ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

We’d like to announce the exciting news that we’re moving the conference to an online format! The 5th version of this conference will take place over 4 online sessions in September 2020, which aim to advance our understanding of entrepreneurship-as-practice, foster network ties, facilitate collaborative writing relationships, and build a strong community of practice scholars.

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Questions:

eap5vu@gmail.com

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Online Session 1

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What: Unconferencing workshop (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference). This session is open to everyone (not just those previously accepted to the EAP5 conference)

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When: September 3rd from 16:00-19:00 CET (link to Zoom will be shared to registered participants)

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Why: The purpose of an unconferencing workshop is to discuss any questions about EaP you may have with likeminded peers. In this session, we will organize multiple parallel breakout groups based on thematic questions posed by organizers and participants. For example, one thematic question may be 'how can practice theories be used in empirical research?' and we will organize participants interested in this thematic question into a breakout group with a discussion chair. We will have time for two discussion rounds (including short break). If you would like to propose a thematic question, please do so at eap5vu@gmail.com. More information about the thematic questions and allocation to breakout groups will be available after registration.

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Costs: 45 Euros. We ask for a payment because it costs to organize the event online.

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Registration: Please register by clicking here.

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Online Session 2

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What: Methodological workshop on doing ethnography: This session is open to everyone (not just those previously accepted to the postponed EAP5 conference)

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When: September 8th 16:00-19:00 CET (link to Zoom will be shared to registered participants)

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Why: This session is chaired by Malin Tillmar (Linnaeus University) 

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Costs: 45 Euros. Includes access to Online Session 3. We ask for a payment because it costs to organize the event online.

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Registration: Please register by clicking here.

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Online Session 3

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What: Methodology workshops: This session is open to everyone (not just those previously accepted to the EAP5 conference)

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When: September 10th 16:00-19:00 CET (link to Zoom will be shared to registered participants)

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Why: The purpose of this session is learn about various novel qualitative methods that are particularly suited to studying practices. This session includes three parallel methodology workshops on video ethnography, interviewing, and digital ethnography. Each parallel methodology workshops will be repeated (this means participants can join two out of three workshops during this session). 

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Video ethnography is chaired by Neil Thompson (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); In this workshop we will learn how and why to conduct a video ethnography. Video provides unparalleled access to the tacit and embodied aspects of practicing entrepreneurship. Participants will learn how to practically setup a video study as well as how to analyze video data. Finally, we will discuss the sorts of research questions video ethnography can help to ask and answer. 

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Digital ethnography is chaired by Thomas Cyron (Jönköping University) and  Lora Koycheva (Technical University of Munich); The workshop encourages participants to explore digital sites and make use of digital qualitative research methods in practice-based studies of entrepreneurship. We introduce the workshop with a basic framework on the entanglement of physical and digital sites, then continue with an overview of digital data collection methods, and conclude with an open discussion on the nature of obtained data, trustworthiness, and research ethics.

 

Interviewing is chaired by Inge Hill (Royal Agricultural University): A hands-on interactive workshop on qualitative interviews. After a short overview for a selection of four interview types (lifehistory, semi-structured and unstructured narrative interviews, self-interview of research participants), we will break into four groups and practice each interview type). We compare our experiences then in the final plenary and discuss the challenges and chances of doing these interview types online. Resources with further reading will be discussed at the end.

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Costs: 45 Euros. Includes access to Online Session 2. We ask for a payment because it costs to organize the event online.

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Registration: Please register by clicking here. 

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Online Session 4

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What: Paper Development Workshop: This session is only open to those who have previously had their papers accepted to the postponed EAP5 conference from April.

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When: September 17th 16:00-19:00 CET (link to Zoom will be shared to registered participants)

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Why: The purpose of the PDW is to help scholars improve and publish their papers. We will use breakout round tables, share draft articles beforehand, and have an online discussion about each paper.  

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Costs: There is no cost for previously accepted participants.

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Registration: Please register by clicking here. 

