Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how vulnerabilities arising from physical impairments, age, widowhood, forced displacement due to war or natural disasters and sexual orientation affect women’s microfinance-related entrepreneurial activities and economic empowerment.Design/methodology/approach: This paper is a structured literature review and uses preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) method. The paper also uses agency, resources and achievement dimensions of empowerment to assess the findings.Findings: This study reveals that although microfinance services promote women entrepreneurship, they also exacerbate exclusion and further discrimination. Individual-, household-, institutional- and community-level structures shape women’s agencies to access and use loans and conduct entrepreneurial activities; hence, ultimately economic empowerment.Originality/value: The originality of this paper arises from the conceptual model we synthesised from our review which illustrates how vulnerable women’s agency is shaped by resources and how it affects their achievements in relation to entrepreneurial activities.

Social enterprises create innovative solutions to address social issues and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper examines the innovative social entrepreneurial processes using the theoretical foundation of responsible innovation (i.e., anticipation, reflexivity, inclusion and deliberation, responsiveness, and knowledge management). The data collected from three case study organisations reveals that social enterprises at the initiation stage address only a few SDGs. However, innovation development and implementation processes lead to products and services diversification and geographical expansion which broaden the SDG focus. During this process, enterprises iteratively conduct activities associated with different dimensions of responsible innovation and operate within ethics, values and rights-based boundaries. Based on these findings, this paper proposes a process model combining SDG literature with responsible innovation. The managerial implications of using responsible innovation perspective to achieve SDGs are also highlighted.

Purpose: This article explains how business internships can be used to develop innovation skills in undergraduates.Design/methodology/approach: Using work-integrated learning and current literature on innovation, this article proposes a theoretical framework to design, implement, and measure outcomes of Innovation-Focused Internships (IFIs). The article also uses an illustrative case study from an Australian university to discuss practical use of this framework.Findings: The theoretical framework illustrates that stakeholders (i.e., students, industry, and university) need a common goal. Factors associated with managing innovation and student placements are key features of the framework. The illustrative case study demonstrates ways in which students gather both professional work experience and innovative skills.Practical implications: The illustrative case study outlines practical strategies and challenges in IFI programs. Managing innovation-related challenges requires adjustments from all the stakeholders.Originality/value: This article modifies the existing stakeholder interdependency model of work-integrated learning by combining it with innovation-related literature. The novel insights from the IFI program demonstrate how factors associated with students, industry, and university, and associations between these key stakeholders shape and determine IFI success.

Microfinance is used to enhance micro and small enterprise start-up and growth in developing countries. Although there is some discussion of how microfinance institutional activities lead to their own sustainability in the extant literature, the same cannot be said of the ways in which microfinance institutions shape the sustainability agendas of micro and small enterprises (MSEs). In this paper, we conceptualise and explain the way that joint liability lending in microfinance shapes the sustainability of micro and small enterprises owned by borrowers. Using sustainable leadership as a theoretical foundation, we conceptualise the strategic, operational, and community-level leadership functions associated with joint liability and construct a framework. Based on the conceptual framework, we also develop propositions and explain them using an illustrative case study. Our conceptual work reveals that leadership tasks at strategic, operational, and community levels influence MSEs’ sustainability. Our conceptual framework, propositions, and illustrative case evidence contribute to theory and practice by highlighting that joint liability mechanisms are a possible pathway for MFIs to facilitate sustainable initiatives in micro and small enterprises.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain how rapid ethnography (RE) is used to understand the business decision-making process of micro-entrepreneurs. The objective of this paper is to highlight the applicability of RE in entrepreneurship research and outline practical strategies that can be used by future RE researchers. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is written as a reflection using the author’s experience in using RE. Findings: This paper highlights that RE can be used as a research technique in entrepreneurship research. The study shows how to incorporate technological advances into RE without violating the underlying ethnographic principles. The paper also explains how preparation, planning, technology-assisted techniques, non-traditional socialisation processes, and multiple and parallel data collection strategies enhance the effectiveness of RE. The paper outlines practical strategies for researchers such as collaborations, using field guides, clear schedules and time gaps in the data collection. Originality/value: Although RE is widely used in research related to human-computer interactions, medicine, education and marketing, RE in entrepreneurship research seems to be limited. Thus, this paper explores this gap and contributes to the scholarly field of entrepreneurship research by highlighting the methodological potential of RE. In addition, the paper contributes empirically to the qualitative research domain by explaining practical steps in using RE.