IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i19p8371-d1486274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Entrepreneurs’ Social Capital in Overcoming Business Challenges: Case Studies of Seven Greentech, Climate Tech and Agritech Startups

Author

Listed:
  • Michaela Carni

    (The Adelson School of Entrepreneurship, Reichman University, Herzliya 4610101, Israel
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Tamar Gur

    (The Adelson School of Entrepreneurship, Reichman University, Herzliya 4610101, Israel
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Yossi Maaravi

    (The Adelson School of Entrepreneurship, Reichman University, Herzliya 4610101, Israel
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

Environmental entrepreneurship has a vital role in addressing our planet’s critical environmental state by implementing innovative solutions to combat escalating environmental threats. These ventures, however, face numerous challenges, including securing initial funding, navigating technical difficulties, and gaining market acceptance, which are magnified by the pioneering nature of green innovations. Social capital is a key facilitator, enabling entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles through smart network management, trust, and strategic partnerships. This study investigates the role of social capital in mitigating the challenges faced by environmental entrepreneurs. We conducted semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs. Our findings reveal how social capital not only assists in navigating the complexities and challenges ingrained in environmental entrepreneurship but is also an inherent part of environmental venture creation. These insights emphasize the importance of social capital in advancing environmental innovation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Michaela Carni & Tamar Gur & Yossi Maaravi, 2024. "Entrepreneurs’ Social Capital in Overcoming Business Challenges: Case Studies of Seven Greentech, Climate Tech and Agritech Startups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-26, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8371-:d:1486274
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8371/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8371/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward McKeever & Alistair Anderson & Sarah Jack, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and mutuality: social capital in processes and practices," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5-6), pages 453-477, August.
    2. Crecente, Fernando & Sarabia, María & Teresa del Val, María, 2021. "Climate change policy and entrepreneurial opportunities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Luis Galindo-Pérez-de-Azpillaga & Concepción Foronda-Robles & Ana García-López, 2014. "The Value of Trust: An Analysis of Social Capital in Natural Areas," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 673-694, September.
    4. Wenjun Cai & Jibao Gu & Jianlin Wu, 2021. "How Entrepreneurship Education and Social Capital Promote Nascent Entrepreneurial Behaviours: The Mediating Roles of Entrepreneurial Passion and Self-Efficacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-11, October.
    5. Alexandre K. Magnan & Hans-Otto Pörtner & Virginie K. E. Duvat & Matthias Garschagen & Valeria A. Guinder & Zinta Zommers & Ove Hoegh-Guldberg & Jean-Pierre Gattuso, 2021. "Estimating the global risk of anthropogenic climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(10), pages 879-885, October.
    6. Ivar Kolstad & Arne Wiig, 2013. "Is It Both What You Know And Who You Know? Human Capital, Social Capital And Entrepreneurial Success," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(5), pages 626-639, July.
    7. Jelena Randjelovic & Anastasia R. O'Rourke & Renato J. Orsato, 2003. "The emergence of green venture capital," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 240-253, July.
    8. Stam, Wouter & Arzlanian, Souren & Elfring, Tom, 2014. "Social capital of entrepreneurs and small firm performance: A meta-analysis of contextual and methodological moderators," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 152-173.
    9. Chris Stokel-Walker, 2023. "ChatGPT listed as author on research papers: many scientists disapprove," Nature, Nature, vol. 613(7945), pages 620-621, January.
    10. Juanita Álvarez Jaramillo & Jhon Wilder Zartha Sossa & Gina Lía Orozco Mendoza, 2019. "Barriers to sustainability for small and medium enterprises in the framework of sustainable development—Literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 512-524, May.
    11. Lu Xin & Fangcheng Tang & Shuwei Zhang & Zhen Pan, 2020. "Social Capital and Sustainable Innovation in Small Businesses: Investigating the Role of Absorptive Capacity, Marketing Capability and Organizational Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, May.
    12. Irene Daskalopoulou & Athanasia Karakitsiou & Zafeirios Thomakis, 2023. "Social Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: A Review of Impact Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-29, March.
    13. J. Christopher Zimmer & Raymond M. Henry, 2017. "The role of social capital in selecting interpersonal information sources," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(1), pages 5-21, January.
