Exploring Socio-Economic Barriers of Green Entrepreneurship in Iran and Their Interactions Using Interpretive Structural Modeling
Authors: Younis Jabarzadeh, Rahim Sarvari, Negar Ahmadi Alghalandis
Abstract:
Entrepreneurship at both individual and organizational level is one of the most driving forces in economic development and leads to growth and competition, job generation and social development. Especially in developing countries, the role of entrepreneurship in economic and social prosperity is more emphasized. But the effect of global economic development on the environment is undeniable, especially in negative ways, and there is a need to rethink current business models and the way entrepreneurs act to introduce new businesses to address and embed environmental issues in order to achieve sustainable development. In this paper, green or sustainable entrepreneurship is addressed in Iran to identify challenges and barriers entrepreneurs in the economic and social sectors face in developing green business solutions. Sustainable or green entrepreneurship has been gaining interest among scholars in recent years and addressing its challenges and barriers need much more attention to fill the gap in the literature and facilitate the way those entrepreneurs are pursuing. This research comprised of two main phases: qualitative and quantitative. At qualitative phase, after a thorough literature review, fuzzy Delphi method is utilized to verify those challenges and barriers by gathering a panel of experts and surveying them. In this phase, several other contextually related factors were added to the list of identified barriers and challenges mentioned in the literature. Then, at the quantitative phase, Interpretive Structural Modeling is applied to construct a network of interactions among those barriers identified at the previous phase. Again, a panel of subject matter experts comprised of academic and industry experts was surveyed. The results of this study can be used by policymakers in both the public and industry sector, to introduce more systematic solutions to eliminate those barriers and help entrepreneurs overcome challenges of sustainable entrepreneurship. It also contributes to the literature as the first research in this type which deals with the barriers of sustainable entrepreneurship and explores their interaction.
Keywords: Green entrepreneurship, barriers, Fuzzy Delphi Method, interpretive structural modeling.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1316165
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1418References:
[1] Çolakoğlua, N., Gözükara, I. A comparison study on personality traits based on the attitudes of university students toward entrepreneurship. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 5th International Conference on Leadership, Technology, Innovation and Business Management, 133-140, 2016.
[2] Sánchez, P. I., Maldonado, C. J., Velasco, A. P, and Kokash, H. Impact of entrepreneurship programmes on university students, Education + Training, 58(2), 209 – 228, 2016.
[3] Davey, T., Plewa,C., and Struwig, M. Entrepreneurship perceptions and career intentions of international students. Education + Training, 53(5), pp. 335-352, 2011.
[4] Uslu, Y. D., Hancioglu, Y, and Demir, E. Applicability to Green Entrepreneurship in Turkey: A Situation Analysis. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship,1238-1245, 2015.
[5] Hall, J., Daneke, G., and Lenox, M. Sustainable development and entrepreneurship: past contributions and future directions. Journal of Business Venturing, 25, 439–48, 2010.
[6] Lenox, M., and York, J. G. Environmental entrepreneurship. In: A. J. Hoffman & T. Bansal (Eds), Oxford handbook of business and the environment. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011.
[7] Chell, E. The Entrepreneurial Personality A Social Construction, Second Edition, Routledge, Psychology Press, 2008.
[8] Schaper, M. Understanding the Green entrepreneur. M. Schaper in, Making Ecopreneurs Developing Sustainable Entrepreneurship (7-21). Gower Publishing Limited, 2010.
[9] Farinelli, F., Bottini, M., Akkoyunlu, S, and Aerni, P. Green entrepreneurship: the missing link towards a greener economy. ATDF JOURNAL, 8(3/4), 2011.
[10] Schaper, M. Understanding the Green Entrepreneur. In M. Shaper, (Eds.) et al., Making Ecopreneurs: developing sustainable entrepreneurship (pp. 3-12). Hampshire, UK: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2005.
