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From the Editor

The Journal of Business Strategy continues to make great strides to assist authors and researchers in the area 
of small business and entrepreneurship.  In 2015, JSBS transitioned to an all-inclusive online format which gives 
access to all of our exceptional articles for anyone seeking quality research. This format also gives our authors the 
assurance that their articles can be easily located, downloaded, and utilized for further research in their areas.  As 
a result of this transition, article citations continue to increase as do our quality submissions.

Beginning with this issue, an important attribute of our journal is changing significantly.  After 27 years of 
relatively no changes to the article layout, which served us well while a print-only journal, the article layout has 
changed significantly.  Most researchers download a single article for reference while conducting research.  There-
fore, necessary changes were made to the article layout in order to facilitate this type of access.  

This issue highlights the new article layout.  Now, when a researcher downloads an article, all of the necessary 
article information is included on the first page of the article.  This includes the title, authors, author affiliations, 
journal name, keywords, volume and issue number, year, and page numbers.  In addition, the article reference in 
APA format is included at the bottom of the page.  Our goal is to make the Journal of Small Business Strategy the 
first place researchers look for support regarding small business and entrepreneurship literature.  We hope you 
like the update!

Contributions to this issue

This issue begins with an examination of consumer shopping motivations and how these differ across individ-
uals. The results indicate that there are specific directions in marketing that should be addressed when reaching 
customers in small-town locations.  This is followed by an excellent article addressing an interesting characteristic 
of entrepreneurs, overconfidence, and the willingness or aversion to changing incorrect beliefs in individuals who 
are overconfident in their new venture.  

The following article is one of the first to empirically address diversification in small firms in light of the owner-
ship structure of the firm.  Specifically, this research addresses the small firm and whether or not that small firm 
has a corporate parent.  The fourth article focuses primarily on small firms with an examination of innovation in 
those firms and the owner’s perception of the firm as either a family firm or non-family firm.  Finally, the fifth ar-
ticle presents a legitimacy threshold scale for new ventures.  Since the perceived legitimacy of the firm is of vital 
importance for judgments by key stakeholders, this scale should be beneficial for a great deal of future research.

Thank you!

As always, I would like to say, “Thank You!” Thank you for your continued submissions of high-quality articles 
and for continuing to utilize the Journal of Small Business Strategy in your own research.  Thank you for sharing 
JSBS articles with your colleagues and suggesting articles from JSBS in your article reviews for other journals.  The 
Journal of Small Business Strategy is your journal!

William C. McDowell
Editor-in-Chief