This thesis explores how mechanisms on the individual and social level influence the attractiveness and the success of environmental entrepreneurship. In the first chapter, we compare environmental and conventional entrepreneurs in a qualitative multi-case study. Our results about the activist or opportunist nature of different environmental entrepreneurs provide insights for initiatives that intend to foster environmental entrepreneurship, regarding the need to adapt their policies and programs to the type of environmental entrepreneur. The second chapter provides an overview of the individual and social-level drivers and hindrances of environmental entrepreneurship. We complement the extant knowledge about environmental entrepreneurs and their stakeholders with literature about environmental attitudes, behavior, social norms, and legitimacy. Our resulting conceptual model explains how environmental entrepreneurship can be fostered and hindered through the individual and social valuation of environmental value. In the third chapter, we use an experiment to test whether several different forms of awareness of environmental problems lead to environmental entrepreneurial intent. The findings clarify that only public and not personal awareness have a positive effect on environmental entrepreneurial intent, which enables institutions that seek to foster environmental entrepreneurship to promote it in an effective way.
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Cette thèse explore la manière dont les mécanismes au niveau individuel et social influencent l'attrait et le succès de l'entrepreneuriat environnemental. Dans le premier chapitre, nous comparons les entrepreneurs environnementaux et conventionnels dans une étude qualitative multi-cas. Nos résultats concernant la nature activiste ou opportuniste des différents entrepreneurs environnementaux donnent des indications aux initiatives qui visent à encourager l'entrepreneuriat environnemental, concernant la nécessité d'adapter leurs politiques et leurs programmes au type d'entrepreneur environnemental. Le deuxième chapitre donne un aperçu des moteurs et des obstacles individuels et sociaux de l'entrepreneuriat environnemental. Nous complétons les connaissances existantes sur les entrepreneurs environnementaux et leurs parties prenantes par de la documentation sur les attitudes, les comportements, les normes sociales et la légitimité en matière d'environnement. Le modèle conceptuel qui en résulte explique comment l'entrepreneuriat environnemental peut être encouragé et entravé par l'évaluation individuelle et sociale de la valeur environnementale. Dans le troisième chapitre, nous utilisons une expérience pour tester si plusieurs formes différentes de sensibilisation aux problèmes environnementaux conduisent à l'intention d'entreprendre dans le domaine de l'environnement. Les résultats montrent que seule la sensibilisation publique, et non la sensibilisation personnelle, a un effet positif sur l'intention d'entreprendre dans le domaine de l'environnement, ce qui permet aux institutions qui cherchent à encourager l'esprit d'entreprise dans le domaine de l'environnement de le promouvoir de manière efficace.
Chapter 1: Activists or Opportunists? – When Environmental Entrepreneurs Transform Society
Despite being a potential solution for the world’s most pressing issues, environmental entrepreneurship remains fairly unexplored and it is unclear how the concept differs from conventional entrepreneurship. Our exploratory multi-case study empirically validates the theoretical assumption of the differences between conventional and environmental entrepreneurs, by investigating and comparing their motivations, goals, and difficulties. We find that all entrepreneurs can be clustered on a continuum between activist and opportunist, conventional entrepreneurs being on the opportunist side and environmental entrepreneurs being rather on the activist side, but more dispersed across the continuum. A key difference between the two types is that opportunists serve existing market needs, while activists aim at educating their customers, or even society. These findings contribute to the delineation of the concept of environmental entrepreneurship and provide practical insights on how to purposefully support environmental entrepreneurs and alleviate roadblocks for the ecological transition.
Chapter 2: How can environmental entrepreneurship reach its full potential? An investigation of the drivers and hindrances at the individual and social level
Environmental entrepreneurship has considerable potential for generating positive environmental impact. Extant research about the factors driving its attractiveness and success has mainly been focused on economic factors, while the crucial role of individual and social factors has often been obscured by the multitude of interrelated factors that are at work simultaneously. In this paper, we disentangle the individual and social mechanisms driving and hindering the attractiveness and the success of environmental entrepreneurship and summarize them in a conceptual model. We complement the extant knowledge about environmental entrepreneurs and their stakeholders with literature about environmental attitudes, behavior, social norms, and legitimacy. We find that especially the individual and social valuation of environmental value play a crucial, yet unarticulated role for environmental entrepreneurship. Our insights contribute a clearer picture of the individual and social mechanisms that facilitate and hinder environmental entrepreneurship, which can guide future research on how to achieve the ecological transition, through and beyond environmental entrepreneurship.
Chapter 3: How the awareness about environmental problems affects environmental entrepreneurial intent
Environmental degradation is rising on a global level, and it is widely agreed that entrepreneurship can play a crucial role in addressing it. The awareness of environmental problems has rarely been the focus of environmental entrepreneurship research, however, we show its crucial importance for environmental entrepreneurial intent. In our experimental online study with 488 participants, we test the effect of different forms of awareness about environmental problems on the intent to start an environmental venture. Our findings clarify the role of several hitherto largely neglected potential drivers of environmental entrepreneurship, opening up new ways to foster environmental entrepreneurship.