Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Becoming a green entrepreneur: An advanced entrepreneurial cognition model based on a practiced-based approach

  • Published:
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines how entrepreneurs develop the intention to make their venture green, even when “being green” doesn’t happen right from the start, or where the company does not operate in a business that is considered green. It crosses the literature on entrepreneurial cognition and entrepreneurship-as-practice, as it seeks to contribute to the emerging literature on green entrepreneurship, and more precisely on the reasons and processes that motivate entrepreneurs to develop a green strategy for their company. Based on the idea that most ventures are driven not only by an entrepreneur, but by an entrepreneurial team, and through the use of the concepts of praxis and practices, we propose a model that explains how entrepreneurs develop the intention to make their venture that competes in a non-green field enter into a green strategy. We argue that “becoming green” is not a radical process, but is instead strongly influenced by the entrepreneurial praxis the entrepreneur progressively adopts and even plays with. An illustrative case study reveals how this model works.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ajzen, I. (1988). Attitudes, Personality, and Behavior. Dorsey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ajzen, I (2011). The theory of planned behaviour: Reactions and reflections, Psychology & Health, 26 (9), 1113-1127.

  • Ajzen, I & Fishbein, M (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior, Englewoods Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

  • Allen, J. C., & Malin, S. (2008). Green Entrepreneurship: A Method for Managing Natural Resources? Society and Natural Resources, 21, 828–844.

  • Arru, B. (2019). An integrative model for understanding the sustainable entrepreneurs’ behavioural intentions: an empirical study of the Italian context. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1–58.

  • Azzone, G., & Noci, G. (1998). Seeing ecology and “green” innovations as a source of change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 11, 94–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bacq, S., Ofstein, L. F., Kickul, J. R., & Gundry, L. K. (2015). Bricolage in social entrepreneurship: How creative resource mobilization fosters greater social impact. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 16(4), 283–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, T., & Nelson, R. E. (2005). Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50(3), 329–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, B.J (1992). The Operation of Intentions in Time: The Emergence of the New Venture, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 17 (1), 11-20

  • Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Polity Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, P. (2010). Going green: women entrepreneurs and the environment. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship.

  • Bruyat, C., & Julien, P. A. (2001). Defining the field of research in entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 16(2), 165–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalus-Sauvanneet, M. C., & Deschamps.B & Cisneros, L. (2016). Unexpected Succession: When Children Return to Take Over the Family Business. International Journal of Small Business Management, 54(2), 714–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, D.Y & Gray, E.R (2008). The venture development processes of “sustainable” entrepreneurs, Management Research News, 31 (8), pp. 558-569.

  • Ciasullo, M.V and Troisi, O (2013). Sustainable value creation in SMEs: A case study, TQM Journal, 25(1), 44-61.

  • Crals, E., & Vereeck, L. (2005). The affordability of sustainable entrepreneurship certification for SMEs. The International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 12, 173–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidsson, P., & Honig, B. (2003). The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing, 18(3), 301–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demirel, P., Li, Q. C., Rentocchini, F., & Tamvada, J. P. (2019). Born to be green: New insights into the economics and management of green entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 52(4), 759–771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dean, T. J., & McMullen, J. S. (2007). Toward a theory of sustainableentrepreneurship:Reducingenvironmentaldegradationthrough entrepreneurial action. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(1), 50–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desa, G. (2012). Resource mobilization in international social entrepreneurship: Bricolage as a mechanism of institutional transformation. Entrepreneurshiptheory and Practice, 36(4), 727–751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deschamps, B. (2018). Évolution de la connaissance autour des pratiques de transmissions-reprises réalisées par les personnes physiques : vers le concept de transfert d’entreprise. Revue de l’entrepreneuriat, 17(3–4).

  • Dey, P. (2010). The symbolic violence of'social entrepreneurship': Language, power and the question of the social (subject).

  • Dey, P. (2014). Governing the social through ‘social entrepreneurship': A Foucauldian view of ‘the art of governing'in advanced liberalism.

