Orientation towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Empirical evidence on SMEs

Abstract

In the last decade, entrepreneurship has been seen as a solution to social inequality and environmental degradation rather than a possible cause. This fact called academics' attention to develop a connection between traditional entrepreneurship, society, and the environment. They established a new type of entrepreneurial activity called sustainable entrepreneurship (SE). The (SE) basis is to preserve nature, sustain life, and the community is searching for perceived opportunities to create future products, processes, and services. According to the literature, SE is an emerging research trend that can be defined as the realisation of sustainable innovations aimed at the mass market and benefit most society. Therefore, (SE) makes a significant contribution to the transition to a sustainable economy. There are indications that a shift towards sustainable business strategies in which economic profit is essentially linked to social and ecological value is essential. For these reasons, the (SE) has received increasing importance from different actors, such as international institutions, companies and universities. A clear example was the development of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, approved in 2015 by the United Nations (UN), which provides a framework for collaboration at a global level to implement (SE) initiatives. This type of entrepreneur starts a business to serve both their interests and those of the community, addressing unmet social and environmental needs. Therefore, this phenomenon can be seen as a unique perspective that combines economic, social and environmental value with a general concern for the well-being of future generations. In this way, (SE) differs from conventional entrepreneurship in aspects related to the creation of value, highlighting among them the search for the following three aspects (1) economic value, (2) social value and (3) environmental value. Three academic contributions have been proposed to achieve the established aims, which constitute the relevant chapters of this doctoral thesis. This research is presented as a compendium of three contributions, each focused on achieving specific proposed aims under different methodological strategies. In the first contribution, an in-depth analysis was carried out using bibliometric techniques and instruments that made it possible to map the central (SE) academic literature and analyse the most substantial contributions to research in this field. The chronological analysis of the literature in the Web of Science-Social Sciences Citation Index (WoS-SSCI) database-up to January 2018- provides new knowledge, such as the most influential journals, authors and articles so far. This research reviews one of the most recognised databases, the Web of Science-Social Sciences Citation Index, having a chronological distribution of the publications that allows a systematic review of the scientific literature in the timeline. The study also shows the most outstanding journals and papers in the field. The largest number of articles published in (SE) are published in top journals such as the Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, Business Strategy and the Environment Journal of Business Venturing. The second contribution is to analyse the influence that SMEs' sustainability competencies have on their social entrepreneurial orientation and the influence of this strategy on the company's performance (social and economic). This research focuses on measuring how the leader's sustainable competencies influence the social entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs and their outcomes. It is observed that the key competencies that leaders must form or develop in order for SMEs to have a social entrepreneurial orientation are focused on environmental and social practices based on four dimensions: System and thinking competence, normative competence, interpersonal competence and action competence. The third contribution is to find out whether small and medium enterprises in this country are involved in the adoption of sustainable practices and see whether there are significant differences in adoption according to size, sector, and age. Through an exploratory-descriptive study, the research made it possible to analyse the sustainability practices that SMEs in Ecuador include in their business management. Among the most important findings is that managers have an extremely positive and favourable attitude towards sustainability. Practices in economic sustainability have a medium-high implementation level. The main strengths are related to SMEs' social image and human rights; SMEs analysed show concern that their supplier enterprises should also act responsibly to convey the image of a responsible and reliable company. Finally, Ecuador's sustainability is quite relevant at the Government, the University and the Enterprises, which seek to involve, raise awareness. Support enterprises to manage their SMEs in a socially responsible way and become mobilisers of a more just and equitable society. For this reason, this research focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises in Ecuador which face immense sustainability problems and challenges. There is a clear need to build and monitor public policies that are based on evidence, such as indicators designed to monitor environmental dynamics and their interrelationships with social and productive dynamics.