CfP on the Moral Foundations of Entrepreneurial Societies (Newsround)Also a I had a Crossroads piece published in BJM about Time & Interdisciplinarity that references business and management history
Contents
1. The Moral Foundations of Entrepreneurial SocietiesFourth Historical Entrepreneurship Research Symposium (HERS 2027) January 29–30, 2027Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies,
About the SymposiumOver the past two decades, the historical turn in entrepreneurship and management research has shown how historical sources, methods, and reasoning can reshape theory. HERS 2027 invites scholars to carry this agenda into new terrain: the use of historical scholarship to deepen moral and political reasoning about the relationship between entrepreneurship, organizations, and society. Entrepreneurs are celebrated for creating opportunities, challenging incumbents, and imagining futures others cannot yet see. Entrepreneurial freedom, innovation, and competition are widely regarded as engines of prosperity and societal progress. Yet the very qualities that make entrepreneurship celebrated have also made it a source of public concern. The disruption that drives innovation unsettles institutions and livelihoods, and the freedom that fuels experimentation resists easy accountability. Debates over social media platforms, artificial intelligence, and environmental sustainability turn on the societal consequences of entrepreneurial activity, how responsibility for those consequences is attributed, and the institutions through which societies respond.
At the heart of these debates are competing moral understandings of entrepreneurship. When does seizing an opportunity become exploitation? When is breaking the rules innovation, and when is it misconduct? How did independence, risk-taking, disruption, and growth come to look like virtues? Such questions direct attention beyond the ethical judgments of individual entrepreneurs and their organizations to the moral foundations of entrepreneurial societies: the historically constituted values, justifications, and institutional arrangements through which entrepreneurial activity becomes desirable. What, then, are the moral foundations of a good entrepreneurial society? HERS 2027 invites scholars to investigate this question through humanistic research and theoretical inquiry, with particular emphasis on the historical construction of entrepreneurial virtues and moral boundaries. Qualities such as independence, ambition, risk-taking, and disruption are historically constituted ideals through which entrepreneurial conduct is justified, and distinctions between entrepreneurial freedom and social responsibility rest on deep-seated and often unarticulated moral assumptions. Examining how these virtues and boundaries emerged, and how they have been contested, offers an opportunity to reconsider the categories through which entrepreneurship and its relationship to society are understood—and to reflect on the possibilities and limitations of contemporary theories of entrepreneurship. The symposium welcomes a plurality of intellectual traditions and normative perspectives, including political philosophy, business and economic history, classical liberalism and Austrian economics, institutional and evolutionary economics, historical sociology, organization theory, science and technology studies, and critical perspectives on entrepreneurialism. These traditions offer different understandings of entrepreneurial agency, market processes, freedom, responsibility, and societal progress. We seek to bring them into productive conversation, examining the historical experiences and moral assumptions that inform their respective perspectives. While HERS 2027 centers on this theme, we will also consider submissions that advance the use of historical sources, methods, and reasoning in entrepreneurship, management, and organization studies more broadly. Themes and QuestionsWe welcome historically grounded empirical and conceptual contributions addressing questions such as: Submission GuidelinesWe invite extended abstracts of 1–2 pages (references excluded) outlining the research question and expected theoretical or conceptual contribution; the theoretical perspective and relevant literature; the historical context, sources, and methodology; and the expected or preliminary findings. Submission deadline: December 15, 2026Notification: December 31, 2026 Submit to: https://hers-2027.lovable.app/ Format and ParticipationHERS 2027 will take place in person at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, CA, USA, on January 29–30, 2027. About HERSThe Historical Entrepreneurship Research Symposium (HERS) is an ongoing forum for scholars working at the intersection of entrepreneurship, history, organizations, and society. Building on earlier gatherings in 2019, 2021, and 2025, the symposium brings together an interdisciplinary community committed to advancing historically informed entrepreneurship research and fostering conversations across disciplinary and theoretical boundaries. HERS 2027 continues this conversation by turning attention to the moral foundations of entrepreneurial societies and the contribution of historical scholarship to contemporary debates about entrepreneurship and the public good. Organizers and Contact Information:
The symposium is a collaboration between the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Southern California and the Rethinking Entrepreneurship in Society research project at Copenhagen Business School, funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. We look forward to continuing the HERS conversations and advancing research on historical entrepreneurship as a resource for reimagining the possibilities of entrepreneurial societies. 2. How Assumptions About Time Divide and Connect Epistemic Communities in Business and ManagementCheeky, I know, but, as it has been a quiet week, I almost did not send out a Newsround this week. So you know for the future — no Monday, no relevant news. Anyway, I thought I’d mention my advance online piece because it a) places Business and Management History into the wider context of the highly interdisciplinary business school world, b) it’s open access, and c) it’s short! You're currently a free subscriber to History in Organizations. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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