Exploring Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue (SI) aims to develop an agenda of research, practical, and policy contributions for the next decade on sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation management, as well as to debate the lines of action that academics and professionals should consider for the coming years.

Importance of the theme

Sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) is today widely recognized as the answer to the environmental, economic, and social challenges that society has to face (Filser et al., 2019, p. 3). The publication of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations in 2015 has not gone unnoticed. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and their 169 targets requires organizations (companies, non-profit, or state institutions) to implement effective changes towards sustainable business models. Therefore, entrepreneurs face the challenge of integrating sustainability models and concerns into their business plans. Entrepreneurs must develop their business models to solve problems from sustainability.

Sustainable entrepreneurship is an innovative process that must generate both economic and non-economic benefits and guarantee social, economic, and environmental benefits for future generations. Previous research corroborates the relevant role of innovation in addressing sustainability issues (Seebode et al., 2012; Fagerberg, 2018) and the relation with entrepreneurship (Galindo and Méndez-Picazo, 2013).

SE is based on the socio-economic concept of sustainable development and recognizes the social and ecological limitations that require that social, natural, and economic resources be used responsibly and distributed in such a way as to guarantee access to future generations. In other words, the SE calls into question the traditional dichotomous view of economic benefit at the expense of environmental and social impacts. We could say that SE implies “transforming a region into a state that is more financially and socially sustainable through the discovery along with the use of economic opportunities through the emergence of market imbalances” (Hockerts, and Wustenhagen, 2010).

Scope and purpose of the Special Issue

With this Special Issue, a call is made to all academics, professionals, and others interested in the research topic who can make contributions to knowledge in aspects related to (although not exclusively):

(a) the role of opportunities and intentions in sustainable entrepreneurship;

(b) the narratives and practice of sustainable entrepreneurship;

(c) the institutional context of sustainable entrepreneurship and the institutional work being done by SMEs;

(d) the governance and emerging business models and organizational forms of sustainable enterprises;

(e) the substance and processes of policy, education, and training required to promote values of sustainable entrepreneurship among those who own or run SMEs;

(f) the nature, challenges, and benefits of co-creative processes of knowledge exchange and creation among sustainable entrepreneurship researchers and practitioners;

(g) new thoughts and suggested future research required regarding the practice, narratives, and promotion of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation in SMEs;

(h) requirements for future work relating to new organizational forms and strategies being pursued to build markets, legitimacy, and different types of capital relevant to sustainable entrepreneurship and its governance;

(i) identifying contextual institutional and policy factors conducive to sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation and suggesting questions requiring further or future study;

(j) highlighting research questions, foci, and co-creative methodologies required to build theoretical and practical insights relevant to building better understanding of sustainable entrepreneurship.

Fagerberg, J. 2018. Mobilizing innovation for sustainability transitions: A comment on transformative innovation policy. Research Policy, 47(9), 1568-1576

Filser, S. Kraus, N. Roig-Tierno, N. Kailer, & U. Fischer. 2019. Entrepreneurship as catalyst for sustainable development: opening the black box. Sustainability, 11, p. 4503, 10.3390/su11164503

Galindo, M., & Méndez‐Picazo, M. 2013. Innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth. Management Decision, 51(3), 501-514

Seebode, D., Jeanrenaud, S., & Bessant, J. 2012. Managing innovation for sustainability. R&D Management, 42(3), 195-206

Hockerts, K., & Wüstenhagen, R. 2010. Greening Goliaths Versus Emerging Davids—Theorizing about the Role of Incumbents and New Entrants in Sustainable entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing 25(5):481-492

Prof. Dr. José Carlos Sánchez-García
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Rodrigues
Prof. Dr. Brizeida R. Hernández-Sánchez
Prof. Carla Susana Marques
Prof. Dr. Giussepina María Cardella
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• innovation management
• corporate sustainability
• sustainable entrepreneurship
• sustainable development strategy
• attitude towards sustainable entrepreneurship
• sustainable entrepreneurial intention
• entrepreneurial ecosystems
• circular economy
• evaluation of sustainable entrepreneurship
• sustainable practices
• sustainable lifestyle
• fast/slow consumption
• environmental and sustainability education
• sustainable supply chain
• sustainable development goals
• supply chain management
• knowledge management
• sustainable business models
• business management
• eco-innovation
• process innovation
• sustainable international business
• stakeholders
• product innovation
• business strategy
• business sustainability strategy
• social and environmental benefits
• sustainable social welfare