Sustainable Entrepreneurial Process and Journey: From Education and Innovation to Green Entrepreneurship

Dear Colleagues,

The entrepreneurial process is one of the main characteristics of entrepreneurship (Shane, 2012) and the entrepreneurial journey is a description of this process in a particular background system, more often on a time scale (McMullen and Dimov, 2013). Therefore, the entrepreneurial journey is a derivative of the entrepreneurial process, referring to its dynamics (Mets, 2022). The topic of the sustainability of the entrepreneurial process and journey arises in two aspects: (1) how it ensures the sustainability of the environment and society, and (2) how the entrepreneurial process is sustainable itself in the context of the first question.

Both concepts, the entrepreneurial process and journey, are used in entrepreneurship research as a metaphor and specific concept (research construct), although the metaphorical approach is predominant in many cases, especially in the approach to the entrepreneurial journey. We invite authors to develop further applications of these concepts in sustainable entrepreneurship research.

The entrepreneurial process can take place in existing companies/organizations, but the most popular approach to this topic is in the context of New Venture Creation (NVC) (Davidsson and Gruenhagen, 2021). The entrepreneurial process is inherently non-linear and feedback-driven (Bhave, 1994). It is driven by the goals of the entrepreneur (causation approach) as well as the corrections in his/her activities considering real opportunities and the available features (effectuation) (Sarasvathy, 2008). Material and mental artefacts mark the journey towards achieving the goals (Sarasvathy, 2003; Berglund et al., 2020) and are the basis for an entrepreneur's decisions. The relevance of the decisions and the entrepreneurial process becomes evident only when launching a new venture or project.

This Special Issue welcomes articles that seek answers to how Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015) are achieved through the entrepreneurial process and what the journey to achieving these goals is, based on the ideas and opportunities the entrepreneur can meet. It is also a question of the sustainability of the entrepreneurial process both within the company and in society. The answers to these challenges link (entrepreneurship) education, science, and innovation with their application in socially responsible, environmentally friendly green new (technology) ventures.

Expected articles include the construction of theories, reviews, policies, and empirical studies. Example topics include but are not limited to:

• The sustainable entrepreneurial process.
• The entrepreneurial and innovation process in a socially responsible company.
• Sub-processes and the structure of the entrepreneurial process on the way to sustainability.
• The development of a sustainable idea and opportunity in a new green/social startup (using a specific case example).
• The development of sustainable entrepreneurship competencies in education.
• Causation and effectuation within the sustainable entrepreneurial journey.
• The commercialization of green technologies in the entrepreneurial process.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

Bhave, M.P. A process model of entrepreneurial venture creation. J. Bus. Ventur. 1994, 9(3), 223–242.

Berglund, H.; Bousfiha, M.; Mansoori, Y. Opportunities as Artifacts and Entrepreneurship as Design. Acad. Manag. Rev. 2020, 45(4), 825–846.

Davidsson, P.; Gruenhagen, J.H. Fulfilling the Process Promise: A Review and Agenda for New Venture Creation Process Research. Entrep. Theory Pract. 2020, 45(5), 1083–1118.

McMullen, J.S.; Dimov, D. Time and the entrepreneurial journey: the problems and promise of studying entrepreneurship as a process. J. Manag. Stud. 2013, 50(8), 1481–1512.

Mets, T. From the Metaphor to the Concept of the Entrepreneurial Journey in Entrepreneurship Research. Found. Trends^® Entrep. 2022, 18(6), 330–422.

Sarasvathy, S.D. Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise; Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, England, 2008.

Sarasvathy, S.D. Entrepreneurship as a science of the artificial. J. Econ. Psychol. 2003, 24(2), 203–220.

Shane, S. Reflections on the 2010 AMR decade award: Delivering on the promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Acad. Manag. Rev. 2012, 37(1), 10–20.

United Nations. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; United Nations: New York, NY, USA, 2015.

Prof. Dr. Tõnis Mets
Dr. Anne Põder
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainability
• green entrepreneurship
• social entrepreneurship
• entrepreneurial process
• entrepreneurial journey
• entrepreneurial ecosystem
• education
• new venture creation
• innovation
• commercialization R&D