IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v30y2021i3p1481-1496.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Insider perspectives on growth: Implications for a nondichotomous understanding of ‘sustainable’ and conventional entrepreneurship

Author

Listed:
  • Rita G. Klapper
  • Paul Upham
  • Richard K. Blundel

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to offer an alternative to a priori theorising in research on firm‐level growth and environmental sustainability. We outline an approach that combines John Shotter's phenomenology with post‐hoc application of the Bourdieusian concepts of habitus, practices and social capital. This is illustrated empirically through a study conducted with a small group of Finnish entrepreneurs, which examines their lived experience of growth alongside its practical application in their ventures. The entrepreneurs' responses reveal holistic perspectives on growth that extend beyond the economic to incorporate personal commitments to norms of collectivity and well‐being for themselves and others. The paper offers an exploratory but empirically grounded approach, arguing that a combination of insiders' perspectives and attention to the social embedding of economic activity challenge the dichotomous distinctions between sustainable and conventional entrepreneurship and reveal a degree of commonality that would not be evident via conventional categorisations on the basis of features such as business model type.

Suggested Citation

  • Rita G. Klapper & Paul Upham & Richard K. Blundel, 2021. "Insider perspectives on growth: Implications for a nondichotomous understanding of ‘sustainable’ and conventional entrepreneurship," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1481-1496, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:30:y:2021:i:3:p:1481-1496
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2710
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2710
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.2710?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William B. Gartner & Eveline Stam & Neil Thompson & Karen Verduyn, 2016. "Entrepreneurship as practice: grounding contemporary practice theory into entrepreneurship studies," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(9-10), pages 813-816, October.
    2. Halinen, Aino & Tornroos, Jan-Ake, 2005. "Using case methods in the study of contemporary business networks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1285-1297, September.
    3. Pablo Muñoz & Boyd Cohen, 2018. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship Research: Taking Stock and looking ahead," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 300-322, March.
    4. Chrysavgi Sklaveniti & Chris Steyaert, 2020. "Reflecting with Pierre Bourdieu: towards a reflexive outlook for practice-based studies of entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3-4), pages 313-333, March.
    5. Daniel Hjorth & Bengt Johannisson, 2008. "Building new roads for entrepreneurship research to travel by: on the work of William B. Gartner," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 341-350, December.
    6. Schmelzer,Matthias, 2016. "The Hegemony of Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107130609.
    7. Alistair R. Anderson & Sarah L. Jack, 2002. "The articulation of social capital in entrepreneurial networks: a glue or a lubricant?," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 193-210, July.
    8. Choi, David Y. & Gray, Edmund R., 2008. "Socially responsible entrepreneurs: What do they do to create and build their companies?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 341-352.
    9. Thomas Dyllick & Kai Hockerts, 2002. "Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 130-141, March.
    10. Anderson, Alistair R. & Dodd, Sarah Drakopoulou & Jack, Sarah, 2010. "Network practices and entrepreneurial growth," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 121-133, June.
    11. Macpherson, Allan & Holt, Robin, 2007. "Knowledge, learning and small firm growth: A systematic review of the evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 172-192, March.
    12. Donna Marie De Carolis & Patrick Saparito, 2006. "Social Capital, Cognition, and Entrepreneurial Opportunities: A Theoretical Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(1), pages 41-56, January.
    13. Cyron, Thomas & Zoellick, Jan Cornelius, 2018. "Business Development in Post-Growth Economies: Challenging Assumptions in the Existing Business Growth Literature," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 29(3), pages 206-229.
    14. Cardon, Melissa S. & Glauser, Michael & Murnieks, Charles Y., 2017. "Passion for what? Expanding the domains of entrepreneurial passion," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 24-32.
    15. Eugene Mazur, 2012. "Green Transformation of Small Businesses: Achieving and Going Beyond Environmental Requirements," OECD Environment Working Papers 47, OECD Publishing.
    16. Richard Thorpe & Robin Holt & Jean Clarke & Jeff Gold, 2006. "Immaturity : The Constraining of Entrepreneurship," Post-Print hal-02312347, HAL.
    17. Jean Clarke & Robin Holt & Richard Blundel, 2014. "Re-imagining the growth process: (co)-evolving metaphorical representations of entrepreneurial growth," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3-4), pages 234-256, May.
    18. Rita Klapper, 2011. "The role of social capital in French entrepreneurial networks," Post-Print hal-00678647, HAL.
    19. Champenois Claire & Vincent Lefebvre & Sébastien Ronteau, 2020. "Entrepreneurship as practice: systematic literature review of a nascent field," Post-Print hal-03718525, HAL.
    20. Claire Champenois & Vincent Lefebvre & Sébastien Ronteau, 2020. "Entrepreneurship as practice: systematic literature review of a nascent field," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3-4), pages 281-312, March.
