4) Practice writing an introduction
(1) Take a look at the following videos to get into the ‘introduction writing mode/mood’:
(2) Take a look at the introduction of the following articles:
Fauchart, E. & M. Gruber 2011. Darwinians, Communitarians and Missionaries: The Role of Founder Identity in Entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Journal 54: 935–957.
Kibler, E., Mandl, C., Kautonen, T. and Berger, E. 2017. Attributes of legitimate venture failure impressions. Journal of Business Venturing, 32: 145–161.
Shepherd, D.A. & Williams, T.A. 2014. Local Venturing as Compassion Organizing in the Aftermath of a Natural Disaster: The Role of Localness and Community in Reducing Suffering. Journal of Management Studies, 51: 952–994. (Can be accessed by logging in to Aalto Learning Centre)
(3) Choose at least one paper and respond to the following questions:
- How/where do the authors set a hook for their research paper?
- How/where do they (a) summarize and critique the state of the literature and (b) identify a research problem and/or knowledge gap?
- How/where do the authors explain the “so-what?”, in terms of providing the reasons for why the research problem matters respectively why it reflects an important knowledge gap to be addressed?
- How/where does the introduction explain how the paper is going to address the research problem and gap theoretically and empirically? Are these aspects sufficiently described? (Explain)
- How is the introduction in general organized (chronologically, in form of hook, summary/critique of literature, research problem/knowledge gap, rationale of “so-what”, explanation of how to address the gap, and concluding with contributions)?
- Can you think of another way to organize the same introduction?
(4) Build on your gained insights
After (a) from watching the videos, (b) reading the articles and (c) answering the questions...
...start developing the structure and content for your introduction (e.g. hook, state of the literature, critique on literature, research problem/gap, “so-what”? – what is missing and how you address the missing pieces).
Supportive Reading Material
Grant, A. M., & Pollock, T. G. 2011. Publishing in AMJ-Part 3: Setting the hook. Academy of Management Journal, 54(5), 873-879