Richard A. Hunt

Research and Teaching Interests

Dr. Hunt examines the intersection of strategy, entrepreneurship and innovation, including new sector formation, market entry and early-stage operational behavior. He employs novel datasets and methods, using transactions, cliometric analysis, natural experiments, complete populations and event histories in developing a meso-strategic perspective that aims to make micro perspectives more intelligible and macro perspectives more veridical. Through these methods and conceptual frameworks, it is his goal to generate research that is provocative and useful to both scholars and practitioners.

Selected Publications

• Hunt, R.A. (2020). “Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Fate of Corporate Acquisitions.” Journal of Business Research.  Accepted.
• *Chen, J.J., *C. Cui, *R.A. Hunt, & *L.S. Li. (2020). “External Enablement of New Venture Creation: An Exploratory, Query-Driven Assessment of China's High-Speed Rail Expansion.” Journal of Business Venturing. Accepted.  * Equal contribution
• Korsgaard, S., R.A. Hunt, D.M. Townsend and M. Ingstrup. (2020). “Covid-19 and the Importance of Space in Entrepreneurship Research and Policy.” International Small Business Journal. Accepted
• Mitchell, R., R. Mitchell, R.A. Hunt, D. M. Townsend and J.H. Lee.  (2020). “Stakeholder Engagement, Knowledge Problems and Ethical Challenges.” Journal of Business Ethics. Accepted.
• Kiefer, K., J. Miller, and R.A. Hunt. (2020). “Multi-Level Considerations in Executive Organizational Transfer.” Human Resource Management Review. Accepted.
• Saleh, S.H. and R.A. Hunt. (2020), "The Role of Heuristics and Biases in Entrepreneurial Decision-making When Creativity is a Necessity", Caputo and Pellegrini. (Ed.)  Entrepreneurial Behaviour: Unveiling the Cognitive and Emotional Aspect of Entrepreneurship, Emerald Publishing.
• Hunt, R.A., D.M. Townsend, and P. Manocha. (2020) “Entrepreneurial Action Theory and the Uncertainty-bearing Thesis of Entrepreneurial Action in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” In Ozkazanc-Pan (ed.) Modern Classics in Entrepreneurship Studies. Palgrave-McMillan.
• *Hunt, R.A. and *D.M. Townsend. (2020). “Barriers on the Road to Commensurability: The Impact of Binary Oppositions and Ceremonial Citations on Knowledge Accumulation in Entrepreneurship Research.” Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 40. * Equal contribution
• Yan, J., D. Williams, and R.A. Hunt. (2020). A Real Options Perspective on the Pattern and Process of Entrepreneurial Firms Internationalization. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 40.
• Ortiz-Hunt, A.B., R.A. Hunt, and D.A. Lerner. (2019). “Sustainable human healthcare: The centrality of intrapreneurial nurses.” Best Paper Proceedings of the Seventy-ninth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management.
  
