Unveiling cogent insights: exploring the frontiers of entrepreneurship and innovation through relevant and rigorous research

Introduction

The twenty-first century is characterized by a range of pressing challenges, including sluggish economic growth, persistent environmental degradation, escalating human conflict and growing inequality. At the same time, employment growth remains stagnate in many parts of the world while the desire for self-reliance among individuals continues to surge. Within this context, entrepreneurship and innovation have emerged as critical areas of focus, serving not only as policy responses but also as important subjects in education (cf., Figueroa-Armijos & Johnson, 2016; Jones et al., 2017). Various motivations fuel this trend, from escaping poverty to generating independent wealth. Furthermore, entrepreneurship and innovation have evolved into robust research domains with broad, interdisciplinary appeal (cf., Ávila et al., 2023; Hussain et al., 2022; Nicholls-Nixon et al., 2022).

Despite its burgeoning body of research, the field is still in a formative phase, offering substantial opportunities for further exploration (Muldoon et al., 2022). Seizing on this untapped potential and leveraging the rich tapestry of growth and momentum accumulated over the years, Cogent Business and Management is excited to unveil a new section devoted to Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I). This section is designed to broaden our understanding and disseminate valuable insights across the many domains of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Areas of focus will include start-up strategy, innovation management, entrepreneurial finance, entrepreneurship education, small and family businesses, corporate entrepreneurship, technological innovations and entrepreneurial ecosystems, to name only a few. The goal – a focused effort to support and accelerate the expansion of the field of entrepreneurship. We aim to provide actionable insights for academics and industry leaders and to aid decision-makers in driving innovation and creating meaningful societal impact. This section isn’t just for reading – it’s a call to contribute to the expansion of knowledge and the advancement of real-world change.

Unveiling Cogent Business and Management’s new section: entrepreneurship and innovation

In this new E&I section, Cogent’s editorial leadership aims to push the boundaries of traditional entrepreneurship and innovation research. Accordingly, scholars from all disciplines and practitioners with a scholarly interest, alike, are invited to submit their scholarship to one of our four newly defined submission categories: (1) original research articles, (2) review articles, (3) thought-provoking letters and (4) thought leader and policy maker interviews. The following paragraphs offer more detail into these categories, including offering illustrative examples for each.

Original research articles

In-depth investigations presenting novel theories, findings and methodologies. Under its broader ‘Management’ submission category Cogent has long accepted original entrepreneurship and innovation research articles, so we draw your attention to Yigit and Kanbach (2023) and Flagstad and Johnsen (2022) as recent illustrative examples of scholarship that could appropriately fit within this category (one quantitative and one qualitative, respectively).

Review articles

Comprehensive syntheses of existing literature, highlighting trends, gaps and future directions in entrepreneurship and innovation research. Of particular interest are well-designed systematic literature reviews (cf., Berman et al., 2023; Orrensalo et al., 2022) and bibliometric studies (cf., Cancino et al., 2023; Escobar et al., 2023; Phan Tan, 2022; Sharma et al., 2022). In discussing the value of review articles, Kraus et al. (2023) notes ‘research integration and synthesis is a crucial and possibly even mandatory step in the scientific process’ (p. 1097), a viewpoint echoed by this editorial team.

Thought-provoking letters

Brief communications that challenge or introduce unique perspectives on established entrepreneurship and innovation theories or practices are welcome, as are communications exploring emerging topics. The aim is for these letters to serve as a platform for scholars and practitioners to ignite and engage in concise yet impactful discourse that can inform thought and action as well as evoke new ideas for future research. Good illustrative examples of scholarship that would fit in this category include Aguinis and Gabriel (2022) and Viardot et al. (2023).

Thought leader and policy maker interviews

Insightful dialogues capturing expert opinions, experiences and strategic visions shaping the future of entrepreneurship education, research and policy. Interview submissions should be appropriately grounded in the existing academic literature and present a novel and clear contribution to the field. Aronsson (2004) interview dialogue on entrepreneurship education, Kickul et al.’s (2012) interview with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus on micro-finance, Tornikoski and Maalaoui’s (2019) interview with Icek Ajzen on the use of the Theory of Planned Behavior and Winkler’s (2023) interview of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship’s 2023 Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year represent are all good illustrative examples of the types of interview content suitable for this new section.

Overall, the diversity of submission types underscores our commitment to fostering a multifaceted dialogue within the entrepreneurship and innovation community, broadly and inclusively defined. We believe embracing varied forms of academic discourse empowers the facilitation of a more comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurship phenomena. Authors, experts and contributors from all backgrounds (academic or otherwise) are encouraged to share their insights, research and perspectives to enrich this dynamic conversation. To this end, scholarship from a diverse audience, including academics, early-stage and veteran entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and others are welcome, as are interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary contributions.

Relevance and rigor

The E&I editorial team is focused on ensuring the work that gets published in this new section is both relevant and rigorous as these traits are essential for impactful scholarship. On the one hand, relevance entails ensuring published scholarship contributes to the ongoing theoretical conversation, advancing previous research in the entrepreneurship and innovation literature. Beyond theoretical contributions, relevant research addresses pressing questions and real-world challenges faced by entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship educators, policymakers and other stakeholders. By anchoring scholarship to real-world applicability, relevance ensures findings are not merely academic exercises but have potential practical implications that inform both decision-making and public policy. This is particularly crucial for a field like entrepreneurship, which is inherently action-oriented (Frese, 2009; Kassean et al., 2015), non-linear (Neck & Greene, 2011) and often demands timely insights to address ever-evolving challenges and opportunities (cf., Hodgkinson et al., 2023; Kunisch et al., 2023; Liguori & Bendickson, 2020; Morris et al., 2020; Pittz et al., 2021).

