Abstract:
Sustainable entrepreneurship literature at the micro-level of individual enterprises
identifies several issues hampering their growth, such as lack of funding and
other resources, and psychological and/or geographical isolation. Macro-level
research identifies attempts at supportive policy, such as new enterprise funding
and incubation hubs; however, sustainable entrepreneurs often find these
resources inaccessible or insufficient. There is very limited research, however,
examining the impact of the meso-level context of sustainable entrepreneurs, and
whether this level can help address their challenges. This study’s motivating
objective is therefore: To examine the phenomenon of sustainable
entrepreneurship at the meso-level, in order to better understand how it can be
enabled.
Initial field immersion in an EU-funded research project led abductively to the
observation that actors in the sustainable entrepreneurship field appear to
interact at the meso-level to address issues collaboratively. This led to the
overarching research question: Does a community of practice form around
sustainable entrepreneurship, and if so, what does it look like? Three more
specific questions were: RQ1: What drives the formation of a sustainable
entrepreneurship community of practice? RQ2: What shared practices does the
sustainable entrepreneurship community of practice enact? And RQ3: What
outcomes arise from these practices, and for whom? These questions were
explored through analysis of data-collection episodes over a three-year period
that the author attended as a participant observer alongside sustainable
entrepreneurs and allied stakeholders.
A key finding is that a sustainable-entrepreneurship community of practice exists:
actors with a shared commitment to the domain of sustainable entrepreneurship
collaborate as part of a community to solve problems by sharing practice and
learning from one another. Four drivers for this community of practice are
identified: perceived isolation, a lack of resources, reduced government, and
prosocial motivation. The community participates in four high-level practices:
network building, resource sharing, evolving business models, and re-shaping
the sustainable entrepreneurship infrastructure. Four categories of outcome from
the community of practice emerge: individual empowerment, enterprise scaling
and proliferating, civil society strengthening, and mainstreaming sustainable
entrepreneurship. Collectively, these practices can reduce some of the issues
facing sustainable entrepreneurs, such as limited funding and resources.
This thesis contributes to communities of practice theory by demonstrating that
the feature of situated learning (Lave and Wenger, 2011) via the four shared
practices creates social capital, highlighted in the entrepreneurship literature as
a key factor for success (Honig and Davidsson, 2003). In this way, this thesis
provides a novel contribution to theory by indicating how participation in the
community of practice can help sustainable entrepreneurs address the issues
identified and thereby develop, scale and replicate triple-bottom-line business
models. They do so, not just solving problems but supporting the wider
multistakeholder members to maximise opportunities and positively influence the
societal and political environment for SE. It also shows how situated learning
about the domain more widely is both a motivation and desired outcome of CoP
membership. Through the social capital generated, this community can influence
the macro-level and thereby further mainstream the phenomenon of sustainable
entrepreneurship.