Green Entrepreneurship in Emerging and Developed Economies: A Systematic Literature Review
Keywords:
Emerging economies, Green entrepreneurship, Green innovation, Sustainable development, Systematic literature reviewAbstract
Since the United Nations introduced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, green entrepreneurship has become a central pillar of the sustainability discourse. This study presents a systematic literature review of empirical research published between 2015 and 2025 to examine the intersection of environmental sustainability and business innovation. Despite the field's growth, research remains fragmented, with a notable lack of geographic diversity and qualitative depth. This review addresses these gaps by analyzing 22 peer reviewed articles from Scopus and Web of Science, focusing on data sources, geographic settings, and variable use. Findings reveal a significant geographical concentration in Asian emerging markets, which account for 81.82% of the studies. Methodologically, the field is dominated by quantitative approaches, specifically correlation and survey regression (63.64%), which primarily capture students’ and SME managers' green entrepreneurial intentions. The analysis identifies a conceptual shift in which green entrepreneurship serves either as an independent variable driving environmental performance or as a dependent variable shaped by education and individual values. Recent trends indicate an increasing use of complex modeling to examine how mediating factors, such as green innovation, align ecological responsibility with financial performance. By explicitly identifying the current reliance on quantitative data from specific regions, this review lays the foundation for future policy and academic inquiry into underrepresented markets and the qualitative drivers of green innovation.
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