Entrepreneurial activity and especially sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) significantly impact the achievement of the sustainability transition. While we have a decent understanding of the drivers of entrepreneurial activity, there is limited knowledge and no systematic consolidation of existing work examining what motivates entrepreneurs to engage in SE. To address this issue, we conducted a systematic literature review analyzing 50 papers derived from the Scopus database since 2017. We found that the specific construct discussed in this literature is the Motivation for Sustainable Entrepreneurship (MSE) and argue that it is a combined construct comprising the motivation to have an impact on sustainability and the motivation to become an entrepreneur. We conclude by suggesting three areas for future research: First, a clear definition of MSE is needed, distinguishing what constitutes motivation for impacting sustainable development and motivation for engaging in entrepreneurship. Second, despite having a good understanding of the factors influencing MSE, these are often based on specific case-studies and could benefit from larger and more diverse samples as well as research methods. Third, we have a very limited understanding of the effect of MSE on new venture creation, entrepreneurial practices, performance, and success.

This thesis describes the connection between mundane societalentrepreneurship and local area development in a rural sparsely populatedcontext. It is a qualitative study from a holistic view on the actors. The empiricalwork consists of three deep case studies from one of the most sparsely populatedregions in Europe. The ongoing activities in these rural villages are described fromdifferent perspectives focused on who is the local entrepreneur and how did theyachieve what they have done. The method was to listen to the whole story fromdifferent perspectives. The results from the deep interviews were thematicallyanalysed to find similarities between the different cases. These similarities werethen the base for a new model of the attributes needed among the actors in avillage to reach local area development and one model of what roles a localentrepreneur can play to start up activities for local area development.One key result in the study was the varieties of reasons to act among the actorsand their similarities in results on the local area development. Regardless of whattheir motivation was according to different kinds of entrepreneurship models, theiractions all had similar effect on the local area development.The main scientific counts here were; the connection between mundane actionsand their role to teach and inspire others to start acting or learn more about specificfields. One other empirical contribution is the importance of having fun whiledeveloping networks and making volunteers work hard to reach a common goal.The Model of Attributes needed for Local Area Development from a holistic actorperspective and the similar results in local area development regardless of theentrepreneurial motivation to act in the different cases are other contributions. / Denna licentiatavhandling handlar om vardagligt samhällsentreprenörskap iform av landsbygdsaktivering och inspiration med exempel frånbefolkningsmässigt små byar belägna i Jämtlands län. Syftet med denna heltkvalitativa ansats är att beskriva lokala företagares roll och engagemang förutvecklingen i deras hembygder. Resultatet är en beskrivande modell medgemensamma parametrar som funnits med i byarnas utveckling och en modellöver vilka olika roller en entreprenör kan.Landsbygden står inför många utmaningar, inte minst har utglesning avbefolkningen aldrig gått snabbare än nu (SWECO, 2014).Samhällsentreprenörskapet som beskrivs handlar om att invånare tar tag ihembyns egen framtid och skapar aktiviteter som känns meningsfulla för demsjälva och uppskattade lokalt på landsbygden. Tillsammans har gemensammaansträngningar gjort att de undersökta byarna skapat något exceptionellt inom sinegen nisch. Denna utgångspunkt leder vidare till kopplingen mellan lokalaföretagare, vardagligt entreprenörskap och dess direkta påverkan på lokalutveckling.De teoretiska bidragen i licentiatavhandlingen är en beskrivning av fenomenetvardagligt samhällsentreprenörskap och dess koppling till lokal utveckling.Beskrivningen fördjupas med fokus på vardagliga aktiviteter med framtagnamodeller. Licentiatavhandlingen beskriver vardagligt samhällsentreprenörskap iform av aktiviteter för lokal utveckling. Här är det exempel på vardagliga utbytenoch aktiviteter med många timmars engagemang som har gett resultat. De trebyarna har lyckats aktivera familjer och grannar, de som själv har velat delta.Tillsammans har de skapat något som gett mervärden och som de själva tyckt harvarit till det bättre. Detta har byarna även uppmärksammats för på olika vis. Dehar i sin tur spridit sitt engagemang och inspirerat andra byars invånare till attockså ta initiativ och agera för egen lokalutveckling. Utifrån arbetet i de olikabyarna gjordes en gemensam modell av påverkande utvecklingsfaktorer.Det andra teoretiska bidraget är beskrivningen av vilka drivkrafter som lågbakom valet att agera och dess koppling till den lokala utvecklingen. Oavsettvilken drivkraft som låg till grund för entreprenören blev utfallet snarlikt för denlokala utvecklingen. Även om det fanns en drivkraft att tjäna pengar i vissa fallblev resultatet en typ av samhällsnytta direkt i byn i alla fall. Ett vardagligtentreprenörskap inspirerade till ökad aktivitet för utveckling och blev på så vis tillett vardagligt samhällsentreprenörskap.

