Sustainability entrepreneurship is increasingly recognised as a vital mechanism for addressing societal challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, and economic inequality, particularly in emerging economies. In India, these startups operate within a complex entrepreneurial ecosystem shaped by policy support, financial constraints, and market dynamics. This study examines the entrepreneurial processes and institutional dynamics shaping the growth of sustainability startups in India, a resource-constrained yet innovation-driven market. Using a multi-methods approach integrating Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), machine learning (LightGBM), and multi-criteria decision-making (TOPSIS), we analyse data from 135 Indian sustainability startups to explore the barriers they face, the institutional support they receive, and the strategies they employ to scale their impact. The study reveals that the influence of barriers is mediated through institutional frameworks and support mechanisms, underscoring the pivotal role of formal and informal institutions in entrepreneurial resilience. By ranking key challenges affecting revenue growth through LightGBM and assessing the effectiveness of institutional interventions via TOPSIS, this research offers a granular understanding of how sustainability entrepreneurs navigate systemic barriers in emerging economies. Our study contributes to the discourse on entrepreneurship and societal challenges by emphasising the necessity of an integrated approach to fostering sustainable innovation.
Kannan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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