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.

Education

• Ph.D. University of Colorado – Boulder, 2013
• M.B.A. Stanford University, 1993
• M.T.S. Harvard University, 1986
• B.A. Rice University, 1983

Selected Publications

Townsend, D.M., Hunt, R.A., Rady, J., Manocha, P. & Jin, J-Y. (2023). “Are the Futures Computable? Knightian Uncertainty and Artificial Intelligence.”  Academy of Management Review.

Bort, J., Wiklund, J., Lerner, D., Crawford, C. & Hunt, R.A.. (2023). “The Strategic Advantage of Impulsivity in Entrepreneurial Action: An Agent-Based Modeling Approach.” Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice.

Hunt, R.A., Manocha, P., Townsend, D.M. & Simpson, J. (2023). “Knowledge Problem Diagnosis and the Fate of Corporate Entrepreneurship Initiatives.” Journal of Business Venturing Insights.

Van Lent, W., Hunt, R.A. & Lerner, D.A. (2023). “Historiography and the Excavation of Nascent Business Venturing.”  Small Business Economics.

Schwarte, Y., Song, Y., Hunt, R.A. & Lohrke, F. (2023). “Passion as Process: Three Perspectives on Entrepreneurial Passion and an Integrated Path Forward.” Journal of Business Research.

Hunt, R.A., Lerner, D., Johnson, S., Badal, S. & Freeman, M. (2022).  “Cracks in the Wall: Entrepreneurial Action Theory and the Weakening Presumption of Intended Rationality.” Journal of Business Venturing.

Stallkamp, M., Hunt, R.A. & Schotter, A. (2022). “Scaling, Fast and Slow:  The Internationalization of Digital Ventures.” Journal of Business Research.

Hunt, R.A., Hayward, M., Song, Y., Stallkamp, M. & Townsend, D. (2022). “Getting a Foot in the Door: Trade Credit Strategies and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurial Internationalisation.” International Small Business Journal. Forthcoming. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02662426221078940

Hunt, R.A., Lerner, D. & Ortiz-Hunt, A.J. (2022) “Lassie Shrugged. The Premise and Importance of Considering Non-Human Entrepreneurial Action.” Journal of Business Venturing Insights.

Mitchell, R., Mitchell, R., Hunt, R.A., Townsend, D. & Lee, J-H.  (2022). “Stakeholder Engagement, Knowledge Problems and Ethical Challenges.” Journal of Business Ethics.

van Lent, W., Hunt, R.A. & D.A. Lerner. (2021) “Back to Which Future? Recalibrating the Time-Calibrated Narratives of Entrepreneurial Action.” Academy of Management Review.

Asgari, E., Hunt, R.A., Townsend, D., Lerner, D. & Hayward, M. (2021) “Red Giants or Black Holes? The Antecedent Conditions and Multi-Level Impacts of Star Performers.” Academy of Management Annals.

Hunt, R.A., [à]Y. Song, D.M. Townsend, & M. Stallkamp. (2021) “Internationalization of Entrepreneurial Firms: Leveraging Real Options Reasoning through Affordable Loss Logics.” Journal of Business Research. 133:194-207.

Hayward, M., Hunt, R.A. & Miller, D. (2021). “How Vulnerability Enriches Family Firm Relationships: A Social Exchange Perspective.” Journal of Family Business Strategy. 13(1): #100450.

Hunt, R.A. (2021). “Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Fate of Corporate Acquisitions.” Journal of Business Research. 

Hunt, R.A., Townsend, D. Korsgaard, S. and Naar, A.  (2021). “Urban Farmers and Cowboy Coders: Re-Imagining Rural Venturing in the 21st Century.” Academy of Management Perspectives.

Chen, J.J., Cui, C., Hunt, R.A. & Li., L (2020). “External Enablement of New Venture Creation: An Exploratory, Query-Driven Assessment of China's High-Speed Rail Expansion.” Journal of Business Venturing.

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. 38(8), 697-710.

• Holtzman Prize for Faculty Research Excellence – Virginia Tech (2020)

Hunt, R.A., Lerner, D. & Townsend, D. (2019). “Parental Endowments versus Business Acumen: Assessing the Fate of Low-Tech, Service-Sector Spinouts.” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,

Townsend, D. & Hunt, R.A. (2019). “Entrepreneurial Action, Creativity, and Judgment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” Journal of Business Venturing Insights.

Hunt, R.A., Townsend,D., Asgari. E. and Lerner, D. (2019). “Bringing It All Back Home: Corporate Venturing and Renewal through Spin-Ins.” Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice.

Hunt, R.A. & Hayward, M. (2018). "Value Creation through Employer Loans: Evidence of Informal Lending to Employees at Small, Labor-Intensive Firms." Organization Science.

Townsend, D., Hunt, R.A. McMullen, J. & Sarasvathy, S. (2018). “Uncertainty, Knowledge Problems, and Entrepreneurial Action”. Academy of Management Annals.

Hunt, R.A.,  Lerner, D. & Dimov, D. (2018). “Action! Moving Beyond the Intendedly-Rational Logics of Entrepreneurship.” Journal of Business Venturing.

Hunt, R.A., Lerner, D. & Verheul, I. (2018). “Dueling Banjos: Harmony and Discord between ADHD and Entrepreneurship.” Academy of Management Perspectives.                                                                                                        

Hunt, R.A. (2018) “An Opportunity Space Odyssey: Historical Exploration of Demand-Driven Entrepreneurial Innovation.” European Journal of Innovation Management.

Hunt, R.A. & K. Kiefer, K. (2017) “The Entrepreneurship Industry: Influences of the Goods and Services Marketed to Entrepreneurs.” Journal of Small Business Management.

Hunt, R.A. & Fund, B. (2016) “Intergenerational Fairness and the Crowding Out Effects of Well-Intended Environmental Policy.”  Journal of Management Studies.

Hunt, R.A. (2015) “Contagion Entrepreneurship: Institutional Support, Strategic Incoherence and the Social Costs of Over-Entry.” Journal of Small Business Management.

Positions Held

2020 – Present: Associate Professor [with tenure], Department of Management, Virginia Tech

2020 – Present: Associate Editor - Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

2020 – Present: Editorial Board Member - Academy of Management Review

2019 – Present: Editorial Board Member - Journal of Business Venturing

2018 – Present: Director of Doctoral Studies in Management

2018 - Present: Director of Research, Apex Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

2014 - 2020: Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Virginia Tech

Selected Honors and Awards

• Graduate Mentor of the Year – Virginia Tech (2023)
• Outstanding Doctoral Program Director - Pamplin College of Business (2023)
• USASBE Model Entrepreneurship Program Award Winner – Virginia Tech (2022)
• Holtzman Prize for Faculty Research Excellence – Virginia Tech (2022)
• Three-Time Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice Best Conceptual Paper Award– ENT Division, AoM (2017, 2019, 2021)
• Emerald Group Publishing Literati Award for Outstanding Article on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2019)
• Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice Best Conceptual Paper Award– ENT Division, AoM Atlanta (2017)
• Three-time Best Paper Prize – Sustainability, Ethics & Entrepreneurship Conference (2013, 2015, 2016)
• BCERC/Journal of Small Business Management Best Paper Award on Public Policy (2015)
• Sumantra Ghoshal Research and Practice Award (2015)