On the other hand, rigor ensures the methodological soundness and robustness of the scholarship. It guarantees that the findings and conclusions drawn are dependable, valid and can withstand critical scrutiny. Sans rigor, even highly relevant scholarship is rendered questionable. In entrepreneurship and innovation, where findings can directly influence business strategies, pedagogies and policies, rigor is critical to preventing misguided actions.

In essence, whereas relevance ensures entrepreneurship and innovation scholarship addresses the right questions, rigor ensures it does so with accuracy and reliably. To this end, Table 1 summarizes several methodological best practice articles the editorial team will be referencing as it evaluates scholarship submitted to the journal, and we encourage authors and peer reviewers alike to take note of the recommendations presented in these works.

Table 1. Recent best practice articles to ensure relevance and rigor.

Citation	Title
Anderson et al. (2019)	Enhancing quantitative theory-testing entrepreneurship research
Grégoire et al. (2019)	Navigating the validity tradeoffs of entrepreneurship research experiments: A systematic review and best-practice suggestions
Maula and Stam (2020)	Enhancing rigor in quantitative entrepreneurship research
Aguinis et al. (2021)	Best practices in data collection and preparation: Recommendations for reviewers, editors and authors
Bacq et al. (2021)	Writing bold, broad and rigorous review articles in entrepreneurship
Bendickson (2021)	Building entrepreneurship research for impact: Scope, phenomenon and translation
Liguori et al. (2021)	Publishing entrepreneurship research: Strategies for success distilled from a review of over 3500 submissions
Crawford et al. (2022)	Advancing entrepreneurship theory through replication: A case study on contemporary methodological challenges, future best practices and an entreaty for communality
Kraus et al. (2022)	Literature reviews as independent studies: Guidelines for academic practice
Nikou et al. (2022)	FsQCA in entrepreneurship research: Opportunities and best practices
Aguinis et al. (2023)	Best-practice recommendations for producers, evaluators and users of methodological literature reviews
Burger et al. (2023)	On the use of AI-based tools like ChatGPT to support management research
Jensen et al. (2023)	Missing in action: Policy implications of management research

The editorial team

The E&I section of Cogent Business and Management will be led by Senior Editor Dr. Eric Liguori, Associate Dean for Research and External Relations in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. From 2018 to 2022, Liguori served as Founding Executive Editor of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy (see Liguori et al., 2018) and presently, he serves as Managing Editor of the Journal of Small Business Management. His experience not just as a scholar, but also in both in launching a new journal and in co-leading one of this publisher’s flagship entrepreneurship journals, makes him uniquely qualified to champion this effort.

The E&I editorial team also includes a globally diverse and highly qualified group of Associate Editors, including Dr. Younggeun Lee (Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at California State University, Los Angeles and Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Entrepreneurship), Dr. Grant Alexander Wilson (Assistant Professor of Marketing and Research Program Lead at the Hill & Levene Schools of Business, University of Regina), Dr. Oyedele M. Ogundana (Senior Lecturer in the Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University), Dr. Jeffrey Muldoon (Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at Emporia State University and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management History) and additional Associate Editors are expected to be added moving forward.

Conclusion

As we inaugurate the Entrepreneurship and Innovation section within Cogent Business and Management, we set the stage for a robust scholarly community committed to shaping the future of research and practice. This reflects our commitment to deepening the discourse in entrepreneurship and removing access barriers to entrepreneurship scholarship. Prioritizing relevance and rigor, the editorial team aims to publish high-quality research that advances both theory and practice. Specifically, authors are encouraged to conduct relevant research, continuing the ongoing theoretical conversation, addressing real-world challenges and offering practical solutions. Moreover, rigorous methodology should be aligned to ensure the credibility of the findings. The diverse and experienced editorial team ensures the section’s expertise and global perspective. In the spirit of continuous exploration, we will annually announce trending topics, providing prospective authors with exciting opportunities to contribute to the evolving literature on entrepreneurship and innovation. This initiative further solidifies Cogent’s position as a leading platform for open and accessible research in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Eric W. Liguori
Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, Florida State University, FL, USA[email protected] http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7159-4625
Younggeun LeeCollege of Business and Economics, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, USA
[email protected] Alexander WilsonHill & Levene Schools of Business, University of Regina, Regina, Canada
Oyedele M. OgundanaNottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK Jeffrey MuldoonSchool of Business, Emporia State University, Emporia, USA

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed equally to this work, assume full responsibility for its content and approve of the submission of this work. Commonly accepted AI technology was used in the copy-editing phase of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

This work does not rely on any data. As such, there is no data to be made available.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eric W. Liguori

Eric Liguori is Professor and Associate Dean for Research and External Relations in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. He is also a Past President and Fellow of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and was named USASBE’s 2023 Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year.

Younggeun Lee

Young Lee is an Assistant Professor in the College of Business and Economics at California State University. He presently serves as Editor-In-Chief of the New England Journal of Entrepreneurship.

Grant Alexander Wilson

Grant Wilson is an Assistant Professor in the Hill & Levene Schools of Business at the University of Regina.

Oyedele M. Ogundana

Oyedele Ogundana is an Assistant Professor in Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University.

Jeffrey Muldoon

Jeff Muldoon is an Associate Professor in the School of Business at Emporia State University. He presently serves as Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Management History.