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Opportunity identification for sustainable entrepreneurship: Exploring the interplay of individual and context level factors in India

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  • Padmaja Argade
  • Fanny Salignac
  • Ralf Barkemeyer

Abstract

Sustainable entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly established topic within the entrepreneurship literature. The phenomenon of businesses incorporating social and environmental agendas within their core activities has gathered an increasing academic interest. However, few empirical studies have explored the stage of opportunity identification in the sustainable entrepreneurship process in a more systematic manner, even more so in non‐Western contexts such as India. We structure our analysis using a framework situated in the conventional entrepreneurship literature and the literature on National Business Systems (NBS). We conduct a qualitative study to explore the motivations of Indian sustainable entrepreneurs in two sectors: sustainable energy and ethical clothing. While we find that the conventional entrepreneurship based framework provides crucial insights to understand opportunity identification within sustainable entrepreneurship, we also observe a number of features unique to sustainable entrepreneurship in the Indian context—including the personal backgrounds of the participants as well as prioritization of motivational factors. Importantly, we find notable within‐country variation in the contextual factors that appear to shape motivational dynamics. In the words of one participant, “there are many Indias” rather than one monolithic approach to sustainable entrepreneurship in India.

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  • Padmaja Argade & Fanny Salignac & Ralf Barkemeyer, 2021. "Opportunity identification for sustainable entrepreneurship: Exploring the interplay of individual and context level factors in India," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3528-3551, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:30:y:2021:i:8:p:3528-3551
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2818
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    2. 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.
    3. Kevin Reuther & Yngve Dahle & Carolin Schmidt & Franziska Schösser, 2023. "Motivational Facets of Sustainable Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Sebastian Hinderer & Andreas Kuckertz, 2022. "The bioeconomy transformation as an external enabler of sustainable entrepreneurship," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 2947-2963, November.
    5. Hellen Lillian Atieno Dawo & Thomas B. Long & Gjalt de Jong, 2023. "Sustainable entrepreneurship and legitimacy building in protected areas: Overcoming distinctive barriers through activism," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 72-95, January.
    6. Maria Urbaniec & Mariusz Sołtysik & Anna Prusak & Konrad Kułakowski & Magdalena Wojnarowska, 2022. "Fostering sustainable entrepreneurship by business strategies: An explorative approach in the bioeconomy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 251-267, January.

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