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Walking the tightrope and stirring things up: Exploring the institutional work of sustainable entrepreneurs

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  • Daniel Arenas
  • Marta Strumińska‐Kutra
  • Paolo Landoni

Abstract

Sustainable entrepreneurs (SEs) operate under different institutional pressures, but they also aim to provoke changes in their institutional environment in order to advance the goals of sustainability. These changes are not always large‐scale, successful transformations. This article adopts the concept of institutional work to explore how SEs engage in purposive, mundane activities to both fit in and influence the prevailing institutional environment. In particular, our findings allow us to introduce and discuss four specific types of work: making sustainability convenient, politicizing economic action, maneuvering around regulation, and relational work. At the end, we suggest that SEs may find themselves in a situation where they aim to transform the prevailing commercial institutional logic in order to promote sustainability goals while also trying to adapt to, and hence reproducing, this same logic they would like to transform.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Arenas & Marta Strumińska‐Kutra & Paolo Landoni, 2020. "Walking the tightrope and stirring things up: Exploring the institutional work of sustainable entrepreneurs," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3055-3071, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:29:y:2020:i:8:p:3055-3071
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2557
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    2. Hota, Pradeep Kumar & Bhatt, Babita & Qureshi, Israr, 2023. "Institutional work to navigate ethical dilemmas: Evidence from a social enterprise," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(1).
    3. Camilla Chlebna & Jannika Mattes, 2024. "This paper explores the dynamics that result in the entrenched positions that can be empirically observed in regions in the context of energy transition. We conduct our analysis along the concept of s," GEIST - Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 2024(01), GEIST Working Paper Series.
    4. Aikaterini Argyrou & Nicolas Chevrollier & Andre Nijhof, 2023. "The versatile role of sustainable market entrepreneurs in market transformation: An intervention framework for institutional change," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 259-273, January.
    5. Patrick Gregori & Patrick Holzmann, 2022. "Entrepreneurial practices and the constitution of environmental value for sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3302-3317, November.
    6. Brandon H. Lee & Panayiotis Panikos Georgallis & Jeroen Struben, 2022. "Sustainable entrepreneurship under market uncertainty," Post-Print hal-04325583, HAL.

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