Jeffery S. McMullen

David H. Jacobs Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship
Professor of Entrepreneurship

Department: Management and Entrepreneurship

Campus: Bloomington

Biography

Jeffery S. McMullen is David H. Jacobs Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Kelley

Jeffery S. McMullen is David H. Jacobs Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Business Venturing and former Editor-in-Chief of Business Horizons. Dr. McMullen earned his M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado, and his Bachelor of Accountancy at New Mexico State University.

He studies entrepreneurship as both a process of self-discovery and socio-economic change, investigating entrepreneurial cognition, motivation, action, and opportunity in the contexts of commercial, social, sustainable, and development entrepreneurship. Dr. McMullen’s research has been published in numerous premier journals, including Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Strategic Management Journal, among others, and honored by the Academy of Management’s (AOM) Entrepreneurship Research Exemplars Conference, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Ewing Kauffman and Coleman Foundations, the AOM’s Entrepreneurship Division, and both the Hankamer and Kelley Schools of Business. In 2018, he won the Foundational Paper Award from the AOM's Entrepreneurship Division for his paper, "Entrepreneurial action and the role of uncertainty in the theory of the entrepreneur."

Dr. McMullen currently serves on numerous editorial boards. He is the former chair of the doctoral committee for the management and entrepreneurship department at Indiana University, former chair of the doctoral consortium for the Entrepreneurship Division for the Academy of Management, and former director of Social Entrepreneurship Programs at Indiana University.

Jeff has taught courses in strategic entrepreneurship, research methods, new venture ideas, business models, social entrepreneurship, sustainable business, and strategic management at the Doctoral, MBA, and Undergraduate levels. He has won the Kelley School of Business’s Innovative Teaching Award, the Trustees Teaching Award (multiple times), best class and best advisor awards (from Kelley's doctoral program), the Sauvain Teaching Award (lifetime achievement for excellence in undergraduate education), and the AOM and McGraw-Hill/Irwin Award for Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy. In 2022, he won the Mentor Award from the AOM's Entrepreneurship Division.

Before becoming an academic, Jeff consulted and created new ventures in the Boulder Valley and worked as a CPA in the Information, Communications, and Entertainment (ICE) division of KPMG, Denver.

Areas of Expertise

Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management

Selected Publications

McMullen, J. S. (2024). Real growth through entrepreneurial resourcefulness: Insights on the entropy problem from Andy Weir’s The Martian. Academy of Management Review, 49(4), 746–774.
Ramoglou, S., and McMullen J S. (2024). What is an opportunity? From theoretical mystification to everyday understanding. Academy of Management Review, 49(2), 273–298.
Bakker, R., and McMullen, J. S. (2023). Inclusive entrepreneurship: A call for a shared theoretical conversation about unconventional entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing, 38(1), 106268.
Bergman, B. J., and McMullen, J. S. (2022). Helping entrepreneurs help themselves: A review and relational research agenda on entrepreneurial support organizations. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 46(3), 688–728.
Waldron, T. L., McMullen, J. S., Petrenko, O. V., Trudell, L. T., Lafont, O. A. (2022). Entrepreneur-investor rivalry over new venture control: The battle for Balcones Distilling. Journal of Business Venturing, 37(4), 106225.
Kier, A. S., McMullen, J. S., and Kuratko, D. F. (2022). Interpersonal influence on entrepreneurial persistence: The impact of self-regulation and entrepreneurial experience. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 46(6), 1812-1842.
McMullen, J. S., Ding, A. W., and Li, S. (2021). From Cultural Entrepreneurship to Economic Entrepreneurship in Cultural Industries: The Role of Digital Serialization. Journal of Business Venturing, 36(6), 106157.

