Title: Sustainable business model innovation and ethics: a conceptual review from the institutional theory addressing (un)sustainability

Authors: Alberto Peralta; Laura Gismera

Addresses: Departamento de CC. Empresariales, Facultad de CC. Económicas y Empresariales, University of Alcala, Pza. de la Victoria, 2. Alcalá de Henares, Spain ' Departamento de Gestión Empresarial, University of Comillas – ICADE, Calle Alberto Aguilera 23, 28015 Madrid, Spain

Abstract: Being this a period when human activities and creations profoundly alter many geological conditions and processes, here we conceptualise how the sustainable innovation of business models acts as yet another lever for the dissemination of human misbehaviours against the planet and its ecosystems. Departing from the Institutional Theory approach to entrepreneurship and sustainability, we identified institutional and ethical standards and norms that allow a better understanding of the institutional logic behind sustainable business model (SBM) innovation, how it is formed and its consequences in terms of inequity, oppression and exclusion. We have linked those standards with 12 constructs that can guide further empirical analyses; incubators, trainers, investors and policy makers could use them to support entrepreneurs avoid planet challenges and enhance human and non-human ecosystems.

Keywords: SBMs; sustainable innovation; sustainable business models; institutions; values; ethics; anthropocene; entrepreneurship; ecosystems; inequity; exclusion; planet boundaries.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2021.118364

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2021 Vol.15 No.4, pp.397 - 415

Received: 07 Mar 2019
Accepted: 26 Jul 2019
Published online: 25 Oct 2021 *

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