  • Dey, P., & Steyaert, C. (2016). Rethinking the space of ethics in social entrepreneurship: Power, subjectivity, and practices of freedom. Journal of Business Ethics, 133(4), 627–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Domenico.ML, Haugh. HetTracey.P,. (2010). Social Bricolage: Theorizing Social Value Creation in Social Enterprises. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(4), 681–703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon, S. E., & Clifford, A. (2007). Ecopreneurship - a new approach to managing the triple bottom line. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 20, 326–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dufays, F., & Huybrechts, B. (2016). Where do hybrids come from? Entrepreneurial team heterogeneity as an avenue for the emergence of hybrid organizations. International Small Business Journal, 34(6), 777–796.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dufays, F., & Huybrechts, B. (2017). Entrepreneurial teams in social entrepreneurship: When team heterogeneity facilitates organizational hybridity. Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farinelli, F., Bottini, M., Akkoyunlu, S., & Aeren, P. (2011). Green entrepreneurship: The missing link towards a greener economy. ATDFJ, 8(3/4), 42–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fellnhofer, K., Kraus, S., & Bouncken, R. B. (2014). The current state of research on sustainable entrepreneurship. International Journal of Business Research, 14(3), 163–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferreira, J. J., Fernandes, C. I., & Kraus, S. (2019). Entrepreneurship research: Mapping intellectual structures and research trends. Review of Managerial Science, 13(1), 181–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galia, F., Zenou, E., & Ingham, M. (2015). Board composition and environmental innovation: Does gender diversity matter? International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 24(1), 117–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gartner, W. B., Stam, E., Thompson, N., & Verduyn, K. (2016). Entrepreneurship as practice: Grounding contemporary practice theory into entrepreneurship studies.

  • Gast, J., Gundolf, K., & Cesinger, B. (2017). Doing business in a green way: A systematic review of the ecological sustainability entrepreneurship literature and future research directions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 147, 44–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge, B., Jiang, D., Gao, Y., & Tsai, S. B. (2016). The influence of legitimacy on a proactive green orientation and green performance: A study based on transitional economy scenarios in china. Sustainability, 8(12), 1344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germon, R., LeLoarne, S., Razgallah, M., Safraou, I., & Maalaoui, A. (2019). The role of sexual orientation in entrepreneurial intention: The case of Parisian LGB people. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 33(3), 527–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gherardi, S. (2009). Practice? It’s a Matter of Taste! Management Learning, 40(5), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society. Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass, C., Cook, A., & Ingersoll, A. R. (2016). Do women leaders promote sustainability? Analyzing the effect of corporate governance composition on environmental performance. Business Strategy and the Environment, 25(7), 495–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. K., Daneke, G. A., Lenox, M. (2010). Sustainable development and entrepreneurship: past contributions and future directions. Journal of Business Venturing, 25.

  • Hendry, J. (2000). Strategic decision-making, discourse, and strategy as social practice. Journal of Management Studies, 37, 955–977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hockerts, K., & Wüstenhagen, R. (2010). Greening Goliaths versus emerging Davids - Theorizing about the role of incumbents and new entrants in sustainable entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 25, 481–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honig, B., & Samuelsson, M. (2012). Planning and the entrepreneur: A longitudinal examination of nascent entrepreneurs in Sweden. Journal of Small Business Management, 50(3), 365–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarzabkowski, P. (2004). Strategy as practice: Recursiveness, adaptation, and practices-in-use. Organization Studies, 25(4), pp. 529-560.

  • Jiang, D, Zhang, H, Wang, L, Liu, J & Chang, L (2020), Research on Cross-Border Entrepreneurial Path of Core Enterprise Based on Ecological Advantage, In Sustainability in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Operating Mechanisms and Enterprise Growth, IGI Global, 75-104.

  • Kautonen, T., Van Gelderen, M. & Tornikoski, E.T. (2013). Predicting entrepreneurial behaviour: A test of the theory of planned behaviour, Applied Economics, 45(6), 697-707.

  • Kearins, K., & Collins, E. (2012). Making sense of ecopreneurs’ decisions to sell up. Business Strategy and the Environment, 21, 71–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkwood, J. J., & Walton, S. (2010). What motivates ecopreneurs to start businesses? International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 16(3), 204–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koe, W & Majid, I.A. (2014). Socio-Cultural Factors and Intention towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics, 7(13), 145-156.