• Hunt, R.A., D.M. Townsend, S. Korsgaard and A. Naar.  (2019). “Urban Farmers and Cowboy Coders: Re-Imagining Rural Venturing in the 21st Century.” Academy of Management Perspectives. Accepted.
• Hunt, R.A., D. Lerner and D.M. Townsend. (2019). “Parental Endowments versus Business Acumen: Assessing the Fate of Low-Tech, Service-Sector Spinouts.” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 13(4) 478-506.
• Townsend, D. and R.A. Hunt. (2019). “Entrepreneurial Action, Creativity, and Judgment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” Journal of Business Venturing Insights. 11, e00126.
• Hunt, R.A., D. Townsend, E. Asgari. and D. Lerner. (2019). “Bringing It All Back Home: Corporate Venturing and Renewal through Spin-Ins.” Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 43(6): 1166-1193.
• Hunt, R.A., D. Townsend, E. Asgari and D. Lerner. (2018). “Bringing It All Back Home: Corporate Venturing and Renewal through Spin-Ins.” Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice. In Print.
• Hunt, R.A. and M.L.A. Hayward. (2018). "Value Creation through Employer Loans: Evidence of Informal Lending to Employees at Small, Labor-Intensive Firms." Organization Science. 29(2), 284–303.
• Townsend, D., R.A. Hunt, J. McMullen and S. Sarasvathy. (2018). “Uncertainty, Knowledge Problems, and Entrepreneurial Action”. Academy of Management Annals. 12(2):1-29.
• *Hunt, R.A., *D.A. Lerner, and I. Verheul. (2018). “Dueling Banjos: Harmony and Discord between ADHD and Entrepreneurship.” Academy of Management Perspectives. 32(2): 266-286. *equal contribution
• *Lerner, D.A., *R.A. Hunt, and D. Dimov. (2018). “Action! Moving Beyond the Intendedly-Rational Logics of Entrepreneurship.” Journal of Business Venturing. 33(1): 52-69.   *equal contribution
• Hunt, R.A. (2018) “An Opportunity Space Odyssey: Historical Exploration of Demand-Driven Entrepreneurial Innovation.” European Journal of Innovation Management. 21(2): 250-273.
• Townsend, D. and R.A. Hunt. (2018) “Crowdfunding and the Digitization of Early-Stage Finance: Opportunities and Challenges for Entrepreneurial Ventures”. In A. Parhankangas (ed.) Handbook of Research on Crowdfunding. New York: Routledge.
• Hunt, R.A. and L.L. Ortiz-Hunt. (2018) “Deinstitutionalization Through Business Model Evolution: Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa.” In L. Mura (ed.)  Entrepreneurship - Development Tendencies and Empirical Approach. Rijeka, Croatia: InTech.
• Kiefer, K. and R.A. Hunt. (2018) “Whose Hype Matters? The Battle for Value Creation in Contemporary Financial Communications.” In A. Laskin (ed.), Handbook of Financial Communication and Investor Relations. New York: Wiley.
• Hunt, R.A. and K. Kiefer. (2017) “The Entrepreneurship Industry: Influences of the Goods and Services Marketed to Entrepreneurs.” Journal of Small Business Management. 55(S1): 231-255
• Hunt, R.A. and L.L. Ortiz-Hunt. (2017) “Entrepreneurial Round Tripping: The Benefits of Newness and Smallness in Multi-Directional Value Creation”. Management Decision, 55(3): 491-511.
• Lerner, D., R.A. Hunt and D. Dimov. (2017) “Following the Muse: Non-Deliberative, Unreasoned Nascent-Stage Venturing”. In Guclu Atinc (Ed.) Best Paper Proceedings of the Seventy-seventh Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management.
• Hunt, R.A. and B. Fund. (2016) “Intergenerational Fairness and the Crowding Out Effects of Well-Intended Environmental Policy.”  Journal of Management Studies, 53(5): 878-910.
• Hunt, R.A. (2015) “Contagion Entrepreneurship: Institutional Support, Strategic Incoherence and the Social Costs of Over-Entry.” Journal of Small Business Management. 53(10): 5 - 29.
• Hunt, R.A. and Y. Song. (2015) “Internationalizing Entrepreneurs: Bridging Real Options Reasoning and Affordable Loss Logics.” In John Humphreys (Ed.), Best Paper Proceedings of the Seventy-fifth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. Online ISSN: 2151-6561.
• Hunt, R.A. and K. Kiefer. (2015) “The Entrepreneurship Industry: Influences of the Goods and Services Marketed to Entrepreneurs.” In John Humphreys (Ed.), Best Paper Proceedings of the Seventy-fifth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. Online ISSN: 2151-6561.
• Ortiz-Hunt, L.L. and R.A. Hunt. (2015) “Entrepreneurial Round Tripping: The Benefits of Newness and Smallness in Multi-Directional Value Creation”. Full Paper published in Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 35.
• Hunt, R.A. and E. Asgari. (2015) “The Curious Case of Corporate Spin-ins: Generating Profits or Problems?” Full Paper published in Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 35.
• Hunt, R.A. and B.R. Fund. (2015) “Crowding Out Effects of Well-Intended Environmental Policies.” Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 35(11): 1-15.
• Hunt, R.A. (2013) “Entrepreneurial Tweaking: Technology Diffusion through Secondary Inventions and Design Modifications by Start-Ups.” European Journal of Innovation Management, 16 (2): 148 – 170.
• Hunt, R.A. (2013) “Priming The Pump: Demand-side Drivers of Entrepreneurial Activity.” Full Paper published in Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 33(14): 472-487.
• Hunt, R.A. and B.R. Fund. (2012) “Entrepreneurship through Acquisition: Financing the Revitalization of Existing Business Systems.” Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, 16 (1): 29 - 56.
• Hunt, R.A. and K. Kiefer. (2012) “Parity, Paternalism and Peonage in the Informal Economy.” Best Paper Proceedings of the Academy of Management, doi:10.5465/AMBPP 2015 (50).
• Hunt, R.A. and D. Lerner. (2012) “Reassessing the Entrepreneurial Spinoff Performance Advantage: A Natural Experiment Involving a Complete Population.” Full Paper published in Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 32 (12): 468 – 482.

Positions Held

• 2018 - Present: Director of Research, Apex Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
  
• 2014 - Present: Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Virginia Tech
• 2013 - 2014: Research Fellow, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado-Boulder
  
• 2011 - 2013: Lecturer in Strategy and Entrepreneurship, University of Colorado-Boulder

Selected Honors and Awards

• Journal of Management/SMA Best Paper Award -- ENT Division of SMA (2020)
• Emerald Group Publishing Literati Award for Outstanding Article on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2019)
• Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice Best Conceptual Paper Award– ENT Division, AoM Boston (2019)
• Health Care Management Review Best Theory-to-Practice Paper Award– HCM Division, AoM Boston (2019)
• Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice Best Conceptual Paper Award– ENT Division, AoM Atlanta (2017)
• Strategic Management Society Best Conference Paper Award Finalist - Houston (2017)
• Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings - (ENT Division) – Atlanta (2017)
• Pamplin College of Business - Outstanding Teaching Award – Virginia Tech (2017)
• Best Paper Prize – Sustainability, Ethics & Entrepreneurship Conference (2016)
• Holtzman Prize for Faculty Research Excellence – Virginia Tech (2016)
• BCERC/Journal of Small Business Management Best Paper Award on Public Policy (2015)
• NFIB Outstanding Dissertation Award Winner – (ENT Division) Academy of Management (2014)
• Best Paper Prize – Sustainability, Ethics & Entrepreneurship Conference (2014)
• Best Published Article Award on Innovation/Entrepreneurship by Emerald Group Publications (2014)
• Ronald B. Shuman Best Paper Award (MH Division) AoM – Orlando (2013)
• Strategic Management Society Best PhD Paper Prize - Prague (2012)
• Sumantra Ghoshal Research and Practice Award (BPS Division) AoM – Boston (2012)
• Best PhD Paper Award (Research Methods Division) AoM – Boston (2012)