PDW Invitation: 20835 - DEMOCRACY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN TRANSITION: REGIMES, RISKS, AND RESILIENCE
Primary Sponsor: Entrepreneurship (ENT)
Secondary Sponsors: OMB, SIM
Organizers: Ben Spigel, Petra Moog, Diana Hechavarria, Steven Brieger, Arielle Newman
📅 Date: AOM 2026 (Exact date TBA)
📍 Location: Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia
Join us at the AOM 2026 Professional Development Workshop (PDW) on Democracy and Entrepreneurship sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division.
As democratic erosion and hybrid regimes reshape political and economic landscapes worldwide, this workshop brings together scholars to engage with this emerging and sometimes contradictory literature.
The workshop advances management knowledge across several dimensions. First, it deepens understanding of how political regime type shapes opportunity identification, risk-taking, financing, and innovation. Second, it examines the reverse relationship: how entrepreneurial activity reinforces or undermines democratic norms and civic engagement. Third, it addresses critical methodological challenges, including variation among democracy indices and entrepreneurship measures that produce divergent conclusions. Fourth, it explores how historical legacies, informal institutions, and path dependence shape contemporary entrepreneurial ecosystems. Finally, the workshop investigates patterns of inclusion and exclusion, examining whether democratization expands entrepreneurial access broadly or whether structural inequalities persist across regime types.
Part I: Orientation and roundtable selection (10 min)
Part II: Two rounds of expert-led small-group roundtable discussions (70 min) on topics including:
• Measuring Democracy and Entrepreneurship: Data, Indices, and Methodological Challenges
• Entrepreneurial Behavior Across Regime Types
• Entrepreneurship's Impact on Democratic Institutions
• Historical Legacies, Informal Institutions, and Path Dependence
• Inequality, Marginalization, and Access
Part III: Closing plenary with table hosts sharing key insights and outlet recommendations (30 min)
Pre-registration is required. Space is limited to 75 participants.
📝 Register here:
🔗 https://lnkd.in/df_ka7pW
For any questions, feel free to reach out.
Ben Spigel
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship
Babson College
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Ben Spigel
Assistant Professor
Babson College
Babson Park MA
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