Honored for pioneering empirical research on the relationship between entrepreneurial storytelling and organizational identity in the Japanese IPO market.

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN — Associate Professor Yasutaka Jikuya of the Graduate School of International Social Sciences at Yokohama National University has been awarded the prestigious 2026 “Forum for Entrepreneurial Studies Award (Article Category)” by the Forum for Entrepreneurial Studies (Selection Committee Chair: Makoto Hirota). The formal commendation ceremony was held on Saturday, July 11, 2026, during the Forum’s annual general meeting at the Osaka Sangyo Sozokan in Osaka, Japan.

Award Background and Research Significance

The Forum for Entrepreneurial Studies is a premier Japanese academic society established to comprehensively and interdisciplinarily examine entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activities as key drivers of innovation and socio-economic progress. Established in 2007, the annual Forum for Entrepreneurial Studies Award recognizes exceptional scholarly accomplishments in entrepreneurship research across book and article categories.

The 2026 award was presented for Associate Professor Jikuya’s sole-authored paper, “Storytelling and Identity: An Empirical Analysis Using Data from the Japanese IPO Market,” published in Organizational Science (Vol. 58, No. 4, June 2025, pp. 77–91), the flagship journal of the Academic Association for Organizational Science.

The award-winning paper focuses on the interplay between narrative storytelling by entrepreneurs and organizational identity. Leveraging comprehensive empirical data from the Japanese IPO market, the study illuminates how venture firms construct meaning and articulate their organizational identity during critical milestones. The selection committee commended the paper for providing significant new theoretical and empirical insights that bridge entrepreneurship research and organizational theory.

Award & Publication Details

Award Title	2026 Forum for Entrepreneurial Studies Award (Article Category)
Awarding Body	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA | July 31 – August 4, 2026
Award Title	Forum for Entrepreneurial Studies (Selection Committee Chair: Makoto Hirota)
Paper Title	“Storytelling and Identity: An Empirical Analysis Using Data from the Japanese IPO Market”
Author	Yasutaka Jikuya (Associate Professor, Graduate School of International Social Sciences, YNU; Solo Author)
Publication	Organizational Science, Vol. 58, No. 4, pp. 77–91 (Published June 2025 by the Academic Association for Organizational Science)

Inquiries Regarding This Research:

Associate Professor Yasutaka Jikuya
Faculty / Graduate School of International Social Sciences, Yokohama National University
Tel: +81-(0)45-339-3756 | E-mail: jikuya-yasutaka-nm@ynu.ac.jp

Website: https://www.ynu.ac.jp/