Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

Entrepreneurship and innovation have been the core engines for growth and economic development [1,2]. However, the recent uncertainties caused by sustainability issues are changing the landscape and the boundary conditions of theories in both areas. As such, the new landscape calls for revisions in our understanding of growth and theorizing entrepreneurship and innovation as key drivers of sustainability [3,4].

Sustainability is a broad concept that includes individual, societal, and ecological concerns. Entrepreneurship and innovation research have already started addressing issues at all levels [5,6]. The core tenet is that while sustainability issues challenge conventional business models, they also introduce new opportunities for revising business models, creating new products, markets, etc. [7].

Entrepreneurship and innovation research have introduced several promising strands which can address the sustainability question and develop theories to explain it. Co-creative entrepreneurship [8] argues for the collective nature of entrepreneurship wherein all key stakeholders are engaged in making sense of the situation and taking action to shape a new future [9,10]; non-predictive entrepreneurial strategies explain uncertainty as a knowledge problem [9,11]; open innovation research connects collaboration with sustainability [12]; and business model innovation (BMI) research connects BMI to firms’ sustainable performance [7].

This Special Issue intends to contribute to our understanding of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation by addressing how entrepreneurship and innovation are evolving in our uncertain world to generate sustainable outcomes and shape a more sustainable future.

We seek scholarly contributions that help advance our understanding of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. We are interested in studies that connect debates about theorization and the implications of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. We welcome submissions applying different research methods including conceptual/theoretical, systematic literature review, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:

1. Co-creative entrepreneurship and sustainability;
2. The role of small firms in achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG);
3. Open innovation and sustainable outcomes;
4. Social entrepreneurship and sustainable entrepreneurial outcomes;
5. Frugal innovation and sustainability;
6. Business model innovation for sustainability;
7. The role of new technologies, digitalization, Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence in addressing sustainability issues;
8. Entrepreneurial marketing for sustainability;
9. Strategic entrepreneurship and sustainability;
10. International entrepreneurship and sustainability.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

1. Kirzner, I.M. Creativity and/or alertness: A reconsideration of the Schumpeterian entrepreneur. Rev. Austrian Econ. 1999, 11, 5–17.
2. Schumpeter, J.A. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy; Harper & Brothers: New York, NY, USA, 1942.
3. Johnson, M.P.; Schaltegger, S. Entrepreneurship for sustainable development: A review and multilevel causal mechanism framework. Theory Pract. 2020, 44, 1141–1173.
4. Silvestre, B.S.; Ţîrcă, D.M. Innovations for sustainable development: Moving toward a sustainable future. Clean. Prod. 2019, 208, 325–332.
5. Schaltegger, S.; Wagner, M. Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation: Categories and interactions. Bus. Strategy Environ. 2011, 20, 222–237.
6. Youssef, A.B.; Boubaker, S.; Omri, A. Entrepreneurship and sustainability: The need for innovative and institutional solutions. Forecast. Soc. Change 2018, 129, 232–241.
7. Evans, S.; Vladimirova, D.; Holgado, M.; Van Fossen, K.; Yang, M.; Silva, E.A.; Barlow, C.Y. Business model innovation for sustainability: Towards a unified perspective for creation of sustainable business models. Bus. Strategy Environ. 2017, 26, 597–608.
8. Karami, M.; Read, S. Co-creative entrepreneurship. J. Bus. Ventur. 2021, 36, 106125.
9. Rindova, V.; Courtney, H. To shape or adapt: Knowledge problems, epistemologies, and strategic postures under Knightian uncertainty. Acad. Manag. Rev. 2020, 45, 787–807.
10. Mintzberg, H. Rebalancing Society: Radical Renewal beyond Left, Right, and Center; Berrett-Koehler Publishers: Oakland, CA, USA, 2015.
11. Wiltbank, R.; Dew, N.; Read, S.; Sarasvathy, S.D. What to do next? The case for non‐predictive strategy. Strategy Manag. J. 2006, 27, 981–998.
12. Payán-Sánchez, B.; Belmonte-Ureña, L.J.; Plaza-Úbeda, J.A.; Vazquez-Brust, D.; Yakovleva, N.; Pérez-Valls, M. Open innovation for sustainability or not: Literature reviews of global research trends. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1136.

Dr. Masoud Karami
Dr. Mathew Parackal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• entrepreneurship
• innovation
• sustainability