  • Kraus, S., Burtscher, J., Vallaster, C., & Angerer, M. (2018). Sustainable entrepreneurship orientation: A reflection on status-quo research on factors facilitating responsible managerial practices. Sustainability, 10(2), 444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, N. F. (2017). Entrepreneurial intentions are dead: Long live entrepreneurial intentions. In Revisiting the entrepreneurial mind. Springer, Cham. 13–34.

  • Krueger, N. & Welpe, I. (2014). Neuroentrepreneurship: what can entrepreneurship learn from neuroscience?”, Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, p. 60.

  • Krueger, N., Hansen, D. J., Michl, T., & Welsh, D. H. (2011). Thinking “sustainably”: The role of intentions, cognitions, and emotions in understanding new domains of entrepreneurship. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krueger. N & Day. M (2010). Looking forward, looking backward : from entrepreneurial cognition to neuroentrepreneurship. In Zoltan Acs& David. B Audretsh, Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research: An interdisciplinary survey and Introduction. Springer. 321–357.

  • Kuckertz, A., & Wagner, M. (2010). The influence of sustainability orientation on entrepreneurial.

  • Langley, A. (1999). Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 691–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Loarne-Lemaire, S., Noel-Lemaitre, C. (2019). The Contribution of Simone Weil to the Enrichment of the Ethics of Care: Revisiting the Notion of “Dialogue”. In Business Ethics and Care in Organizations. Routledge. 55–69.

  • LeLoarne, S., Maalaoui, A. (2015). How high-tech entrepreneurs bricole the evolution of business process management for their activities. Business Process Management Journal.

  • Maâlaoui, A., Castellano, S., Safraou, I., & Bourguiba, M. (2013). An exploratory study of seniorpreneurs: A new model of entrepreneurial intentions in the French context. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 20(2), 148–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maalaoui, A., & Razgallah, M. (2019). Introduction: Senior Entrepreneurship: From the Shadows to the Light, in Handbook of Research on Elderly Entrepreneurship (pp. 1–14). Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mair, J., Battilana, J., & Cardenas, J. (2012). Organizing for Society: A Typology of Social EntrepreneuringModels. Journal of Business Ethics, 111, 353–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meek, W. R., Pacheco, D. F., & York, J. G. (2010). The impact of social norms on entrepreneurial action: Evidence from the environmental entrepreneurship context. Journal of Business Venturing, 25(5), 493–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melay, I., O’Dwyer, M., Kraus, S., & Gast, J. (2017). Green entrepreneurship in SMEs: A configuration approach. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 9(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menon, A., Menon, A. (1997). Enviropreneurial marketing strategy: the emergence of corporate environmentalism as market strategy. The Journal of Marketing, 51–67.

  • Mitchell, R., Busenitz, L., Lant, T., McDougall, P. P., Morse, E. A., & Smith, J. B. (2002). Toward a Theory of Entrepreneurial Cognition: Rethinking the People Side of Entrepreneurship Research. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 93–104.

  • Ndubisi, N. O., & Nair, S. R. (2009). Green entrepreneurship and Green value added. International Journal of Entrepreneurship, 13, Special Issue. 21–34.

  • Nikolaou, E. I., Ierapetritis, D., & Tsagarakis, K. P. (2011). An evaluation of the prospects of green entrepreneurship development using a SWOT analysis. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 18(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordqvist & Frishammar. (2019). Knowledge types to progress the developmentof sustainable technologies: A case study of Swedishdemonstration plants. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 15, 75–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill, K., & Gibbs, D. (2016). Rethinking green entrepreneurship–Fluid narratives of the green economy. Environment and Planning a: Economy and Space, 48(9), 1727–1749.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pacheco, D. F., Dean, T. J., & Payne, D. S. (2010). Escaping the green prison: Entrepreneurship and the creation of opportunities for sustainable development. Journal of Business Venturing, 25(5), 464–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pastakia, A. (2002). Assessing Ecopreneurship in the Context of a Developing Country: The Case of India. Green Management International, 93–108.

  • Pazaitis, A., De Filippi, P., & Kostakis, V. (2017). Blockchain and value systems in the sharing economy: The illustrative case of Backfeed. TechnologicalForecasting and Social Change, 125, 105–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinkse, J., & Groot, K. (2015). Sustainable entrepreneurship andcorporate political activity: Overcoming market barriers in theclean energy sector. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39, 633–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rindova, V., Barry, D., & Ketchen, J. D. (2009). Entrepreneuring as emancipation. Academy of Management Review, 34(3), 477–491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rouleau, L. (2013). Strategy-as-practice research at a crossroads. Management, 16(5), 574–592.

