eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

Research Objectives

The objective of this study was to research ecopreneurial motivations from an individual perspective, in the food industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to research, what motivated these ecopreneurs to start a business in this particular industry.

Methodology

The research was conducted as a multiple case study of three ecopreneurs, from different value chain phases of the food industry. Primary data was gathered by thematic interviews, whereas secondary data was gathered via the internet. All interviews were transcribed and in the first phase of analysis, analyzed case by case. In the second phase a comparative analysis was performed. The techniques, that was used in the empirical data analysis is called template analysis.

Research Findings

The research utilizes a framework, which was derived from academic literature, to study, what motivations were present in the startup phase of each individual case. The study found, that four out of five concepts of motivations were also present in this study. The concept of passion was the most prominent in terms of previously established concepts. However, the study found two additional concepts, which were not present in previous research. Therefore, these two concepts of leaving a mark and lifestyle are the most significant contributions of this study to the growing ecopreneurship research.