The number of self-employed has been rising and it is estimated that 20–30% of the working-age population in the EU-15 and the U.S. is involved in some form of independent work. This growth is driven by technological advancements, changing work values and an overall need to adapt to a high-change environment. This has given rise to a new term: the gig economy. The IT and Business consulting industry has started to tap further into the gig economy and has started to realize that it could be beneficial to interact with gig workers in new ways, since current arrangements with subcontracting consultants are insufficient. In order to redesign current arrangements in an efficient way, it is of interest to gain a greater understanding of the incumbents’ perspectives. This thesis investigates what motivational factors that are the most distinguishing to work in the gig economy in the IT and Business consulting industry. Thereto, possibilities and limitations for transferring theories of entrepreneurial motivation to the gig economy are discussed. Further, the thesis elaborates upon how the findings can be used in practice and what insights they provide for redesigning consultancies. The thesis employed a case study methodology where semi-structured interviews with gig workers in the context of this study were conducted. The study was influenced by previous research in entrepreneurial motivation, a closely related area within self-employment. The result is that the most distinguishing motivational factors are independence and development. A motivation for independence expresses itself in wanting to decide which projects to take on as well as where and when, and not having a superior that tells you what to do. A motivation for development involves the need for learning new things, improve your skills, and take on challenges. Networking and building relationships are important parts of being a gig worker and often necessities, but even though some gig workers really enjoyed these activities, it is hard to determine whether they are motivating in themselves. Thereto, it was found that monetary rewards were not motivational per se, but a necessity for working. The motivational factors were found to be rooted in the inherent motivations of high need for achievement, desire for independence, internal locus of control, and high self-efficacy. Lastly, there are both possibilities and limitations of theory transfer. The possibilities concern the similarities of the roles when viewing them as self-employed and the limitations concern the theories that are tightly coupled to the entrepreneurial process. / Antalet egenanställda har ökat och det är beräknat att upptill till 20–30 % av den yrkesverksamma befolkningen i EU-15 och USA är involverad i någon form av självständigt arbete. Denna tillväxt är driven av teknologiutveckling, förändrade arbetsvärderingar samt ett övergripande behov av anpassning i en snabbföränderlig miljö. Detta har gett upphov till en ny term: gig-ekonomin. Konsultverksamheter inom IT och Business har börjat närma sig gig-ekonomin och har börjat inse att det skulle kunna vara fördelaktigt att interagera med giggare på nya sätt, eftersom nuvarande upplägg med underkonsulter har varit otillräckliga. För att kunna forma om detta upplägg effektivt är det av intresse att få en bättre förståelse av befintliga intressenters perspektiv. Detta examensarbete undersöker vilka motivationsfaktorer som är utmärkande för arbete i gig-ekonomin i området för konsultverksamhet inom IT och Business. Därutöver diskuteras vilka möjligheter och begränsningar det finns för att överföra teorier inom entreprenöriell motivation till gig-ekonomin. Vidare diskuterar denna studie hur resultatet kan användas i praktiken och vilka insikter det ger vid omorganisering av konsultbyråer. Detta undersöktes genom en fallstudie, där semi-strukturerade intervjuer med giggare i studiens kontext genomfördes. Studien var influerad av tidigare forskning inom entreprenöriell motivation, vilket är ett nära relaterat område inom egenanställning. Resultatet är att de utmärkande motivationsfaktorerna är självständighet och utveckling. Motivation för självständighet uttryckte sig i en vilja att bestämma över vilka projekt man åtar sig samt var och när, och i att inte ha en chef som säger till en vad man ska göra. Motivation för utveckling inkluderar behovet av att lära sig nya saker, förbättra sina färdigheter, och att ta sig an utmaningar. Nätverkande och att bygga relationer är viktiga delar av att vara en giggare och ofta nödvändigt, men även om giggare gillade dessa aktiviteter är det svårt att avgöra om dessa är motiverande i sig själva. Därutöver hittades det att monetära belöningar inte var motiverande i sig, men en nödvändighet för att arbeta. De motiverande faktorerna visade sig vara rotade i de inneboende motivationerna; hög need for achievement, önskan om självständighet, internt kontroll-lokus, och hög self-efficacy. Slutligen finns det både möjligheter och begränsningar med överföring av teori. Möjligheterna kommer från likheterna mellan rollerna när man betraktar båda som egenanställda och begränsningar hittas i teorier som är kopplade till den entreprenöriella processen.

Entrepreneurship is on the rise in Africa. The Kenyan government is focusing on entrepreneurship and the digital scene for the future growth of the country. The digital startup ecosystem is growing as well as the number of entrepreneurs is rising which has further increased the discussion of business opportunities in the region. This raises the question why the entrepreneurs themselves want to pursue entrepreneurship as an active career. Past research show that entrepreneurial motivations may differ due to geographical regions, and may differ due to the economical condition of the country. The authors see that more emphasize must be put on entrepreneurial motives in developing countries to further understand why people want to pursue entrepreneurship. Since there is little research on entrepreneurial motivations in developing countries, where on region is Nairobi, Kenya, the authors aim to add knowledge in this field to further understand entrepreneurial motivations across the world. This is a qualitative research where the authors aim to explore the entrepreneurial motives behind going into entrepreneurship in Nairobi, Kenya. 18 participants have been interviewed through a semi-structured interview format in Nairobi for 2 weeks in March 2017. The results show that there are three main motives present in Nairobi. The findings have been compared to, according to the inductive reasoning approach, a theory of entrepreneurial motivations and have found that there are different motives present in Nairobi than in other regions in the world. Some entrepreneurial motives that are less common in developed countries are more common in Nairobi, which confirm that entrepreneurial motives differ due to geographical regions.

Asians and expatriate Africans have been prominent in the SMME economy of South Africa. This work seeks to establish reasons for the growth and competitiveness of SMMEs run by these groups compared to those operated by local citizens. Reasons for this competitiveness are gleaned from existing literature and presented in accordance with the Perren model which attributes the growth of SMMEs to the owner’s motivation, expertise in managing growth, access to resources, and demand. In this work, the Perren model was first applied to Asians and Lebanese in East and West Africa to set a foundation for comparison with the South African situation. This work concluded that it is the four interim growth drivers acting together that cause competitiveness of Asian- or expatriate African-owned SMMEs. Policy recommendations to improve competitiveness of SMMEs owned by local citizens are then suggested at the end. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

Asians and expatriate Africans have been prominent in the SMME economy of South Africa. This work seeks to establish reasons for the growth and competitiveness of SMMEs run by these groups compared to those operated by local citizens. Reasons for this competitiveness are gleaned from existing literature and presented in accordance with the Perren model which attributes the growth of SMMEs to the owner’s motivation, expertise in managing growth, access to resources, and demand. In this work, the Perren model was first applied to Asians and Lebanese in East and West Africa to set a foundation for comparison with the South African situation. This work concluded that it is the four interim growth drivers acting together that cause competitiveness of Asian- or expatriate African-owned SMMEs. Policy recommendations to improve competitiveness of SMMEs owned by local citizens are then suggested at the end. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

This study examined the motivation of entrepreneurs in starting a business. More specifically, it aimed to identify whether entrepreneurs have common motives for starting their own business, and to determine whether men and women have different reasons for becoming entrepreneurs. The empirical study was conducted on a sample of 101 entrepreneurs. A motivation scale and open-ended questions were used to measure motivation. The results indicated that men and women have various reasons for starting a business, and are primarily motivated by the need for independence, need for material incentives and the need for achievement. The need to contribute to the community was not an important motive. Comparatively, male entrepreneurs were more motivated by the need to give family security and to make a difference in the business, and female entrepreneurs were motivated more by the need to keep learning and the need for more money to survive. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

This study examined the motivation of entrepreneurs in starting a business. More specifically, it aimed to identify whether entrepreneurs have common motives for starting their own business, and to determine whether men and women have different reasons for becoming entrepreneurs. The empirical study was conducted on a sample of 101 entrepreneurs. A motivation scale and open-ended questions were used to measure motivation. The results indicated that men and women have various reasons for starting a business, and are primarily motivated by the need for independence, need for material incentives and the need for achievement. The need to contribute to the community was not an important motive. Comparatively, male entrepreneurs were more motivated by the need to give family security and to make a difference in the business, and female entrepreneurs were motivated more by the need to keep learning and the need for more money to survive. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)