IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/srt/wpaper/1425.html

Sustainability, Innovation and Inclusion in the Italian Startup Ecosystem: Survey-Based Evidence from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Giulio Valerio Corbelli

    (Università degli Studi di Ferrara; SEEDS, Italy)

Abstract

This working paper investigates how Italian innovative startups integrate sustainability, innovation, and inclusion within their strategic and organizational frameworks. Drawing on a national survey of 1,000 firms registered under the Italian Start-up Act, the study examines the structural, behavioral, and perceptual dimensions of sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship. The empirical analysis combines descriptive, comparative, and multivariate methods—including hierarchical and K-means cluster analyses—to identify typologies of startups that reflect different configurations of technological intensity, environmental commitment, and inclusiveness. The results show that Italian innovative startups are predominantly small, recently founded, and highly research-oriented, with a strong concentration in knowledge-intensive sectors. Sustainability- oriented startups—those identifying as “green†or “partially green†—represent almost half of the sample. They tend to be younger, employ a higher share of R&D personnel, and meet a greater number of legal requirements for innovative status. However, gender inclusiveness remains limited: female participation among founders and managers is low, and only a minority of startups implement formal inclusion policies. Cluster analysis reveals two main archetypes: (1) Technological Mainstream startups—larger, R&D- intensive firms focused on technological performance—and (2) Sustainable and Gender- Balanced startups—smaller but more inclusive and institutionally embedded. Within the subset of sustainability-oriented firms, two additional groups emerge: Tech-Green Operative Firms, focused on eco-efficiency and technological solutions, and Sustainable & Inclusive Champions, integrating environmental, social, and economic objectives. Finally, a set of econometric models was estimated to assess whether sustainability orientation systematically predicts key performance, innovation, and perception outcomes. The results confirm that green and partially green startups display distinct behavioral and strategic patterns even after controlling for size, age, sector, and regional factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulio Valerio Corbelli, 2025. "Sustainability, Innovation and Inclusion in the Italian Startup Ecosystem: Survey-Based Evidence from Italy," SEEDS Working Papers 1425, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Dec 2025.
    • Handle: RePEc:srt:wpaper:1425
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sustainability-seeds.org/papers/RePec/srt/wpaper/1425.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2025
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.sustainability-seeds.org/papers/RePec/srt/wpaper/1425.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2025
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hockerts, Kai & Wüstenhagen, Rolf, 2010. "Greening Goliaths versus emerging Davids -- Theorizing about the role of incumbents and new entrants in sustainable entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 481-492, September.
    2. Yiannis E. Spanos & George Zaralis & Spyros Lioukas, 2004. "Strategy and industry effects on profitability: evidence from Greece," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 139-165, February.
    3. Zoltan J. Acs & Erik Stam & David B. Audretsch & Allan O’Connor, 2017. "The lineages of the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 1-10, June.
    4. Erik Stam, 2015. "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Policy: A Sympathetic Critique," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(9), pages 1759-1769, September.
    5. Cohen, Boyd & Winn, Monika I., 2007. "Market imperfections, opportunity and sustainable entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 29-49, January.
    6. Ben Spigel, 2017. "The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 49-72, January.
    7. Albort-Morant, Gema & Leal-Millán, Antonio & Cepeda-Carrión, Gabriel, 2016. "The antecedents of green innovation performance: A model of learning and capabilities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 4912-4917.
    8. Rennings, Klaus, 2000. "Redefining innovation -- eco-innovation research and the contribution from ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 319-332, February.
    9. 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.
    10. Ioanna Boulouta, 2013. "Hidden Connections: The Link Between Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 185-197, March.
    11. Klaus Rennings & Christian Rammer, 2011. "The Impact of Regulation-Driven Environmental Innovation on Innovation Success and Firm Performance," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 255-283.
    12. York, Jeffrey G. & Venkataraman, S., 2010. "The entrepreneur-environment nexus: Uncertainty, innovation, and allocation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 449-463, September.
