Article: For the good of the people: establishing public value creation as an objective for sustainable entrepreneurship policy Journal: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing (IJEV) 2024 Vol.16 No.2 pp.242 - 261 Abstract: Currently, entrepreneurship policy equates value and productivity with economic growth and innovation. However, pressing grand sustainability challenges question this notion of productivity and the types and recipients of the value entrepreneurs should create. In this conceptual article, we argue that entrepreneurship policy should be re-oriented toward a public value framework that better reflects societal goals. This article argues that public value is created when the public (i.e., everyone in society or the majority of actors that constitute it) perceives a specific shared need to be met by an entrepreneurial solution. Based on a distinction between micro-level private and macro-level public value creation, this article proposes four pathways that explain how entrepreneurs can address the needs of the public. These public value creation processes help policymakers with designing entrepreneurship policies that address grand sustainability challenges. Furthermore, sustainable entrepreneurs may orient their solutions to societal challenges according to a public value creation perspective. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: For the good of the people: establishing public value creation as an objective for sustainable entrepreneurship policy

Authors: Juliane Corredor Jimenez; Simon Norris; Leonhard Gebhardt

Addresses: Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, Nordhäuser Straße 63, 99089 Erfurt, Germany ' Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), Leuphana University Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany ' ICN Business School, CEREFIGE, University of Lorraine, 23-25 Rue Baron Louis, 54000 Nancy, France

Abstract: Currently, entrepreneurship policy equates value and productivity with economic growth and innovation. However, pressing grand sustainability challenges question this notion of productivity and the types and recipients of the value entrepreneurs should create. In this conceptual article, we argue that entrepreneurship policy should be re-oriented toward a public value framework that better reflects societal goals. This article argues that public value is created when the public (i.e., everyone in society or the majority of actors that constitute it) perceives a specific shared need to be met by an entrepreneurial solution. Based on a distinction between micro-level private and macro-level public value creation, this article proposes four pathways that explain how entrepreneurs can address the needs of the public. These public value creation processes help policymakers with designing entrepreneurship policies that address grand sustainability challenges. Furthermore, sustainable entrepreneurs may orient their solutions to societal challenges according to a public value creation perspective.

Keywords: sustainable entrepreneurship; grand challenges; public policy; public value; entrepreneurship policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2024.140395

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2024 Vol.16 No.2, pp.242 - 261

Received: 18 Apr 2023
Accepted: 04 Jun 2024
Published online: 06 Aug 2024 *

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Title: For the good of the people: establishing public value creation as an objective for sustainable entrepreneurship policy

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