Entrepreneurial ecosystem and sustainability as catalysts for regional development: proposition of a theoretical framework

Abstract

The demands for a development model that considers the social and environmental dimensions, as well as the economic dimension, has become increasingly imperative, either by society in general or by the initiative of national or supranational bodies, as oversight and regulatory agencies. In this way, the precepts of sustainable development have been gaining more space in political agendas and civil debates. We propose here that this model of development, especially the one linked to strong sustainability (and relative to the branch of ecological economy), would be ideal. For this, based on literature review, we formulate a theoretical model that combines sustainable regional development (as a dependent variable), mediated by the independent variables of entrepreneurship and sustainability. That is, the objective of this paper is the proposition of a theoretical framework that assumes that the sustainable regional development can be reached from the articulation between the foment to the entrepreneurial activity and the precepts of sustainability. As an additive to this model, we also consider the construct of the entrepreneurial ecosystem as a catalyst for entrepreneurial activity at the regional level and sustainable entrepreneurship as a type of business conducive to a more equal income generation, improvement of social structure, and environmental preservation.