    14. Yuan Li & Haowen Chen & Yi Liu & Mike Peng, 2014. "Managerial ties, organizational learning, and opportunity capture: A social capital perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 271-291, March.
    15. Adel Ghodbane & Abdullah Alwehabie, 2023. "Academic Entrepreneurial Support, Social Capital, and Green Entrepreneurial Intention: Does Psychological Capital Matter for Young Saudi Graduates?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-21, August.
    16. Juma, Calestous, 2016. "Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190467036.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hadjielias, Elias & Dada, Olufunmilola (Lola) & Eliades, Kostas, 2021. "Entrepreneurial process in international multiunit franchise outlets: A social capital perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 13-28.
    2. Diana Escandon-Barbosa & David Urbano-Pulido & Andrea Hurtado-Ayala, 2019. "Exploring the Relationship between Formal and Informal Institutions, Social Capital, and Entrepreneurial Activity in Developing and Developed Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Deller, Steven C. & Conroy, Tessa & Markeson, Bjorn, 2018. "Social capital, religion and small business activity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 365-381.
    4. Gang Wang & Linwei Li & Xu Jiang, 2019. "Entrepreneurial Business Ties and New Venture Growth: The Mediating Role of Resource Acquiring, Bundling and Leveraging," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Liu, Chih-Hsing Sam, 2018. "Examining social capital, organizational learning and knowledge transfer in cultural and creative industries of practice," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 258-270.
    6. Zhao, Hongxin & Lu, Jiangyong, 2016. "Contingent value of political capital in bank loan acquisition: Evidence from founder-controlled private enterprises in China," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 153-174.
    7. Sahasranamam, Sreevas & Nandakumar, M.K., 2020. "Individual capital and social entrepreneurship: Role of formal institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 104-117.
    8. Tarryn Kille & Retha Wiesner & Seung-Yong Lee & Melissa Johnson Morgan & Jane Summers & Daniel Davoodian, 2022. "Capital Factors Influencing Rural, Regional and Remote Women’s Entrepreneurship Development: An Australian Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-25, December.
    9. Wenqing Wu & Hongxin Wang & Yenchun Jim Wu, 2021. "Internal and external networks, and incubatees’ performance in dynamic environments: entrepreneurial learning’s mediating effect," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(6), pages 1707-1733, December.
    10. Se-Yeon Ahn & So-Hyung Kim, 2017. "What Makes Firms Innovative? The Role of Social Capital in Corporate Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-13, September.
    11. Sahasranamam, Sreevas & Nandakumar, M.K. & Pereira, Vijay & Temouri, Yama, 2021. "Knowledge capital in social and commercial entrepreneurship: Investigating the role of informal institutions," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    12. German Arana‐Landin & Waleska Sigüenza & Beñat Landeta‐Manzano & Iker Laskurain‐Iturbe, 2024. "Circular economy: On the road to ISO 59000 family of standards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 1977-2009, May.
    13. Baier-Fuentes, Hugo & Andrade-Valbuena, Nelson A. & Huertas Gonzalez-Serrano, Maria & Gaviria-Marin, Magaly, 2023. "Bricolage as an effective tool for the survival of owner-managed SMEs during crises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    14. Leif Brändle & Helen Signer & Andreas Kuckertz, 2023. "Socioeconomic status and entrepreneurial networking responses to the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 111-147, January.
    15. Tomasz Jałowiec & Henryk Wojtaszek, 2021. "Analysis of the RES Potential in Accordance with the Energy Policy of the European Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-33, September.
    16. Konstantinos Matakos & Dimitrios Minos & Ari Perdana & Elizabeth Radin, 2022. "“Dragon boating” alone? Community ties and systemic income shocks," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 55-81, January.
    17. Lena I. Fuldauer & Scott Thacker & Robyn A. Haggis & Francesco Fuso-Nerini & Robert J. Nicholls & Jim W. Hall, 2022. "Targeting climate adaptation to safeguard and advance the Sustainable Development Goals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    18. Nikola Rosecká & Ondřej Machek, 2023. "How Relational Conflict Harms Family Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Family Social Capital and the Moderating Role of Family Ownership," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 854-869, December.
    19. Saurabh A. Lall & Li-Wei Chen & Dyana P. Mason, 2023. "Digital platforms and entrepreneurial support: a field experiment in online mentoring," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 631-654, August.
    20. Aldona Glińska-Neweś & Joanna Górka, 2020. "Capabilities of Corporate Volunteering in Strengthening Social Capital," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-11, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8371-:d:1486274. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.