Conceptualizing the potential of entrepreneurship to shape urban sustainability transformations

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has emerged as a key element for experimentation and niche innovation in sustainability transitions. Yet, its contributions beyond this initial stage and the multi-pronged role that entrepreneurs can play in transformation processes remain elusive. In response, we conceptualize and empirically illustrate how entrepreneurs can contribute to innovations within firms and to city-wide processes of change. With insights from small- and medium-sized enterprises in European and North American cities, we develop a framework encompassing eight intervention types through which entrepreneurs shape urban sustainability transformations. We propose avenues for future research to better understand the distributed role of entrepreneurship and how it can contribute to shaping and accelerating change toward sustainability across integrated levels of urban transformations.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Luederitz, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7873-4229 Westman, L. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4599-4996 Mercado, A. Kundurpi, A. Burch, S.L.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords:	Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs); Leverage points; Systems transformations; Business sustainability; Internal business; transformations; Systems thinking; Place-based entrepreneurship
Dates:	Published: 8 February 2023 Published (online): 8 February 2023 Accepted: 31 December 2022
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Research Institutes Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	14 Feb 2023 11:45
Last Modified:	14 Feb 2023 11:45
Published Version:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s42854-023-00048-w
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1186/s42854-023-00048-w
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:196355

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Conceptualizing the potential of entrepreneurship to shape urban sustainability transformations

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