.

This systematic literature review comprehensively assesses the risks associated with implementing Industry 4.0/5.0 technologies. It clusters these risks into six groups (strategic, financial, operational, technological, environmental, and sociocultural). Using a PRISMA-guided approach, the analysis of 83 peer-reviewed papers identified 36 unique risks out of a total of 811. The findings reveal critical challenges, including in cybersecurity threats, financial burdens, technological obsolescence, and workforce adaptation. These results provide a structured risk categorization that can assist enterprises, in effectively mitigating risks and aligning their strategies with Industry 4.0/5.0 transitions. This framework closes knowledge gaps and offers actionable insights for a robust and sustainable implementation.

This study examines how university curriculum reforms that increase course selection flexibility influence entrepreneurial outcomes. Departing from traditional emphasis on educational attainment, we explore how institutional changes in education shape entrepreneurial tendencies among alumni. Leveraging a reform that removed constraints on course selection at a major university, we find that increased educational choice significantly fosters entrepreneurship. Our analysis reveals partial support for the moderating effects of individual, family, and spatial factors: the positive impact of these reforms is contingent on the type of electives and courses taken, with stronger effects observed among alumni with entrepreneurial parents, those born in urban areas, and those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. These groups leverage specific course patterns to align their educational choices with entrepreneurial aspirations, enhancing their likelihood of pursuing entrepreneurial ventures. However, these findings also underscore the potential for educational reforms to exacerbate inequalities, disproportionately benefiting those with preexisting advantages. By integrating insights on institutional changes, course-taking patterns, and individual moderators, this study advances understanding of the interplay between education and entrepreneurship, offering implications for designing more equitable educational policies.

Family dynamics can significantly influence entrepreneurship, yet the temporal complexities of this relationship remain inadequately explored. This special issue addresses this gap by emphasizing the intricate interplay between internal family evolvability such as generational transitions and identity shifts, cultural continuity, and external adaptability to rapidly changing economic, institutional, and technological contexts in China. We introduce a dual tuning model that highlights how entrepreneurial and family firms (FFs) strategically synchronize their internal and external temporal rhythms to manage conflicts and optimize performance. This lead article reviews existing literature, articulates the dual tuning model, and synthesizes insights from the articles in this special issue to illuminate how Chinese FFs navigate tensions between evolving internal dynamics and external market demands. We conclude by identifying promising future research avenues that leverage this temporal perspective to deepen our understanding of family dynamics and entrepreneurship in China.

New educational curricula are emerging to train physicians for healthcare in the 21st century. The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School T.H. Chan School of Medicine (UMass Chan) implemented an MD curriculum redesign in the fall of 2022 that included seven educational pathways, including Entrepreneurship, Biomedical Innovation, and Design. This new pathway curriculum introduces students to the principles of innovation, entrepreneurship, basic engineering principles, and technology commercialization. It is modeled after the I-Corps curriculum with added material regarding engineering principles. I-Corps was initially developed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help scientists understand the commercial potential of their inventions. Major elements include the Business Model Canvas and Customer Discovery [19-22]. First-year (Class of 2027) and second-year (Class of 2026) pathway students were invited to participate in online surveys evaluating course material and their knowledge of course content. Initial results show that the program was well received and student self-assessment demonstrated significant improvement. Objective student knowledge also significantly improved. Novel curricula have the potential to transform medical education and prepare future physicians to practice healthcare in the 21st Century.

From the perspective of the present, the economic development of preceding periods can seem linear and inevitable, guided into being by those who benefitted most from increasing commercialisation. Yet this majoritarian narrative belies the importance of the individual and the everyday, of adaptation and creativity. Here, the author explores the potential of a minoritarian approach to entrepreneurship, in understanding medieval economic development. In tracing pottery-exchange networks as a representation of commercial development, they argue that the entrepreneurial actions of institutions and potters generate insights into economic development that challenge linear narratives, framing it as a patchwork of sociomaterial relations.

This paper investigates the long-run nexus between wealth inequality and aggregate output using a DSGE model in which wealth inequality endogenously affects individual entrepreneurship incentives, thereby influencing aggregate output. Our model passes the indirect inference test against the UK data from 1870 to 2015. We find that shocks to aggregate TFP, entrepreneurial barriers, government grant support and general government spending played significant roles in shaping historical inequality dynamics in the UK. Directly removing entrepreneurial barriers or indirectly providing government grant support to the private sector such as through inclusive loan subsidies are effective means of reducing inequality and stimulating output growth.