Saulo DUBARD BARBOSA
Professor 

Saulo Barbosa 2 - InVent research center - emlyon

 ” Just checking my reflection – since good research says something about the scholar! “

Saulo DUBARD BARBOSA
Professor 

 

I think about my own research as having four branches. The first one is on decision making in entrepreneurship, where I study why and how people decide to become entrepreneurs and put effort in their new ventures. The second branch is on education and public policy, and I study how governmental support affects entrepreneurship rates and how different educational programs might affect participants’ attitudes, perceptions, competences, and intentions towards entrepreneurship. The third branch asks whether entrepreneurship is an emancipatory process, and my focus here goes to social entrepreneurship initiatives and community dynamics. Finally, the newest branch on my research tree is at the intersection of religion, mythology, and entrepreneurship.

When I am not researching any of these branches, I am having fun running the InvEnt Research Center, teaching social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship research, or gardening, hiking, and paddling with friends and family.

barbosa@em-lyon.com

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

First page of "Specifying the role of religion in entrepreneurial action: a cognitive perspective"

Specifying the role of religion in entrepreneurial action: a cognitive perspective

Research on the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship has produced mixed findings. We argue such equivocal findings are partly the result of under-specification of the role of religion in entrepreneurial action. To address this issue, we build on the process perspective of entrepreneurial cognition by simultaneously incorporating mental representations and cognitive resources. Specifically, we theorize a cognitive process that incorporates both framing effects of opportunity cues and religious belief integration based on sanctification into the assessment of feasibility and desirability of entrepreneurial action. Through two within-subject experiments, we find (i) positively framed opportunity cues yield more favorable assessments of entrepreneurial action than negatively framed opportunity cues, and (ii) religious belief integration moderates the relationship between framing and assessments of entrepreneurial action, enhancing perceived feasibility and desirability when information framing is negative. We discuss the implications of our model to research the theological turn of entrepreneurship and a cognitive perspective of entrepreneurial action.

Navigating the highs and lows of entrepreneurial identity threats to persist: The countervailing force of a relational identity with God<br />

Navigating the highs and lows of entrepreneurial identity threats to persist: The countervailing force of a relational identity with God☆

While an economic paradigm has been productive for entrepreneurship, religion has been proposed as an alternative rationality to advance research in our field. To extend a theological turn in entrepreneurship and identity research, our study inductively develops a conceptual model that explains how individuals navigate entrepreneurial identity threats based on the interaction between a relational identity with God (RIG) and an entrepreneurial identity to persist in entrepreneurial action. Our study suggests this can happen when entrepreneurs engage in inter-identity work mechanisms – affirming and humbling – to mitigate these identity threats. Specifically, a relational identity with God acts as a countervailing force to an entrepreneurial identity during times of identity threats to generate inter-identity meaning change, resulting in interidentity stability and entrepreneurial persistence. Through our study, we advance knowledge on the theological turn in entrepreneurship and identity by inductively developing theory on a new religious identity construct (RIG), elaborating theory of inter-identity work by shifting the focus from structural to content changes, and extending theory on entrepreneurial action, persistence, and well-being based on theological rather than economic considerations.

    OTHER PUBLICATIONS

    The unshackled entrepreneur: Occupational determinants of entrepreneurial effort. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(5), 105983.

    (Laffineur, C., Dubard Barbosa, S., Fayolle, A., & Montmartin, B. – 2020)

    Biased and overconfident, unbiased but going for it: How framing and anchoring affect the decision to start a new venture. Journal of Business Venturing, 34(3), 528‑557. 

    (Dubard Barbosa, S., Fayolle, A., & Smith, B. R. – 2019)

    The effects of active labor market programs on entrepreneurship and unemployment. Small Business Economics, 49(4), 889‑918. 

    (Laffineur, C., Dubard Barbosa, S., Fayolle, A., & Nziali, E. – 2017)