Abstract

Digitization has provided entrepreneurs direct access to consumers in cultural industries while offering intermediaries an alternative to critics’ reviews when deciding whether to invest in creative products. Using data from the Chinese online self-publishing industry, we examine whether and how intermediaries use popular acclaim when deciding to invest in self-published books. We then flip the script and examine whether cultural entrepreneurs generate intermediary investment through popular acclaim and to what extent they do so through a digital serialization strategy. We find that, by encouraging both popular acclaim and intermediary investment, digital serialization emancipates cultural entrepreneurs from the indirect and uncertain reciprocity historically described by cultural entrepreneurship theory. Instead, digital serialization allows cultural entrepreneurs to generate consumer attention directly through economic entrepreneurship and to alter the power and roles of intermediaries and entrepreneurs in the cultural production process.
McMullen, J. S., Brownell, K. M., and Adams, J. (2021). What Makes an Entrepreneurship Study Entrepreneurial? Toward A Unified Theory of Entrepreneurial Agency. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 45(5), 1197–1238.
Brownell, K., McMullen, J. S., and O'Boyle, E. (2021). Fatal attraction: A systematic review and research agenda of the dark triad in entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 36(3), 106106.
Smith, B. R., McMullen, J. S., and Cardon, M. S. (2021). Toward a theological turn in entrepreneurship: How religion could enable transformative research in our field. Journal of Business Venturing, 36(5), 106139 (equal authorship).
van Gelderen, M., Wiklund, J., and McMullen, J. S. (2021). Entrepreneurship in the Future: A Delphi Study of ETP and JBV Editorial Board Members. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 45(5), 1239–1275.
Bradley, S. W., Kim, P. H., Klein, P. G., McMullen, J. S., and Wennberg, K. (2021). Policy for innovative entrepreneurship: Institutions, interventions, and societal challenges. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 15(2), 167-184 (authors listed alphabetically).
Stevenson, R. M., Josefy, M., McMullen, J., and Shepherd, D. (2020). Organizational and management theorizing using experiment-based entrepreneurship research: Covered terrain and the next frontiers. Academy of Management Annals, 14(2), 759–796. View Full Text

