Social enterprises towards a sustainable business system: A model of institutional dynamics

The versatile role of sustainable market entrepreneurs in market transformation: An intervention framework for institutional change

“…According to Randles and Laasch (2016, p. 62), this is done by (i) maintaining subject‐positions which are widely legitimate and which bridge the interests of various stakeholders; (ii) introducing new businesses practices through relational, discoursive and political means and (iii) connecting business practices with stakeholders' routines, interests and values. As such sustainable market entrepreneurs as institutional entrepreneurs are agents with an entrepreneurial skill, spirit and capabilities (Randles & Laasch, 2016; Vasquez‐Delsolar & Merino, 2021) which are of ‘critical reflexivity’ and ‘political will’ aiming to change existing institutions, while introducing new ‘public values and principles shaping actors' understandings of themselves and their relational interactions with others and with the outside world, being particularly accomplished boundary‐crossing capabilities able to bridge, re‐interpret and mediate different perspectives in novel ways’ (Randles & Laasch, 2016, p. 63). Thus, the institutional change brought by sustainable market entrepreneurs which act as institutional entrepreneurs leads to a transformation that goes beyond changing business models or business arrangement in single organizations but involves influencing others agents, collective networks and broader institutional arrangements (Schaltegger et al, 2016; Vasquez‐Delsolar & Merino, 2021) through a continuous discursive action that changes existing norms or introduces new ones at the macro‐level (Antadze & McGowan, 2017).…”

“…In this process, they predominantly encounter incentives that encourage unsustainable behaviour while being in a dilemma to decide whether to implement sustainable activities (Pacheco, Dean, et al, 2010). Under these circumstances, sustainable market entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial spirit, skills and motivation exert an influence on the institutional environment which encompasses unfavourable economic incentives and institutional barriers (Dean & McMullen, 2007; Hoogendoorn et al, 2019; Pacheco, Dean, et al, 2010; Sarasvathy & Ramesh, 2019; Vasquez‐Delsolar & Merino, 2021; York & Venkataraman, 2010) in order to transform it to a favourable one. Therefore, a process of institutional change is initiated through institutional entrepreneurship.…”

“…These effectual interventions differ per phase and may result in creating normative, cultural‐cognitive or regulatory changes in the institutional environment (see Section 4). For such changes, different skills are necessary from sustainable market entrepreneurs in the various phases (Fohim & Jolly, 2021), but less is known about the agency needed per phase or the interventions that could contribute to the envisioned transition (Antadze & McGowan, 2017; Hoogstraaten et al, 2020; Laasch, 2018; Vasquez‐Delsolar & Merino, 2021). The transition starts with Phase 1 that entails the existence of an equilibrium in which unsustainable behaviours are challenged to change as lock‐in mechanisms that reinforce path dependence create a specific direction to action (Garud et al, 2010; Newig et al, 2019; Vergne & Durand, 2010).…”

“…As such, the versatile role of sustainable market entrepreneurs will be better understood and reflected in emerging definitions of sustainable entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the understanding of the effectual undertakings of sustainable market entrepreneurs in various market transformation phases will enlighten the role of agency in institutional change (Hoogstraaten et al, 2020; Laasch, 2018) or how agency works at the landscape level to facilitate disruptive system change (Antadze & McGowan, 2017; Vasquez‐Delsolar & Merino, 2021) with an emphasis on the role of new forms of ‘economic organization in sustainability transitions’ (Vasquez‐Delsolar & Merino, 2021, p. 664). Although earlier scholarship has identified how institutional strategies undertaken by sustainable market entrepreneurs differ in different niche contexts (van Doren et al, 2020), this article generates a framework that explains institutional change based on different institutional strategies that might occur under an effectuation logic in different market transformation phases.…”

“…Third — focusing on the ‘how’—to explain the conditions that underpin this article's contribution , the foregoing nature of institutional change accomplished by sustainable entrepreneurship is discussed in relation to a sustainable market transformation framework that forms part of recent studies which are currently developing in transition research (Hoogstraaten et al, 2020; Köhler et al, 2019; Kungl & Hess, 2021; Nijhof et al, 2022; van Doren et al, 2020; Vasquez‐Delsolar & Merino, 2021). This discussion indicates the possible avenues' actions which are available to sustainable market entrepreneurs in order to reach institutional change in several phases of market transformation towards sustainability.…”