Boosting circular economy via the b-corporation roads. The effect of the entrepreneurial culture and exogenous factors on sustainability performance

Abstract

The study aims to analyze the role of informal institutions of Circular Economy (CE) as exogenous factors of improving the effectiveness of Benefit Corporation’ model. In detail, leveraging on the institution theoretical framework, it hypothesized that the level of entrepreneurial culture linked to CE at national level has a positive effect on the sustainability performance towards CE of Benefit Corporations. To this end, a sample of 301 Certified Benefit Corporations collected from the B-Lab dataset for the period 2008–2016 and located in eight European countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom) has been analysed. The findings show that the informal institutions englobed in the cultural dimensions of a country, with specific regard to the role of the entrepreneurial culture related to the CE, seems to actively stimulates the sustainability performance of Benefit Corporations towards CE, as measured through the B-Impact Assessment Score of the operated by B-Lab. The study provides some important implications for theory and practice. Indeed, it contributes to the literature on institutional theory applied to CE, revealing the effective role of informal institutions for the development of circularity and sustainability performance at firm level in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Also, the full achievement of the sustainability goals of Benefit Corporations passes also through their strongly commitment towards the CE principles. Further, the incorporation of a culture characterized by high entrepreneurial principles towards CE will likely push individuals to build an entrepreneurial mindset for the effective and sustainable development of Benefit Corporations. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11365-023-00835-8.

Sustainable Business Practices and the Role of Digital Technologies: A Cross-Regional Analysis

“…Skills and experience in sustainability-related fields are also positively associated with the development of sustainable entrepreneurship [105,106]. Another extensively studied factor is innovation, which is found to have a positive impact on the success of sustainable business operations [102,[107][108][109][110]. Furthermore, motivation, ambition, and altruistic attitudes of individuals are highlighted as significant factors in sustainable entrepreneurship [102,106,111].…”

Untitled

“…Partiendo lo comentado por Bianchi et al (2020), se enfatiza la necesidad de que estas organizaciones se enfoquen en el bienestar de la sociedad, más allá de la concepción tradicional de una "sociedad de organizaciones". Para lograrlo, se ha considerado crucial la información proporcionada por las organizaciones que promueven el movimiento de empresas B y las certificadoras (Boffa et al, 2023). Los hallazgos también han resaltado que estas empresas se identifican profundamente con su filosofía y principios, llevando a cabo una revisión interna de sus procesos y modelos de negocios para identificar un propósito social que contribuye positivamente a la sociedad y que es reconocido a través de la certificación B (Stubbs, 2017).…”

How knowledge resources drive industrial chain carbon reduction: an analysis from the knowledge management perspective

“…Knowledge management pays more attention to the sustainability of production development and takes the dissemination and application of knowledge technology as a means to achieve efficient, low-carbon and sustainable development. Knowledge management can continuously promote the innovation and application of energy-saving and emission reduction technologies, promote the improvement of production efficiency and the reduction of carbon emission pollution of the industrial chain and contribute to the sustainable development of the industrial chain (Ge and Campopiano, 2021; Khatami et al , 2022; Boffa et al , 2023). Therefore, it is necessary to use knowledge resource management as a theoretical basis (Attour and Barbaroux, 2021; Gomes et al , 2021; Madanaguli et al , 2022; Chin et al , 2023b), comprehensively analyzing the impact of knowledge resources on carbon emission reduction in the industrial chain, overcoming the traditional predatory industrial production methods, and under the influence of new technology conditions, knowledge resources will continue to promote the development of the industrial chain.…”