Abstract

The entrepreneurship setting—an extreme organizational context—provides fertile ground for organizationally relevant theory testing and development. In this paper, we propose that randomized entrepreneurship experiments have considerable potential to advance theory in entrepreneurship as well as other areas of organization science using a full-cycle approach. We ground this proposition in a multipronged review of randomized experiments in entrepreneurship (REE). Based on this review of prior work and emerging trends, respectively, we provide illustrative examples of innovative theory-driven experiments and motivate future research to consider randomized experiments in the entrepreneurial context both for testing boundary conditions and enhancing organizational theorizing broadly.
Kier, A. S. and McMullen, J. S. (2020). Entrepreneurial imaginativeness and new venture ideation in newly forming teams. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(6), 106048.
McKelvie, A., Wiklund, J., McMullen, J. S., and Palubinskas, A. (2020). A dynamic model of entrepreneurial opportunity: Integrating Kirzner’s and Mises’s approaches to entrepreneurial action. Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, 23(3-4), 499–541.
Covin, J. G., and McMullen, J. S. (2019). Programmatic research and the case for designing and publishing from rich, multifaceted datasets: Issues and recommendations. Journal of Business Research, 101, 40-46.
Anderson, B. S., Wennberg, K., and McMullen, J. S. (2019). Enhancing quantitative theory-testing entrepreneurship research. Journal of Business Venturing, 34, 105928.
Smith, B., Conger, M., McMullen, J. S., and Neubert, M. (2019). Why believe? The promise of research on the role of religion in entrepreneurial action. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 11, e00119.
McMullen, J.S. (2018). Organizational hybrids as biological hybrids: Research insights for research on the relationship between social enterprise and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Journal of Business Venturing, 33(5), 575-590.
Conger, M., McMullen, J. S., Bergman, Jr., B. J., and York, J. (2018). Category membership, identity control, and the reevaluation of prosocial opportunities. Journal of Business Venturing, 33(2), 179-206.
Kier, A.S., and McMullen, J.S. (2018). Entrepreneurial imaginativeness in new venture ideation. Academy of Management Journal, 61(6): 2265-2295.
Warnick, B.J., Murnieks, C., McMullen, J.S, and Brooks, W. (2018). Passion for entrepreneurship or passion for the product: A conjoint analysis of angel and vc decision-making. Journal of Business Venturing, 33(3), 315-332.
Townsend, D., Hunt, R., McMullen, J.S., and Sarasvathy, S. (2018). Knowledge problems and entrepreneurial action: An agenda for the future research of entrepreneurial environments. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2): 659-687.
McMullen, J. S., and Bergman, Jr., B. J. (2017). Social entrepreneurship and the development paradox of prosocial motivation: A cautionary tale. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 11(3), 243-270.
Shepherd, D.A., McMullen, J.S., and Ocasio, W. (2017). Is That an Opportunity? An Attention Model of Top Managers’ Opportunity Beliefs for Strategic Action. Strategic Management Journal, 38(3), 626-644.
McMullen, J.S., and Warnick, B. (2016). Should we require every new venture to be a hybrid organization? Exploring the limits of a world of blended value. Journal of Management Studies, 53(4), 630-662.
McMullen, J.S., Wood, M.S., and Kier, A.S. (2016). An Embedded Agency Approach to Entrepreneurship Public Policy: Managerial Position and Politics in New Venture Location Decisions. Academy of Management Perspectives, 30(3), 222-246.
Gupta, V., Chiles, T., and McMullen, J.S. (2016). A process perspective of evaluating and conducting effectual entrepreneurship research. Academy of Management Review, 41(3), 540-544.
McMullen, J.S., and Warnick, B. (2015). To Nurture or Groom? The Parent-Founder Succession Dilemma. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 39(6), 1379-1412.
McMullen, J.S. (2014). Entrepreneurial Judgment as Empathic Accuracy: A Sequential Decision Making Approach to Entrepreneurial Action. Journal of Institutional Economics, 11(3), 651-681. doi: 10.1017/S1744137413000386.
McMullen, J.S., and Dimov, D. (2013). Time and the Entrepreneurial Journey: The Problems and Promise of Studying Entrepreneurship as a Process. Journal of Management Studies, 50(8), 1481-1512.
Grimes, M., J.S. McMullen, Vogus, T., and Miller, T. (2013). Studying the Origins of Social Entrepreneurship: Compassion and the Role of Embedded Agency. Academy of Management Review, 38(3), 460-463.
Shepherd, D.A., Haynie, J. M., and McMullen, J.S. (2012). Confirmatory search as a useful heuristic: Testing the veracity of entrepreneurial conjectures. Journal of Business Venturing, 27(6), 637-651.
Bradley, S., McMullen, J.S., Artz, K., and Simiyu, E. (2012). Capital is not Enough: Innovation in Developing Economies. Journal of Management Studies, 49(4), 684-717.
Miller, T., Grimes, M., McMullen, J.S., and Vogus, T. (2012). Venturing for Others with Heart and Head: How Compassion Encourages Social Entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 616-640.
McMullen, J.S. (2011). Delineating the Domain of Development Entrepreneurship: A Market-Based Approach to Facilitating Inclusive Economic Growth. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 35(1), 185-215.
Gregoire, D., Corbett, A.C., and McMullen, J. S. (2011). The Cognitive Perspective in Entrepreneurship: An Agenda for Future Research. Journal of Management Studies, 48(6), 1443-1477.
Chiles, T.H., Tuggle, C.S., McMullen, J.S., Bierman, L., and Greening, D.W. (2010). Dynamic Creation: Extending the Radical Austrian Approach to Entrepreneurship. Organization Studies, 31(1), 7-46.
McMullen, J.S., Shepherd, D.A., and Patzelt, H. (2009). Managerial (In)attention to Competitive Threats. Journal of Management Studies, 46(2), 157-181.
Haynie, M., Shepherd, D.A., and McMullen, J.S. (2009). An Opportunity for Me?' The Role of Resources in Opportunity Evaluation Decisions. Journal of Management Studies, 46(3), 337-361.
McMullen, J.S., Bagby, R., and Palich, L. (2008). Economic Freedom and the Motivation to Engage in Entrepreneurial Action. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 32(5), 875-895.
Wu, C., McMullen, J.S., Neubert, M., and Yi, X. (2008). The Influence of Leader Regulatory Focus on Employee Creativity. Journal of Business Venturing, 23(5), 587-602.
McMullen, J.S., Plummer, L., and Acs, Z. (2007). What is an Entrepreneurial Opportunity? Small Business Economics, 28(4), 273-283.
Shepherd, D.A., McMullen, J.S., and Jennings, P.D. (2007). Formation of Opportunity Beliefs: A Coherence Theory Perspective. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 1(1-2), 75-95.
Zacharakis, A., McMullen, J.S., and Shepherd, D.A. (2007). Venture Capitalists’ Decision Policies across Three Countries: An Institutional Theory Perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 38(5), 691-708.
Companys, Y., and McMullen, J.S. (2007). Strategic Entrepreneurs at Work: The Nature, Discovery, and Exploitation of Entrepreneurial Opportunities. Small Business Economics, 28(4), 301-322.
Dean, T.J., and McMullen, J.S. (2007). Toward a Theory of Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Reducing Environmental Degradation through Entrepreneurial Action. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(1), 50-76.
Mitchell, R., Busenitz, L., Bird, B., Gaglio, C.M., McMullen, J.S., Morse, E., and Smith, B. (2007). Central Questions in Entrepreneurial Cognition Research. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 31(1), 1-27.
McMullen, J.S., and Shepherd, D.A. (2006). Encouraging Consensus Challenging Research in Universities. Journal of Management Studies, 43(8), 1643-1669.
McMullen, J.S., and Shepherd, D.A. (2006). Entrepreneurial Action and the Role of Uncertainty in the Theory of the Entrepreneur. Academy of Management Review, 31(1), 132-152.

Edited on July 24, 2024

Jeffery S. McMullen

Biography

Areas of Expertise

Selected Publications

Abstract

Abstract

Social media

Additional resources