Sustainable Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Business Strategic Approach for Sustainable Development

Abstract

This paper proposes sustainable entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) as a multidimensional construct that offers researchers the possibility of empirically testing their theoretical proposals in the sustainable entrepreneurship field. The authors propose an integration of different theories. In accordance with the dynamic capabilities view, SEO is approached under an organizational paradigm of strategic orientations delimited by competitive culture and multiple orientation perspectives. Furthermore, SEO's nature is conceived at a firm-based entrepreneurship level and is based on an integrated triple bottom line sustainability. This approach is conceptualized using a categorization scheme and defined in accordance with the organizational predisposition perspective. Several research lines are proposed, all based on relational models with SEO as the key concept.

Sustainable Entrepreneurship Orientation: A Reflection on Status-Quo Research on Factors Facilitating Responsible Managerial Practices

“…These entrepreneurially-sustainable practices manifest sustainable entrepreneurship within an organization [17,36,68,71,[73][74][75][76]. While research has strongly developed over the past years, there remains a lack of consensus when it comes to classifying these sustainable entrepreneurial orientation practices.…”

“…One of these overall strategic orientations emerging out of two different strategic orientations includes SEO. Criado-Gomis et al suggest that the difficulty of implementing measures regarding sustainable development can be reduced by incorporating SEO as a strategic resource [71], which enables companies to implement triple-bottom-line objectives into their corporate culture. The combination of the decision-making and behavioural aspects of EO, with innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking [41], on the one hand, and SO with consciousness and awareness of sustainable development on the other [51], builds a unique strategic opportunity for the sustainable enterprise to be on the market's cutting edge, to grow, and to remain in business for the long haul [71].…”

“…We live in a global setting, where growth through entrepreneurship as well as the striving for and achievement of sustainable development is fostered by (supra-) national as well as local governments [71]. Attaining opportunities at the intersection of sustainable development and entrepreneurship is a major challenge for organizations throughout all levels on the global, regional, and local scales [121].…”

“…According to Covin and Slevin [39], as well as Knight [90], the sustainable behavioural aspect of entrepreneurship theory can be defined as the pro-activeness, innovativeness, and risk-taking ability of enterprises. The idea that sustainable enterprises need to be proactive, innovative, and risk-taking [17,41,91], while being aware of and conscious about the environment [51], was formerly seen as the combination of sustainable and entrepreneurial orientations, as well as the overall strategic orientation of a sustainable entrepreneurial approach [71]. At the core of SMEs lies the driving force to move forward and excel in markets, constituting the willingness and pro-activeness to go beyond borders, and discover and conquer new markets.…”

Sustainability Orientation and Entrepreneurship Orientation: Is There a Tradeoff Relationship between Them?

“…It encourages firms to ensure eeconomic, social and environmental values together [10]. A number of studies on sustainable entrepreneurship also argued that sustainable entrepreneurship can be explained with opportunity recognition and entrepreneurship [6,11]. Entrepreneurial opportunities related to environmental issues and sustainability enable promotion of entrepreneurial activities, and economic performance promotes enhancing sustainability [11].…”