TY - JOUR

T1 - Identifying business opportunities for sustainable development

T2 - Longitudinal and experimental evidence contributing to the field of sustainable entrepreneurship

AU - Eller, Fokko-Jelto

AU - Gielnik, Michael Marcus

AU - Wimmer, Hendrik

AU - Thölke, Corinna

AU - Holzapfel, Sara

AU - Tegtmeier, Silke

AU - Halberstadt, Jantje

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Business Strategy and The Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

PY - 2020/3/1

Y1 - 2020/3/1

N2 - Which factors facilitate the identification of business opportunities for sustainable development? To answer this question, we develop a process model of sustainable opportunity identification. We argue that sustainable opportunity identification is a process with transitions from problem to solution identification and from solution to sustainable opportunity identification. Moreover, the transitions are facilitated by two factors—awareness of adverse consequences and entrepreneurial attitude—providing motivation and direction in the process. We tested our model in a field study (N = 107) and two experiments (N = 53 and N = 69). Our findings show that awareness of adverse consequences and entrepreneurial attitude influence the process of sustainable opportunity identification, explaining under which conditions people are more likely to identify business opportunities for sustainable development. Our study thus contributes to the field of sustainable entrepreneurship.

AB - Which factors facilitate the identification of business opportunities for sustainable development? To answer this question, we develop a process model of sustainable opportunity identification. We argue that sustainable opportunity identification is a process with transitions from problem to solution identification and from solution to sustainable opportunity identification. Moreover, the transitions are facilitated by two factors—awareness of adverse consequences and entrepreneurial attitude—providing motivation and direction in the process. We tested our model in a field study (N = 107) and two experiments (N = 53 and N = 69). Our findings show that awareness of adverse consequences and entrepreneurial attitude influence the process of sustainable opportunity identification, explaining under which conditions people are more likely to identify business opportunities for sustainable development. Our study thus contributes to the field of sustainable entrepreneurship.

KW - Entrepreneurship

KW - entrepreneurial attitude

KW - Business psychology

KW - adverse consequences

KW - awareness

KW - motivation

KW - opportuniy identification

KW - sustainability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077900972&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/bse.2439

DO - 10.1002/bse.2439

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 29

SP - 1387

EP - 1403

JO - Business Strategy and the Environment

JF - Business Strategy and the Environment

SN - 0964-4733

IS - 3

ER -