[11] Zamfir, P. B. Supporting Green Entrepreneurship in Romania - Imperative of Sustainable Development. Romanian Economic and Business Review, 9(2), 2014.
[12] Gibbs, D. Sustainability Entrepreneurs, Ecopreneurs and the Development of a Sustainable Economy. Greener management international, vol. 55, p. 63 –79, 2009.
[13] Knight, F. Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1921.
[14] Schumpeter, J.A. The Theory of the Economic Development. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1934.
[15] Kirzner, I. M. Competition and Entrepreneurship. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 1973.
[16] Hayek, F. A. New Studies in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and the History of Ideas. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
[17] Mair, J., and Marti, I. Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight. Journal of World Business, 41(1), 36-44, 2006.
[18] Weerawardena, J., and Sullivan Mort, G. Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model. Journal of World Business, 41(1), 21-35, 2006.
[19] Dees, J. G. The Meaning of ‘Social Entrepreneurship’, retrieved from http://www.caseatduke.org/documents/dees_sedef.pdf (last accessed 24.11.2015), 2001.
[20] Bloom, P. N., and Smith, B. R. Identifying the Drivers of Social Entrepreneurship Impact: Theoretical Development and an Exploratory Empirical Test of SCALERS. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 1 (1), pp. 126-145, 2010.
[21] Young, W., and Tilley, F. Can businesses move beyond efficiency? The shift toward effectiveness and equity in the corporate sustainability debate. Business Strategy and the Environment, 15(6), 402-415, 2006.
[22] Parrish, B. D. Designing the sustainable enterprise. Futures, 39(7), 846-860, 2007.
[23] Ulutas, F. and Alkaya, E. Green Entrepreneurship in Turkey, Regional Activity Center for Cleaner Production Report, 2012.
[24] Schaper, M. The Essence of Ecopreneurship, Greener Management International 38, 26-30, 2002.
[25] Pacheco, D.F., Dean T. J., and Payne D. S. Escaping the green prison: Entrepreneurship and the creation of opportunities for sustainable development, Journal of Business Venturing 25, 464–480, 2010.
[26] Berchicci, L. Innovating for Sustainability: Green Entrepreneurship in Personal Mobility. London and New York: Routledge, 2009.
[27] Dean, T. J., and McMullen, J. S. Toward a theory of sustainable entrepreneurship: Reducing environmental degradation through entrepreneurial action. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(1), 50-76, 2007.
[28] Nikolaou, E. I; Lerapetritis, D, and Tsagarakis, K.P. An evaluation of the prospects of green entrepreneurship development using a SWOT analysis. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 18, 1-16, 2011.
[29] Anderson, T. L., and Leal, D. R. Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well. Boston, MA: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997.
[30] Hinterberger F, Omann I, Stocker A. Employment and environment in a sustainable Europe. Emprica. 29:113–130, 2002.
[31] Desai, V. Entrepreneurial Development Volume 1, The Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship and Development Principles, Programmes and Policies, Himalaya Publishing House, 2009.
[32] Kirkwood, J., and Walton S. What Motivates Ecopreneurs To Start Businesses?, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 16(3), pp.204 – 228, 2010.
[33] Meffert, H., and Kirchgeorg, M. Marktorientiertes Umweltmanagement: Grundlagen und Fallstudien. Stuttgart, D: Schäffer-Poeschel, 1993.
[34] Linnanen, L. An insider's experiences with environmental entrepreneurship. Greener Management International 38, 71-81, 2002.
[35] Mathur, S and Tandon, N. Green Entrepreneurship: The Emerging Paradigm for Sustainable Growth and Development in India-A Study of the Millennials. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(45), 2016.
[36] Abuzeinab, A., Arif, M and Qadri, M.A. Barriers to MNEs green business models in the UK construction sector: An ISM analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 1-11, 2017.
[37] Hamdouch, A and Depret, M.-H, Green Business and Entrepreneurship. In: Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, E. G. Carayannis (Ed.), Springer, New York, pp. 812-819, 2013.