    13. Julie Battilana & Bernard Leca & Eva Boxenbaum, 2009. "How actors change institutions : Towards a theory of institutional entrepreneurship," Post-Print hal-00576509, HAL.
    14. Horbach, Jens, 2008. "Determinants of environmental innovation--New evidence from German panel data sources," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 163-173, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Aikaterini Argyrou & Nicolas Chevrollier & Andre Nijhof, 2023. "The versatile role of sustainable market entrepreneurs in market transformation: An intervention framework for institutional change," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 259-273, January.
    2. Matthew P. Johnson & Stefan Schaltegger, 2020. "Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development: A Review and Multilevel Causal Mechanism Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(6), pages 1141-1173, November.
    3. Pankov, Susanne & Schneckenberg, Dirk & Velamuri, Vivek K., 2021. "Advocating sustainability in entrepreneurial ecosystems: Micro-level practices of sharing ventures," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    4. Christine Volkmann & Klaus Fichter & Magnus Klofsten & David B. Audretsch, 2021. "Sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: an emerging field of research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1047-1055, February.
    5. Lori DiVito & Zita Ingen-Housz, 2021. "From individual sustainability orientations to collective sustainability innovation and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1057-1072, February.
    6. Brigitte Hoogendoorn & Peter Zwan & Roy Thurik, 2019. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship: The Role of Perceived Barriers and Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(4), pages 1133-1154, July.
    7. Sanjay Chaudhary & Puneet Kaur & Hind Alofaysan & Jantje Halberstadt & Amandeep Dhir, 2023. "Connecting the dots? Entrepreneurial ecosystems and sustainable entrepreneurship as pathways to sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5935-5951, December.
    8. Susanne Pankov & Vivek K. Velamuri & Dirk Schneckenberg, 2021. "Towards sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: examining the effect of contextual factors on sustainable entrepreneurial activities in the sharing economy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1073-1095, February.
    9. Brigitte Hoogendoorn & Daniela Guerra & Peter Zwan, 2015. "What drives environmental practices of SMEs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 759-781, April.
    10. 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.
    11. Miguel-Angel Galindo-Martín & María-Soledad Castaño-Martínez & María-Teresa Méndez-Picazo, 2020. "The Relationship between Green Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, June.
    12. van Rijnsoever, Frank J., 2020. "Meeting, mating, and intermediating: How incubators can overcome weak network problems in entrepreneurial ecosystems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    13. Fahimeh Khatami & Veronica Scuotto & Norris Krueger & Valter Cantino, 2022. "The influence of the entrepreneurial ecosystem model on sustainable innovation from a macro-level lens," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1419-1451, December.
    14. Haifeng Qian & Jing Wu & Siqi Zheng, 2024. "Entrepreneurship, sustainability, and urban development," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 463-469, February.
    15. Ameer, Farah & Khan, Naveed R., 2023. "Green entrepreneurial orientation and corporate environmental performance: A systematic literature review," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 755-778.
    16. Sascha Kraus & Janina Burtscher & Christine Vallaster & Martin Angerer, 2018. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship Orientation: A Reflection on Status-Quo Research on Factors Facilitating Responsible Managerial Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    17. Marcela Contreras Cruz & Karim Messeghem & Alexis Catanzaro, 2024. "Environmental entrepreneurship: a bibliometric perspective of the field," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 451-477, March.
    18. Hoogendoorn, Brigitte & van der Zwan, Peter & Thurik, Roy, 2020. "Goal heterogeneity at start-up: are greener start-ups more innovative?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    19. Harmanpreet Singh & Pawan Kumar & Leo Paul Dana, 2025. "The green entrepreneurship landscape: drivers, outcomes, and future directions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-63, December.
    20. Matthew P. Johnson & Jacob Hörisch, 2022. "Reinforcing or counterproductive behaviors for sustainable entrepreneurship? The influence of causation and effectuation on sustainability orientation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 908-920, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:srt:wpaper:1425. 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: Alessandro Palma (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sustainability-seeds.org .

    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.