Sustainability orientation in conventional start-ups

Abstract

Sustainable entrepreneurship research often evaluates start-ups that pursue a sustainability goal as a main aspect in their business model or at least follow an ethical motivation. In this study so called conventional start-ups will be examined that do not have this special sustainability focus or ethical motivation as a core of their business model. The question is if and in which areas these numerous start-ups contribute to sustainability in our economy and how this contribution could be improved. Therefore, the sustainability orientation and previous experience in sustainability management of the founding teams was examined. Secondly, the types of ecological and social contributions and their extend were explored. 26 start-ups were interviewed with a semi-structured interview guide. In this explorative study, the interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed. Many teams claim to have a sustainability-oriented mindset. The experience in managing sustainability issues in previous jobs or projects is low, though. Overall, ecological and social issues play a minor role in the analyzed conventional start-ups' founding processes, and if, they mostly contribute to areas that are easy to implement. The focus of the start-ups was to first enter the market and gain revenue and include sustainability aspects later. As start-ups would have the chance to include sustainability improvements more easily at an early stage, though, support should be developed that offers training and best practice for conventional start-ups. The generally positive attitude of the interviewees towards sustainability is promising. Future research could further explore sustainability contribution patterns of conventional business models to make support more effective.