Configurational Paths to Social Performance in SMEs: The Interplay of Innovation, Sustainability, Resources and Achievement Motivation

Sascha Kraus, Janina Burtscher, Thomas Niemand, Norat Roig-Tierno and Pasi Syrjä
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Sascha Kraus: Institute for Entrepreneurship, University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz 9490, Liechtenstein
Janina Burtscher: Institute for Entrepreneurship, University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz 9490, Liechtenstein
Thomas Niemand: Department of Management and Market Research, Clausthal University of Technology, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 38678, Germany
Norat Roig-Tierno: Department of Business Administration, ESIC Business & Marketing School, Valencia 46021, Spain
Pasi Syrjä: School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta 53851, Finland

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: In today’s world of increasing ecological, social and economic issues, the question as to how businesses can become a vehicle towards more sustainable development has become more relevant than ever. Crucial to a more sustainable economy is the successful implementation of sustainable practices through entrepreneurial activities. Although there are attempts to describe how sustainable entrepreneurs differentiate themselves, the question of how some entrepreneurs manage to successfully create a sustainable enterprise, while others do not, remains unanswered. The aim of this research is to find causal patterns that explain the success of sustainable entrepreneurs, using their social performance as a measure. Using a configuration approach-based fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of 598 Austrian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we could identify four different combinations of the interconnected variables of innovation orientation, environmental sustainability, resource leveraging and achievement motivation, which all lead to social performance depending on the respective networking intensity of the firms. The only variable that is included in all combinations is environmental sustainability, thus indicating it may be either crucial to or a prerequisite for achieving social performance in SMEs.

Keywords: social performance; social entrepreneurship; configuration approach; networking; innovation; achievement motivation; resource leveraging; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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