Integrated Motivations and Approach to Sustainable Business Practices within Women Entrepreneurs : A case study on women entrepreneurs' approach and motivations regarding sustainability in their business

Background: Sustainability has become one of the main factors driving business innovation and resulted in a green transition, which has slowed down in recent years, and to accelerate the green transition again, major barriers need to be removed. The gender imbalance in sustainable entrepreneurship could be a barrier to the acceleration of the green transition since women entrepreneurs showcase what the green transition represents, yet there are fewer women in entrepreneurship compared to men. Despite there being fewer women in entrepreneurship, several studies have found that women are more inclined toward sustainability, compared to men, when it comes to the practices of sustainable entrepreneurship. However, no studies state how or why this is. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is therefore to bridge that knowledge gap by investigating the potential ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind women's entrepreneurial sustainability. Moreover, the purpose of the findings is to create a new theory that offers new insights and a unique understanding regarding women's entrepreneurial sustainability implementation and motivation. Research Question: How do women entrepreneurs incorporate sustainable business practices and why are they motivated to do so? Method: A inductive qualitative single case study on eleven women entrepreneurs. The data collection was through semi-structured interviews. Followed by a Gioia’s grounded theory analysis to create a theoretical model to answer the research question. Conclusion: Women entrepreneurs are motivated through various intrinsic and extrinsic motivations where they use their decision authority as the approach to implementing their sustainable business practices.