Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Business Innovation and Organizational Performance

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable entrepreneurship (SE), which incorporates both social and environmental missions into economic value creation in entrepreneurial and innovative activities [1,2], is an increasingly important and growing subfield of entrepreneurship research [2–6]. Central to a critical understanding of the process and outcomes of sustainable endeavour is an appreciation of the different but related concepts of sustainability–economic, environmental, organisational, and social–that obtain within and outside organisations, networks, economies and the wider society [3,7,8].

Over the last decades, a notable amount of research—including theoretical, empirical and review papers - has been published to advance our understanding of SE. The focus of this research has been mainly centred on its conceptualisation, the process of SE and the factors that enhance and encourage it, the variegated role of technology as well as the role of entrepreneurs as agents of change who contribute to sustainable growth and development through creativity and innovation, e.g., [9–13] in a diversity of forms and ways.

Nevertheless, research into SE firm performance and elements that influence sustainable innovative behaviours and entrepreneurial contexts is still a largely underexplored topic and more research is required to shed further light on the aspects related to it within and between various economies and geographical regions see, for example, some interesting discussions in [2,14–16].

This special issue invites SE scholars to examine the process and outcome of SE activity in a more nuanced and inclusive way, considering the socio-geographical diversity and implications of their work. Some possible topics are listed below, but we welcome other relevant suggestions as well:

• To examine the role of business innovation in the pursuit of private (e.g., financial performance) and public (e.g., sustainable and environmental performance) benefits in the context of SE.
• To explore how innovative and ethical behaviour occur and are fostered/hindered by various enablers and/or barriers to achieving profit maximisation, sustainable growth and generating social benefits.
• To examine the role of individual-level (e.g., entrepreneurial ability, ethos, risk aversion), organizational-level (e.g., business strategy, knowledge-creation, leadership), institutional-level (e.g., legislation, green technology, government support, norms) as well as various other multi-level determinants in SE.
• To investigate the different conceptualisations of sustainability such as ‘farm to fork’; ‘cradle to cradle’ or the ‘circular economy’ to allow for or induce reframing entrepreneurial activity.
• To enable regional and country-level comparisons and explore the potential for cross-transfer benefits.
• To understand innovative behaviours and meanings of sustainable performance among various socio-geographical contexts and different economic and technological stages.
• To examine how business models, support the communalization of sustainability and contribution to business performance in the start, growth and success of SE.
• To investigate the role of citizens in participating in SE and influencing local decision-making that can yield long-term benefits.

References

1. Abrahamson, A. (2007). Sustainopreneurship - business with a cause: conceptualizaing entrepreneurship for sustainability. Working Paper. Linnaeus University, Kalmar. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:205051/FULLTEXT01.pdf.
2. Anand, A., Argade, P., Barkemeyer, R., Salignac, F. (2021). Trends and patterns in sustainable entrepreneurship research: A bibliometric review and research agenda. Journal of Business Venturing, 36, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2021.106092.
3. Muñoz, P., Cohen, B. (2020). Sustainable entrepreneurship research: Taking stock and looking ahead. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(3), 300-312, https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2000.
4. Haldar, S. (2019). Towards a conceptual understanding of sustainability-driven entrepreneurship. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environment Management, 26, 115701170, https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1763.
5. Gu, W., Wang, J. (2022). Research on index construction of sustainable entrepreneurship and its impact on economic growth. Journal of Business Research, 142, 266-276, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.12.060.
6. Holzmann, P., Gregori, P. (2023). The promise of digital technologies for sustainable entrepreneurship: A systematic literature review and research agenda. International Journal of Information Management, 48, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102593.
7. Belz, F.M., Binder, J.K. (2015) Sustainable entrepreneurship: A convergent process model. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(1), 1-17, https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1887.
8. Schaefer, K., Corner, P.D., Kearins, K. (2015). Social, environmental and sustainable entrepreneurship research: What is needed for sustainability-as-flourishing? Organization & Environment, 28(4), 394-413, https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026615621111.
9. Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217-226, https://doi.org/10.2307/259271.
10. Dean, T.J., & McMullen, J.S. (2007). Toward a theory of SE: Reducing environmental degradation through entrepreneurial action. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(1), 50-76, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2005.09.003.
11. Parrish, B.D. (2010). Sustainability-driven entrepreneurship: Principles of organization design. Journal of Business Venturing, 25(5), 510-523, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2009.05.005.
12. Muñoz, P., & Dimov, D. (2015). The call of the whole in understanding the development of sustainable venture. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(4), 632-654, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2014.07.012.
13. Allal-Chérif, O., Climent, J.C., Berenguer, K.J.U. (2023). Born to be sustainable: How to combine strategic disruption, open innovation, and process digitization to create a sustainable business. Journal of Business Research, 154, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113379.
14. Muñoz, P., Cohen, B. (2018). Sustainable entrepreneurship research: Taking stock and looking ahead. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(3), 300-322, https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2000.
15. Terán-Yépez, E., Marín-Carrillo, G.M., Casado-Belmonte, M., Capobianco-Uriarte, M. (2020). Sustainable entrepreneurship: Review of its evolution and new trends. Journal of Cleaner Production, 252, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119742.
16. Di Daio, A., Hassan, R., Chhabra, M., Arrigo, E., Palladino, R. (2022). Sustainable entrepreneurship impact and entrepreneurial venture life cycle: A systematic literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 378, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134469.

Prof. Dr. George Saridakis
Dr. Yanqing Lai
Dr. Rebeca I. Muñoz Torres
Prof. Jay Mitra
Guest Editors

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• sustainable entrepreneurial activity
• sustainable SMEs
• sustainable entrepreneurship in public sector
• sustainable technological innovation
• ethical leadership
• inclusive and green growth
• sustainable economic development
• sustainable micro/macro models
• heterodox environmental economics
• sustainable regional development
• firm strategic priorities
• long-term public policy