Expertise

Social entrepreneurship.
The interface between the public and social sectors.
Organisational legitimacy and governance.
The development of social finance markets. 
Impact measurement and innovation.

Teaching

Overview

Dr Alex Nicholls MBA is the first tenured lecturer in social entrepreneurship appointed at the University of Oxford and was the first staff member of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship in 2004. His research interests range across several key areas within social entrepreneurship and social innovation, including: the nexus of relationships between accounting, accountability, and governance; public and social policy contexts; social investment; and Fair Trade.

Nicholls has published in a wide range of peer reviewed journals and books, including four sole authored papers in Financial Times Top 30 journals and eight book chapters. His 2009 paper on social investment won the Best Paper Award (entrepreneurship) at the British Academy of Management. In 2010, Nicholls edited a Special Edition of Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice on social entrepreneurship – the first time a top tier management journal had recognized the topic in this way. He is the General Editor of the Skoll Working Papers series and the Editor of the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship.

Research interests

Alex Nicholls’ research interests range across several key areas within social entrepreneurship and social innovation, including: the nexus of relationships between accounting, accountability, and governance; public and social policy contexts; social investment; and Fair Trade.

Research grants

Social Enterprise Investment Fund, Department of Health, £17,500, 2009-11, jointly with the Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham

Social Capital Markets, Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest, £15,000, 2006, lead academic

Social Capital Markets, Department of Trade and Industry, £30,000, 2006, lead academic

Cultural Shift Research Project (with SEEDA), £96,000, EU EQUAL Fund, 2005-7, lead academic

Organizational Legitimacy in Social Ventures, University of Oxford Research Development Grant, £39,000, 2005-6, lead academic

Health Accelerator Programme, Department of Health, £50,000, 2005-6, contributor

Books:

Book chapters:

Nicholls, A. (2011), ‘Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise’, in Edwards, M. (ed), The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society (forthcoming), Oxford University Press

Nicholls A. (2010), ‘The Functions of Measurement in Social Entrepreneurship’, in Hockerts, K., Robinson, J., and Mair, J. (eds), Values and Opportunities in Social Entrepreneurshi, Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 241-272

Nicholls, A. (2010), ‘What Gives Fair Trade It’s Right to Operate? Organizational Legitimacy and Strategic Management’, in Macdonald, K., and Marshall, S., Fair Trade, Corporate Accountability and Beyond: Experiments in Global Justice Governance Mechanisms, Ashgate, pp. 95-121

Nicholls, A., and Young, R. (2008), ‘New Preface: The Changing Landscape of Social Entrepreneurship', in Nicholls, A. (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change, Paperback Edition, Oxford University Press, pp.vii-xxiii

Nicholls, A. (2008), ‘Capturing the Performance of the Socially Entrepreneurial Organization (SEO): An Organizational Legitimacy Approach’, in Robinson, J., Mair, J., and Hockerts, K. (eds), International Perspectives on Social Entrepreneurship Research, Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 27-74

Nicholls, A. (2006), ‘Introduction: The Nature of Social Entrepreneurship', in Nicholls, A. (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change, Oxford University Press, pp. 1-35

Nicholls, A., and Cho, A. (2006), ‘Social Entrepreneurship: The Structuration of a Field’, in Nicholls, A. (ed), Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change, Oxford University Press, pp. 99-118
 Google Scholar Citation: 19.

