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29 November 2024

Professor Ute Stephan wins the most prestigious prize for published research in international business for work on social entrepreneurship

Ute Stephan, Professor of Entrepreneurship, has been awarded the 2025 Decade Award by the Journal of International Business Studies for her paper on social enterprises – businesses that exist to serve a social purpose rather than solely to generate profits. The journal, which is the top publication in the field of business and management, recognises one paper each year that has proven to be the most influential over a ten-year period.

Ute Stephan

To be selected, the paper must be highly cited and stand out in other ways. Professor Stephan’s paper, with co-authors Lorraine Uhlaner (University of Economics, Prague), and Christopher Stride (University of Sheffield), looked at the factors that encourage social entrepreneurship in countries around the world. In particular, the judging panel considered the paper to be ground-breaking in examining social entrepreneurship in the context of a dynamic interplay between government support, cultural values, and social norms rather than considering each of those factors in isolation.

I’m honoured to receive the 2025 JIBS Decade Award for our paper on Institutions and Social Entrepreneurship with my wonderful co-authors. The paper has inspired my subsequent research in different ways and given me a deep appreciation of the importance of supportive contexts and the organizations and individuals involved in social entrepreneurship.

Professor Ute Stephan

The award-winning paper was based on research across 26 countries and established that social entrepreneurship thrives most where governments provide strong social welfare systems and the prevailing culture also emphasises cooperation and non-materialistic values.

By establishing that government activism attracts, rather than “crowds-out”, private pro-social initiatives such as social entrepreneurship, Professor Stephan’s work challenged the case made by some ‘austerity era’ governments that public sector cuts would stimulate the social enterprise sector.

Professor Stephan’s work has made an enormous contribution to our understanding of what is really needed to unleash the energies and creative power of a sector that addresses so many different social and environmental challenges in innovative ways. I am delighted that her work has been recognised in this way: it is richly deserved.

Professor Stephen Bach, Executive Dean, King’s Business School

Professor Stephan’s further projects building on the ground-breaking paper include:

Work on culture and inclusive institutions for entrepreneurship

She has published a review taking stock of how cultural values and cultural norms shape types of entrepreneurship and innovation in distinct ways. Working with Tomasz Mickiewicz and Muntasir Shami she identified how deteriorations in the rule of law and democracy supress entrepreneurship, while a study with Andreas Rauch and Isabella Hatak documented how high-quality institutions and a strong rule of law lead to greater happiness in entrepreneurship.

Professor Stephan’s work also highlights how greater cultural acceptance of entrepreneurship makes entrepreneurship a more meaningful career leading to higher wellbeing (with Susana Tavares, Helena Carvalho, Joaquim Ramalho, Susana Santos & Marc van Veldhoven).

During the COVID-19 pandemic a 30 country study with a global team of 35 collaborators and co-investigators looked at how entrepreneurs navigate global adversity with resilience and safeguard their wellbeing.

Inclusive organizing and social impact

Professor Stephan’s work has identified evidence-based strategies through which social enterprises and other organizations can create social impact (with Malcolm Patterson, Ciara Kelly & Johanna Mair), as well as establishing the need to adapt incentive design for socially motivated individuals and organizations (with Ola Andersson, Marieke Huysentruyt & Topi Miettinen).

Looking beyond social enterprises, Professor Stephan has also demonstrated that mainstream firms benefit from pursuing purpose (social goals) alongside economic goals to enhance their innovation performance (with Petra Andries and Alain Daou).

The individual side of social entrepreneurship:

Finally her work has looked at the individual side of social entrepreneurship, identifying how social entrepreneurs navigate the uncertainties and resource challenges in setting up a social enterprise (with Andreana Drencheva & Malcom Patterson) and developing a deeper understanding of the human capital required for social entrepreneurship (with Saul Estrin & Tomasz Mickiewicz).

Her recent research establishes at what point in their life individuals are more likely to start social vs. commercial businesses (with Brigitte Hoogendoorn, Lorraine Uhlaner, & Peter van der Zwan), pinpointing barriers to social entrepreneurship.

Professor Stephan and her co-authors are invited to reflect on their work during a dedicated session at the upcoming 2025 AIB Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. The authors will also be honoured at the meeting’s closing reception, and a retrospective by the authors along with invited commentaries will be published in the first issue of the 2025 volume of the Journal of International Business Studies

In this story

Ute  Stephan

Professor of Entrepreneurship