ABSTRACT
Informed by literature on sustainable development, entrepreneurship, ecopreneurship and social entrepreneurship, recently the notion of sustainable entrepreneurship has emerged as a tool to deliver social and environmental benefits through long-term and sustainable solutions (Dean and McMullen 2007; Gibbs 2009; Parrish 2010; Shepherd and Patzelt 2011). While promising, the field is characterised by competing views, a lack of consensus and conceptual limitations (Sharpley 2000; Seghezzo 2009; Shepherd and Patzelt 2011). Criticisms include omission of industry-specific and geographical contextual factors, acknowledgement of the conflicting nature of sustainability dimensions (for example, social, economic and environmental) and how these are pursued (Seghezzo 2009; Shepherd and Patzelt 2011). The concept of sustainability entrepreneurship is currently a “black box”, and acknowledging the combination of economic, social and environmental goals in organisations’ practices does not explain how they are pursued or met (Gibbs 2009: 65). Addressing the above and adding to the growing body of knowledge that seeks to examine and inform the afore-mentioned criticisms and ambiguity (cf. Cohen and Musson 2000; Shepherd and Patzelt 2011), this study aims to explore the sustainability dimensions relevant to small social enterprises and the tensions that arise in their pursuit as well as practices used to resolve them in the context of the Indian nonprofit and social enterprise landscape. It makes two distinct contributions: contributing to theory by offering a more nuanced understanding of sustainable entrepreneurship by capturing sustainability dimensions relevant to sustainable social enterprises and drawing attention to their conflicting yet inter-dependent nature. It contributes to practice by identifying areas where an organisation may experience tensions (as a result of the conflicting priorities) and offers insights into how the tensions can be managed. In particular it highlights the value of social innovation as a mitigator of tensions as well as a facilitator of sustainable entrepreneurship. A practice-led social innovation theory – “connecter difference” (Mulgan et al. 2007) is used to contextualise the findings and delineate lessons for other organisations that are, or are planning to, engage in sustainable entrepreneurship.
