Sustainable entrepreneurship for sustainable development : communicational incentives

The sustainability of the dominant economic model based on GDP growth and consumption becomes more disputable with the COVID-19 rupture. Yet it is doubtful that the pandemic, which has caused a delay to the implementation of ecological measures and increased the global consumption of single-use plastics, will accelerate all by itself the transition to a new development model. In the post-crisis period, along with the implementation of macro-level politics designed to improve economic sustainability practices, communicational incentives for sustainable entrepreneurship may contribute to qualitative development at the triple intersection of economic-social-environmental spheres. The promotion of entrepreneurial activities that are centred around social and environmental values would be an intervention tool at the very root of sustainable development, in a different way from the incentives designed for integration of environmental and social responsibility in established businesses. In this study, we discuss the possible benefits of soft incentives (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008) which can be mobilized to promote sustainable entrepreneurship. Inspired by the transtheoretical model of change (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1982), we present soft incentive tools (incentives, use of social norms, default rules, disclosure, simplification, give feedback, affordances) for each stage of an entrepreneurial decision (pre-contemplation and contemplation; preparation and evaluation; intention) and we argue that the desired behaviour can thereby be triggered. These communication tools once identified by the present research, we plan to design an experimental study for potential candidates who will be encouraged to become sustainable entrepreneurs with social and ecological concerns. The present study, as it stands, may present suggestions for policymakers who aim to develop sustainable entrepreneurship.