Nicholls, A. (2006), ‘Social Entrepreneurship', in Carter, S. and Evans-Jones, D. (eds.), Enterprise and Small Business: Principles, Practice and Policy. 2nd Edition, FT Prentice Hall, pp. 220-242

Nicholls, A. (2004), ‘Social Entrepreneurship: The Emerging Landscape', in Financial Times Handbook of Management: Third Edition (2004), pp. 636-43

Journal articles:

(*Financial Times Top 40 Ranking)

Nicholls, A. (2010), ‘Fair Trade: Towards an Economics of Virtue’, Journal of Business Ethics (in press)*

Nicholls, A. (2010), ‘The Legitimacy of Social Entrepreneurship: Reflexive Isomorphism in a Pre-Paradigmatic Field’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34.4, pp. 611-633*

Nicholls A. (2010), ‘Institutionalizing Social Entrepreneurship in Regulatory Space: Reporting And Disclosure By Community Interest Companies’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35.4, pp. 394-415*

Nicholls, (2010), ‘The Institutionalization of Social Investment: The Interplay of Investment Logics and Investor Rationalities’, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 1.1, pp. 70-100
 Awarded Best Paper in Entrepreneurship by the British Academy of Management 2009

Nicholls A. (2009), ‘“We Do Good Things Don’t We?”: Blended Value Accounting In Social Entrepreneurship’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34.6-7, pp. 755-769*
 Most downloaded paper whilst the volume was in press.

Nicholls, A. (2009), ‘Learning to Walk: Social Entrepreneurship’, Innovations: Special Edition Skoll World Forum, pp. 209-222
Google Scholar Citation: 10.

Nicholls, A., and Alexander, A. (2006) ‘Rediscovering Consumer-Producer Involvement: A Network Perspective on Fair Trade Marketing in the UK ', European Journal of Marketing, 40.11-12, pp.1236-1253
 Google Scholar Citation: 14.

Nicholls, A., and Lee N. (2006) ‘Purchase Decision-Making in Fair Trade and the “Ethical Gap”', Journal of Strategic Marketing, 14, pp. 369-386
Google Scholar Citation: 11.

Nicholls, A. (2006), ‘Playing the Field: A New Approach to the Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship’, Social Enterprise Journal, 2.1, pp. 1-5
Google Scholar Citation: 10.

Nicholls, A., and Cullen, P. (2004) ‘The Child-Parent Purchase Relationship: Pester Power, Human Rights and Retail Ethics', Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 11, pp. 75-86
Google Scholar Citation: 14.

Nicholls, A. (2004), ‘Fair Trade New Product Development’, Service Industries Journal, 24.2, pp. 102-117
Google Scholar Citation: 13.

Nicholls, A (2002), ‘Strategic Options in Fair Trade Retailing', International
Journal of Retail and Distribution Management (2002), 30.1, pp. 6-17
Google Scholar Citation: 60.

Other publications:

Curtis, T., Minto, I., and Nicholls, A. (2007), Cultural Shift South East Report, available at: www.culturalshift.com/attachments/File/SEEDA_Soc_Ent_Research.pdf

Nicholls, A. (2007), What is the Future of Social Enterprise in Ethical Markets?, London, Office of The Third Sector, available at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/Research_and_statistics/
social_enterprise_research/think_pieces.aspx

Nicholls, A., and Pharoah, C. (2007), The Landscape of Social Finance, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship Research Paper, available at: http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/skoll/research/Short+papers/Short+papers.htm

Academic conferences

Peer-reviewed conference papers

‘The New Social Entrepreneurship’, Global Economic Symposium, Ploen Germany September 2009

Research Conferences Organized

International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC), co-organized with London, South Bank University (2009, 2010)

Research Colloquium on Social Entrepreneurship, co-organized with Duke University (2007, 2009, 2010)

Social Enterprise Research Conference (SERC), co-organized with Open University and London, South Bank University (2006, 2007, 2008)

Oxford Fair Trade Research Conference (2004, 2009)

Journal Editorships

General Editor Skoll Working Paper Series (Oxford)

General Editor, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship (Taylor and Francis)

Editor (with J. Gregory Dees and Sara Carter), Special Edition on Social Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (2010)

Journal Editorial Boards

Education, Knowledge, and Economy

Social Enterprise Journal

Other Honours

Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham: Honorary Fellow and Member of the Advisory Board for the Social Enterprise Cluster