Environmental entrepreneurship as a multi‐component and dynamic construct: Duality of goals, environmental agency, and environmental value creation

Abstract

Environmental entrepreneurship (EE) is a scholarly field that has gained traction in recent years under the premise that it might represent a solution to pressing environmental grand challenges. Despite substantial advances in recent decades, the field still lacks consensus on the conceptualization of EE. The lack of a settled and unified notion of EE hinders the progress of the field because it challenges EE’s legitimacy, hampers theoretical development, creates measurement, and empirical problems. In this study, we aim to provide an integrative theoretical conceptualization of EE that can help build bridges between fragmented views of the phenomenon. First, we perform a systematic literature review to identify existing definitions of EE, and second, we follow an inductive approach to analyze them. Drawing on past definitions, we propose EE as a multi‐component and dynamic construct that consists of three interrelated core components: duality of goals, environmental agency, and environmental value creation. This conceptualization of EE might help connect the fragmented literature and build internal coherence, and it could be instrumental to further developing the current theoretical approaches that inform the phenomenon.

Who really cares about the environment? CEOs’ military service experience and firms’ investment in environmental protection

“…Our study not only validates the efficacy of imprinting theory in explaining individual and organizational behavior but also contributes to the existing literature on the antecedents of firms' environmental performance and voluntary pro-environmental behaviors. This study joins a growing body of literature that emphasizes the role of the CEO in the firm's environmental performance and pro-environmental behaviors (e.g., Antolin-Lopez et al, 2019;Berrone et al, 2010;Berrone & Gomez-Mejia, 2009;Rivera & Leon, 2005;Walls & Berrone, 2015;Wang et al, 2018).…”

“…As a firm's strategies and behaviors tend to reflect its top executives’ cognitive bases and values (Hambrick & Mason, 1984), prior literature has also documented the significant role of the CEO in the firm's environmental performance or voluntary pro‐environmental behaviors. For example, research has found that the characteristics of CEOs, including pay (Berrone & Gomez‐Mejia, 2009), ownership (Berrone et al., 2010), education (Rivera & Leon, 2005), environmental expertise (Rivera & Leon, 2005), power (Walls & Berrone, 2015), political connection (Wang et al., 2018), and entrepreneurial mindset (Antolin‐Lopez et al., 2019), are all associated with firms’ environmental performance or pro‐environmental behaviors. Despite those endeavors, however, our knowledge about what types of CEOs may have pro‐environmental cognitive bases or values and where such cognitive values may come from remains rather limited.…”

Motivations for Environmental Alliances: Generating and Internalizing Environmental and Knowledge Value

“…Environmental value is often regarded as gains in environmental efficiency such as more efficient use of resources as well as eco‐effectiveness, which is described as a positive effect beyond efficiency gains (Antolin‐Lopez et al . 2019; Volery 2002). Examples of initiatives that lead to environmental value creation are reforestation programmes, carbon emission neutralization programmes, use of raw materials from renewable sources and investments in preservation and environmental education (Eidelwein et al .…”

Spatial Evolution of the Effects of Urban Heat Island on Residents' Health

“…The frequency of extreme weather events has increased along with global warming, causing a series of serious effects on human health, especially on urban residents [1,2]. By 2050, 6.252 billion people will be living in cities around the world.…”