    21. Eric Gedajlovic & Benson Honig & Curt B. Moore & G. Tyge Payne & Mike Wright, 2013. "Social Capital and Entrepreneurship: A Schema and Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(3), pages 455-478, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rimsha Makeel & Jawaria Ashraf & Fitri Rini Ariyesti & Sumran Ali, 2022. "The influence of social supportive culture and performance-based culture on social enterprise performance: the mediation role of Social entrepreneurial orientation," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 12(1), pages 205-218, December.
    2. Desirée Knoppen & Louise Knight, 2022. "Pursuing sustainability advantage: The dynamic capabilities of born sustainable firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1789-1813, May.
    3. Albérico Travassos Rosário & Ricardo Jorge Raimundo & Sandra P. Cruz, 2022. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-25, May.
    4. Francesca Ricciardi & Cecilia Rossignoli & Alessandro Zardini, 2021. "Grand challenges and entrepreneurship: Emerging issues, research streams, and theoretical landscape," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1673-1705, December.
    5. Sara Fernández‐López & David Rodeiro‐Pazos & María Jesús Rodríguez‐Gulías & Manuel Anxo Nogueira‐Moreiras, 2022. "Sustainable university entrepreneurship: Revisiting firm growth patterns," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1334-1346, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cyron, Thomas & Zoellick, Jan Cornelius, 2018. "Business Development in Post-Growth Economies: Challenging Assumptions in the Existing Business Growth Literature," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 29(3), pages 206-229.
    2. Diego Corrales-Garay & Eva-María Mora-Valentín & Marta Ortiz-de-Urbina-Criado, 2020. "Entrepreneurship Through Open Data: An Opportunity for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-25, June.
    3. Vincent Lefebvre & Miruna Radu Lefebvre & Eric Pierre Simon, 2015. "Formal entrepreneurial networks as communities of practice: a longitudinal case study," Post-Print hal-01217308, HAL.
    4. Svennevik Elisabeth M. C. & Saidi Trust, 2022. "Social innovation-as-practice: establishing a social innovation program at a university," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 17(s1), pages 402-425, October.
    5. Maria Ripollés & Andreu Blesa, 2020. "And yet, non-equity cooperative entries do improve international performance: uncovering the role of networks’ social capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 761-776, October.
    6. Maria Tunberg & Alistair R. Anderson, 2020. "Growing a small firm; experiences and managing difficult processes," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1445-1463, December.
    7. Vidit Mohan & Rohan Chinchwadkar, 2022. "Technology Business Incubation: A Literature Review and Gaps," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 53-63, June.
    8. Deller, Steven C. & Conroy, Tessa & Markeson, Bjorn, 2018. "Social capital, religion and small business activity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 365-381.
    9. Ejiogu, Amanze & Ambituuni, Ambisisi & Ejiogu, Chibuzo, 2021. "Accounting for accounting’s role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England: A Bourdieusian perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Torbjörn Ljungkvist & Jim Andersén, 2021. "A taxonomy of ecopreneurship in small manufacturing firms: A multidimensional cluster analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1374-1388, February.
    11. Desirée Knoppen & Louise Knight, 2022. "Pursuing sustainability advantage: The dynamic capabilities of born sustainable firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1789-1813, May.
    12. Patrick Gregori & Patrick Holzmann, 2022. "Entrepreneurial practices and the constitution of environmental value for sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3302-3317, November.
    13. Pindado, Emilio & Sánchez, Mercedes & Verstegen, Jos A.A.M. & Lans, Thomas, 2018. "Searching for the entrepreneurs among new entrants in European Agriculture: the role of human and social capital," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 19-30.
    14. Mendoza, Geovanny & Llopis, Juan & Gasco, Jose & Gonzalez, Reyes, 2021. "Entrepreneurship as seen by entrepreneurs in a developing country," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 547-556.
    15. Mohd Yasir Arafat & Javed Ali & Amit Kumar Dwivedi & Imran Saleem, 2020. "Social and Cognitive Aspects of Women Entrepreneurs: Evidence from India," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 45(4), pages 223-239, December.
    16. Loarne-Lemaire, Séverine Le & Bertrand, Gaël & Razgallah, Meriam & Maalaoui, Adnane & Kallmuenzer, Andreas, 2021. "Women in innovation processes as a solution to climate change: A systematic literature review and an agenda for future research," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    17. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2015. "Entrepreneurship, innovation and regional growth: a network theory," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 103-128, June.
    18. Pérez-Fernández, Héctor & Cacciotti, Gabriella & Martín-Cruz, Natalia & Delgado-García, Juan Bautista, 2022. "Are interactions between need for achievement and social networks the driving force behind entrepreneurial Intention? A trait activation story," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 65-76.
    19. Khurana, Indu & Dutta, Dev K, 2021. "From latent to emergent entrepreneurship in innovation ecosystems: The role of entrepreneurial learning," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    20. Elisabet Montoro-Fernández & Antonio Ramón Cárdenas-Gutiérrez & Antonio Bernal-Guerrero, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Resilience: A Case Study on University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-22, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:30:y:2021:i:3:p:1481-1496. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.