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About Entrepreneurship as Practice

The practice tradition (also known as practice-based studies, the practice approach or the practice lens) in the social sciences forefronts the notion that practices and their connections are fundamental to the ontology of all social phenomena (Rouse, 2006; T. Schatzki, Knorr-Cetina, & Savigny, 2001). Ventures, firms or startups, in this view, are not ontologically separate phenomena from the performance of everyday, materially accomplished and ordered practices (Chalmers & Shaw, 2017; Hill, 2018; Johannisson, 2011; Vincent & Pagan, 2019). This is to say that no description or explanation of features of entrepreneurial life—such as, recognizing, evaluating and exploiting opportunities—is possible without the ‘alternate’ description and explanation of how entrepreneurial life is actually lived in and through practices (Gross, Carson, & Jones, 2014; Keating, Geiger, & Mcloughlin, 2013). The term ‘practice’, therefore, does not refer to an ‘empty’ conceptual category of ‘what entrepreneurs think and do’ (Sklaveniti & Steyaert, 2019), but encompasses the meaning-making, identity-forming and order-producing interactions (Chia & Holt, 2006; Nicolini, 2009) enacted by multiple entrepreneurial practitioners and situated in specific (historical) conditions. Therefore, practice theories orient entrepreneurship scholars to take seriously the practices of entrepreneuring as they unfold and are experienced in real-time rather than as they are remembered. Simply put, practice scholars are concerned with the ‘nitty-gritty’ work of entrepreneuring—all the meetings, the talking, the selling, the form-filling and the number-crunching by which opportunities actually get enacted (Matthews, Chalmers, & Fraser, 2018; Whittington, 1996). This comes with considerable ontological, theoretical and methodological implications which will be addressed during the Conference.  

 

For background and information on EaP literature, prior conferences, media and other pertinent materials, please go to: https://www.entrepreneurshipaspractice.com.

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References

• Chalmers, D. M., & Shaw, E. (2017). The endogenous construction of entrepreneurial contexts: A practice-based perspective. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 35(1), 19–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242615589768

• Chia, R., & Holt, R. (2006). Strategy as Practical Coping: A Heideggerian Perspective. Organization Studies , 27(5), 635–655. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840606064102

• Gross, N., Carson, D., & Jones, R. (2014). Beyond rhetoric: re-thinking entrepreneurial marketing from a practice perspective. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 16(2), 105–127. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRME-01-2014-0003

• Hill, I. (2018). How did you get up and running? Taking a Bourdieuan perspective towards a framework for negotiating strategic fit. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2018.1449015

• Johannisson, B. (2011). Towards a practice theory of entrepreneuring. Small Business Economics, 36(2), 135–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9212-8

• Keating, A., Geiger, S., & Mcloughlin, D. (2013). Riding the Practice Waves: Social Resourcing Practices During New Venture Development. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 38(5), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12038

• Matthews, R. S., Chalmers, D. M., & Fraser, S. S. (2018). The intersection of entrepreneurship and selling: An interdisciplinary review, framework, and future research agenda. Journal of Business Venturing, In Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.04.008

• Nicolini, D. (2009). Zooming in and out: studying practices by switching theoretical lenses and trailing connections. Organization Studies, 30(12), 1391–1418.

• Rouse, J. (2006). Practice theory. In D. M. Gabbay, P. Thagard, & J. Woods (Eds.), Handbook of the Philosophy of Science (Vol. 15, pp. 500–540). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-044451542-1/50020-9

• Schatzki, T., Knorr-Cetina, K., & Savigny, E. von. (2001). The practice turn in contemporary theory. (T. R. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetina, & E. von Savigny, Eds.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0956-5221(03)00029-0

• Sklaveniti, C., & Steyaert, C. (2019). Reflecting with Pierre Bourdieu: Towards a reflexive outlook for practice-based studies of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, (forthcoming), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2019.1641976

• Vincent, S., & Pagan, V. (2019). Entrepreneurial agency and field relations: A Realist Bourdieusian Analysis. Human Relations, 72(2), 188–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726718767952

• Whittington, R. (1996). Strategy as practice. Long Range Planning, 29(5), 731–735. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-6301(96)00068-4