The legitimacy of entrepreneurial mentoring

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to present findings from longitudinal case studies of small firm mentoring relationships in Ireland. The rationale is to explore the gaps between the theory and practice of small firm mentoring. Design/methodology/approach -The paper uses a comparative case study design involving interviews, observation and secondary sources of evidence including business plans. Findings -In contrast to the literature the paper extends the role of mentors in the small firm context as offering direct and indirect support, which reduces uncertainty in order to increase legitimacy of the business entity.Research limitations/implications -The cases highlight a conflict between the broad theoretical scope of the mentor process vs a narrow role assumed by best practice. Practical implications -The research presents an opportunity to enhance the pragmatic vs paternalistic perspective of small firm mentoring. The authors argue that for mentoring theory to be useful then a mentor's role-set in small firms may be wider and should be more direct than mentors in large corporations. Originality/value -The emergent theoretical framework combines organisational learning and decision-making theories. The paper contributes to the theoretical development of mentoring by extending the range and defining the role of mentors in the context of small firms.

Accelerators as start-up infrastructure for entrepreneurial clusters

“…Mentors are typically interviewed to assure quality (see McKevitt and Marshall 2015). In many cases, alumni of the accelerators returned as mentors.…”

Problematizing HRD in SMEs: A “Critical” Exploration of Context, Informality, and Empirical Realities

“…SME research frequently makes the misguided assumption that SMEs are simply smaller versions of large firms. This is particularly evident in the direct comparisons between firms of varying sizes (e.g., Choi, Lee & Jacobs, ; Guerrazzi, ; McKevitt & Marshall, ) and the associated polarization of formality and informality with large and small enterprises, respectively. A related assumption concerns the notion that large firm prescriptions can and should be readily transposed to SMEs.…”

Exploring the Link Between Mentoring and Intangible Outcomes of Entrepreneurship: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Moderating Effects of Gender

“…Moreover, the effectiveness of entrepreneurial mentoring could be dependent on the context (Ting et al, 2017). It has been posited that informal mentoring is well suited to small business owners given the context in which they operate (McKevitt and Marshall, 2015). In this study, we particularly focus on the impact of informal mentoring on attaining intangible entrepreneurial outcomes.…”