This year’s topic is - Peer effects: Entrepreneurship and labour market outcomes

Peer effects that influence individuals’ beliefs and behavior are likely to materialize within all groups of people and can influence, for example, which educational and labour market paths individuals follow. A peer group can be found amongst individuals who share the same interests, age, background, gender, culture and/or social status. Peer effects may also emerge between individuals in the same classroom, school, firm or neighbourhood, as well as between parents and children leading to, for example, intergenerational entrepreneurship. Depending on the group composition and the prevailing social norms, there can be both advantages and disadvantages in how peers influence the outcome of individuals, from the perspective of the individual as well as from the perspective of society.

Peer effects, especially those with a geographical dimension, typically emerge due to local social interactions, and can be referred to as place-based non-market effects where individuals influence each other without any monetary remuneration. They comprise a broad set of effects such as information and knowledge spillovers as well as the influence of attitudes, norms and actions of local peers on individual choices and behavior. Since peer groups and peer effects are present and important in all societies, we focus this year’s annual CEnSE workshop on this topic. Hence, this workshop aims to bring together researchers interested in studying peer effects and peer groups and their influence on entrepreneurship and labour market outcomes. The workshop aims to be interdisciplinary and we invite researchers from different fields of research.

We welcome submissions related, but not limited, to the following topics:

  • Peer effects and labour market outcomes (for example, type of employment/non-employment, occupational and sectoral choices)
  • Peer effects and entrepreneurship, including self-employment and new firm formation (for example, female, elderly and intergenerational entrepreneurship)
  • Long-term peer effects on entrepreneurship and labour market outcomes (for example, neighbourhood effects and peer effects among students)
  • Peer effects related to segregation and labour market integration.
  • Peer effects in firms and industry clusters.
  • The spatial dimension of peer effects.
  • Peer effects across time.
  • The dark side of peer effects.

You are welcome to suggest an additional topic that would be suitable to this workshop. We invite both theoretical and empirical contributions.

WHEN? The workshop will take place November 14-15, 2019 (lunch to lunch).

HOW? The workshop is organized by the research Centre CEnSE (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics) at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Sweden. Visit http://center.hj.se/cense for more information about CEnSE. The workshop will have two keynote speakers and individual paper sessions. All papers will be assigned a discussant and all presenters/participants are expected to serve as discussants. We aim to encourage constructive discussions in an interactive setting and there will be no parallel sessions. Therefore, the size of the workshop will be limited. The organizers of the workshop aim to arrange an outlet in the form of a special issue in an international journal. This year we have an agreement with a reputable journal within regional science. The final decision from the journal whether to agree to let us arrange a special issue will depend on the quality of the papers presented and discussed at the workshop.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER I - Prof. Dr. Oliver Falck, Director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies at LMU Munich. Professor Falck’s research focus on innovation and growth, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER II - Dr. Michael Wyrwich is Associate Professor for Small Business & Entrepreneurship at the Department of Innovation Management & Strategy at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Netherlands). Furthermore, he is adjunct lecturer at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany). Dr. Wyrwich’s research interests and teaching focus cover diverse topics in the area of entrepreneurship, innovation (systems), and regional development.

COST? The workshop attendance is free, and accommodation and meals will be covered by the organizers. Travel costs, however, will have to be covered by the participants.

VENUE? The conference and dinner will take place at Hällsnäs Hotel and Conference (http://hallsnas.bookvisitweb.com/en), which is located in a scenic rural setting conveniently close to Landvetter Airport, Gothenburg. Landvetter is Sweden’s second largest airport with easy access to many international connections (https://www.swedavia.se/landvetter).

You are encouraged to distribute this call to other interested researchers.

Local Organizing Committee:

Mikaela Backman, mikaela.backman@ju.se, CEnSE.

Johan Klaesson, johan.klaesson@ju.se, CEnSE.

Sofia Wixe, sofia.wixe@ju.se, CEnSE.

Deadlines and information:

Extended abstract (about 2000 words) submission deadline: August 18, 2019.

Notification of acceptance: August 30, 2019.

(Draft) Full Paper submission deadline: October 25, 2019.

Please submit contributions to: cense@ju.se