APS Receives Major Investment in Entrepreneurship and Psychological Science

In a significant show of interest in research on entrepreneurship and innovation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has awarded an $84,000 grant to support efforts by APS to advance and recognize field-leading work at the intersection of psychological science and entrepreneurship.  

The three-year grant more than doubles the foundation’s initial award to APS, which has funded the APS Psychological Science and Entrepreneurship Poster Award at every APS convention since 2020. In a broad sense, it “empowers APS to provide new opportunities for APS members to advance new research on a broad array of questions that improve our understanding of the human dimensions of entrepreneurship,” according to APS CEO Robert Gropp. “Support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is critical to growing the momentum in psychological science and entrepreneurship generated by the prior three years of the award and to increasing the amount of entrepreneurship-related research at the convention.” 

APS will use the funds for two programs at the 2023–2025 APS Annual Conventions: 

• The Psychological Science and Entrepreneurship Poster Award recognizes the meritorious work of student and early-career scientists related to entrepreneurship. Two research posters are selected for this award at each convention, and each poster’s lead author receives a cash prize of $1,500 and complimentary registration to the meeting. Previous recipients have been honored for research on topics including the benefits of an experimental mindset, solutions for reducing job turnover, and a potential downside of entrepreneurs’ overly optimistic business projections. The grant will also support APS’s work directly with award recipients to advance the ideas their research has inspired. 

• Professional development workshops at each convention will focus on better understanding and defining the enterprise of entrepreneurship research in psychological science; defining a collective research agenda in entrepreneurship and psychological science, including questions of application and translation; and fostering connections among scholars, especially at student and early-career stages, working in this research area. “Feedback from scholars in psychological science and entrepreneurship indicates that there are barriers that make it difficult to conduct, collaborate on, and publish research in entrepreneurship in the field of psychological science,” Gropp explained. “The workshops are aimed at better understanding these barriers, proposing solutions, and helping APS’s members conducting research in this area develop skills and network to further research in this area.” 

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, based in Kansas City, funds programs in three broad areas: education, entrepreneurship, and Kansas City civic issues. “Exploring research at the intersection of Entrepreneurship and Psychological Science is a part of the Kauffman Foundation’s strategy around broadening disciplinary focus,” Kauffman Foundation program associate, Lara Arnold, told APS. “Building connections with a wide range of disciplines conducting research relevant to entrepreneurship is important in continuing to diversify the pipeline of entrepreneurship scholars.” 

 Learn more about the foundation’s support of research on entrepreneurship. 

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