  • Shepherd, D. A., & Patzelt, H. (2011). The new field of sustainable entrepreneurship: Studying entrepreneurial action linking “what is to be sustained” with “what is to be developed.” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35(1), 137–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarasvathy, S. D. (2001). Causation and effectuation: Toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency. Academy of management Review, 26(2), 243–263.

  • Sarasvathy, S., Kumar, K., York, J. G., & Bhagavatula, S. (2014). An effectual approach to international entrepreneurship: Overlaps, challenges, and provocative possibilities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38(1), 71–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaltegger, S., & Wagner, M. (2011). Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation: Categories and interactions. Business Strategy and the Environment, 20, 222–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schick, H., Marxen, S., & Freimann, J. (2002). Sustainability Issues for Start-up Entrepreneurs. Greener management international, (38).

  • Schlange, L. E. (2006). Stakeholder identification in sustainability entrepreneurship. Greener Management International, 13.

  • Servantie, V., & Rispal, M. H. (2018). Bricolage, effectuation, and causation shifts over time in the context of social entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30(3–4), 310–335.

  • Shane, S. (2008). The illustion of entrepreneurship. Yale University.

  • Silajdzic, I., MidzicKurtagic, S., & Vucijak, B. (2015). Green entrepreneurship in transition economies: A case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Journal of Cleaner Production, 88, 376–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd, D. A., & Krueger, N. F. (2002). An intentions–based model of entrepreneurial teams’ social cognition. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 27(2), 167–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steyaert, C. (2007). Entrepreneuring’ as a conceptual attractor? A review of process theories in 20 years of entrepreneurship studies. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 19, 453–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, D. W., & Walley, E. E. (2004). The green entrepreneur: Opportunist, maverick or visionary? International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 1(1–2), 56–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, N., Maylor, H., Lee-Kelley, L., Brady, T., Kutsch, E., & Carver, S. (2014). Ambidexterity and knowledge strategy in major projects: A framework and illustrative case study. Project Management Journal, 45(5), 44–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whittington, R. (1996). Strategy as practice. Long Range Planning, 29, 731–735.

  • Whittington, R. (2002). Practice perspectives on strategy: Unifying and developing a field. Academy of Management Conference Proceedings, Denver, CO, August.

  • Whittington, R. (2003). The work of strategizing and organizing: For a practice perspective. Strategic Organization, 1(1), 119–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whittington, R. (2006). Completing the practice turn in strategy research. Organization Studies, 27(5), 613–634.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, D., & Woodward, T. (2001). The efficacy of action at a distance as a control mechanism in the construction industry when a trust relationship breaks down: An illustrative case study. British Journal of Management, 12(4), 355–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woolthuis R, Nooteboom B, de Jong G & Faems D (2013). The role of third-parties in strategic alliance governance. Interpartner Dynamics in Strategic Alliances (Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC), 55–72.

  • Yi, G. (2020). From green entrepreneurial intentions to green entrepreneurial behaviors: the role of university entrepreneurial support and external institutional support. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal.

  • Zeng, J. (2018). Fostering path of ecological sustainable entrepreneurshipwithin big data network system. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 14, 79–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grenoble Ecole de Management, 12, rue Pierre Semart, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Séverine Le Loarne Lemaire

  2. Burgundy School of Business-CEREN, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 29 Rue Sambin, 21000, Dijon, France

    Meriam Razgallah

  3. IPAG Business School, 188, rue de Rivoli, 75001, Paris, France

    Adnane Maalaoui

  4. Faculty of Economics & Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Università 1, 39100, Bolzano, Italy

    Sascha Kraus

  5. Department of Business Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Sascha Kraus

Authors
  1. Séverine Le Loarne Lemaire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Meriam Razgallah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Adnane Maalaoui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sascha Kraus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sascha Kraus.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Le Loarne Lemaire, S., Razgallah, M., Maalaoui, A. et al. Becoming a green entrepreneur: An advanced entrepreneurial cognition model based on a practiced-based approach. Int Entrep Manag J 18, 801–828 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-021-00791-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-021-00791-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation