Title: Young adults and sustainable entrepreneurship: the role of culture and demographic factors

Authors: Anna Vuorio

Addresses: School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, Skinnarilankatu 34, 53851 Lappeenranta, Finland

Abstract: Entrepreneurial activity has been proposed to play a significant role in societies, although recently its role has been extended to include societal and environmental issues. As a response, new forms of entrepreneurship, such as social, environmental and sustainable entrepreneurship, have emerged. Simultaneously, young adults are said to be more prone towards entrepreneurship than previous generations and that they also possess more environmentally and socially conscious values. Analysing data from 29 countries, the results show that young adults are more likely to have a sustainable entrepreneurial goal than older adults, although this differs depending on the type of value emphasised. Moreover, education has an important role in enhancing the likelihood of an individual having a sustainable entrepreneurial goal rather than commercial one. These results imply that the generation subculture theory provides an explanation for sustainable entrepreneurship.

Keywords: sustainable entrepreneurship; generation subculture theory; demographics; postmaterialism.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2017.085499

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2017 Vol.10 No.3, pp.209 - 230

Received: 05 Nov 2016
Accepted: 23 Jan 2017
Published online: 28 Jul 2017 *

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