Title: Sustainable development and enterprise: do foreign investors care?

Authors: Zeeshan Ali Syed; Rasol Eskandari; Hassan Yazdifar; Babafemi Opeyemi Ogundele

Addresses: Salford Business School, University of Salford, Maxwell Building, The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WT, UK ' Salford Business School, University of Salford, Maxwell Building, The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WT, UK ' College of Business, Law and Social Sciences, University of Derby, Kedleston Rd, Derby, DE22 1GB, UK ' Birmingham City Business School, Birmingham City University, 4 Cardigan Street, Birmingham, B4 7BD, UK

Abstract: Do foreign investors care about promoting sustainable entrepreneurship and development? We find little evidence indicating that they do care. Our findings suggest foreign investors prefer nations with less punitive carbon emission regimes. Another worrying trend is a negative relationship between educational parity and foreign investment inflows. This counterintuitive relationship shows that foreign investors care more about cost-benefit considerations than their moral duty of investing in greener industries and sectors. Using panel data from five countries for a sample period of 19 years, we find that the higher costs of meeting sustainability goals act as a detriment to foreign investors. This shows that governments must take the initiative and pay the upfront costs to develop the infrastructure for sustainable entrepreneurial activities.

Keywords: sustainable entrepreneurship; foreign direct investment; FDI; sustainable development goals; SDG; gender parity.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2023.138091

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2023 Vol.15 No.4, pp.550 - 572

Received: 08 Sep 2023
Accepted: 25 Sep 2023
Published online: 29 Apr 2024 *

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