Editorial: Introducing Issue 42(1) and Updates

We are delighted to introduce issue 42(1) (2023) of the Irish Journal of Management. This issue begins with two supplemental papers which are associated with issue 41(2)’s special issue on “Building a better tomorrow – Bridging the disconnect between policy, practice, education and research in social enterprise”, guest edited by Professor Felicity Kelliher (South East Technological University, Ireland), Dr Briga Hynes (University of Limerick, Ireland), and Dr Ziene Mottiar (Technological University Dublin, Ireland).

The first of these is O’Shaughnessy and Olmedo’s paper, who analyse a range of elements within the Irish social enterprise ecosystem and compare these to situations in other European countries. This paper provides a contextualised picture of the Irish social enterprise sector. The findings reveal similarities between the working definitions of social enterprises across Ireland and the European Union (EU). The term is put forward to encompass a broad range of entrepreneurial organisations which partially trade in the market but whose main aim is not profit maximisation. The paper also highlights some specificities that the Irish social enterprise ecosystem presents, such as the distinctive legal form of CLG, the influence of Anglo-Saxon academic discourse, and the (historic) predominance of the Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISE) model.

The second paper on the theme of “Building a better tomorrow – Bridging the disconnect between policy, practice, education and research in social enterprise” is written by O’Reilly, Walsh and Mottiar and explores the important, but under-researched issue of scaling in social enterprises. They present a conceptual model which highlights the key factors for consideration which act as drivers influencing the decision to scale, forms of scaling for social enterprises, critical success factors, routes to scaling, readiness, and capability development and supports. A key contribution of this paper is the presentation of a conceptual model which aids deeper understanding of the scaling process and is important from a research, policy and manager/sector perspective. Furthermore, the findings identify the importance of exploring inter-connectedness across multiple factors in the scaling journey which heretofore have been discussed in isolation.

Issue 42(1) also includes three original papers, on important topics of relevance to management scholarship and industry. McNamara, O’Connor and O’Donohoe’s paper investigates Irish medium-sized enterprises’ financial flexibility immediately pre-Brexit/post the passing of the Brexit referendum. By analysing various financial indicators, the authors found that these enterprises did not, in general, build financial slack. However, there were indications that the firms that were incentivised to build financial flexibility did so. They also found differences in the data between cash poor firms and cash rich firms, while all firms regardless of their size or financial strength increased their working capital investment and inventory levels post the Brexit referendum, suggesting optimism about postBrexit opportunities. In summary, Irish medium-sized enterprises show varying strategies for building financial slack and appear hopeful about the future post-Brexit.

Diellza Gashi Tresi and Katarina Katja Mihelic’s paper investigates the influence of family dynamics on career attitudes and decisions for both male and female employees. It specifically examines the relationship between career identity, career commitment, and self-efficacy as a moderating variable. The study finds that self-efficacy plays a significant moderating role for female employees but not for males. Among females, being married/cohabiting and having dependents in the household were identified as relevant factors that differentiated the significance of the moderating effect. In the male sample, self-efficacy only exhibited a significant effect for male employees with dependents. These findings shed light on the complex interplay between family dynamics, career identity, and selfefficacy for male and female employees.

The final paper in this issue is by Karen Feery and Edel Conway, who explore whether and how information communication technology (ICT) blurred boundaries and impacted work-family conflict (WFC) and work-family enrichment (WFE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings identify that work-related ICT use resulted in differential consequences contributing to varying levels of both WFC and WFE. They also highlight that that the role of work related ICTs in managing work-life boundaries is an important, yet complex process, and is dependent on multiple factors including behaviours, preferences and resources to enact these preferences. Their research identifies further avenues for research related to themes around remote working and WFE/WFC, and more generally exploring the influence of remote working and well-being.

We, as the co-editors of the Irish Journal of Management hope that you enjoy reading these research papers spanning contemporary management issues and practices. We would like to thank all the authors for choosing the Irish Journal of Management as the outlet for their academic scholarship. We would also like to thank the peer reviewers, who volunteer their time to supporting authors in improving their papers. These reviewers are recognised on the Irish Academy of Management website/Journal tab (https://iamireland.ie/journal/), with the list updated on a rolling basis throughout the year.

We would also like to take this opportunity to highlight other activities in which the Irish Academy of Management is involved, including an Early Career Development Network, and the 2023 Annual Conference which is being hosted in the University of Galway (22-24 August). For more information, please refer to the Irish Academy of Management website: https://iamireland.ie/2022-iam-conference-university-of-galway/. We hope to see many of you, our readers, there!

Co-editors-in-chief of the Irish Journal of Management

Dr Marian Crowley-Henry (Maynooth University, Ireland) & Professor Kristel Miller (Ulster University, Northern Ireland)