Mapping the signaling environment between sustainability-focused entrepreneurship and investment inputs: A topic modeling approach

Yang, Nan, Dousios, Dimitrios, Korfiatis, Nikolaos ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6377-4837 and Chalvatzis, Konstantinos ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9829-7030 (2024) Mapping the signaling environment between sustainability-focused entrepreneurship and investment inputs: A topic modeling approach. Business Strategy and the Environment, 33 (6). pp. 5405-5422. ISSN 0964-4733

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Abstract

The need for climate action has increased attention to sustainability-focused entrepreneurship. In this context, entrepreneurial firms play a fundamental role in developing high-technology solutions for decarbonization but face funding gaps due to the liabilities of newness and smallness. Despite the importance of signaling in entrepreneurship, little is known about what and how to effectively signal to attract investor interest in small ventures that develop sustainable technologies. To address this gap, the present study is anchored in signaling theory and suggests a topic modeling solution to identify signals presented in company self-descriptions and areas of activity, alongside their investment inputs. Using data extracted from Crunchbase, a corpus of 5099 self-descriptions of small sustainable technology ventures over a period of 10 years, this study provides novel insights into the signaling environment of sustainability-focused entrepreneurship. The study's findings have implications for the sustainability ecosystem, namely, start-ups, small- and medium-sized enterprises, investors, and policymakers.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: latent dirichlet allocation,signaling theory,sustainability-focused entrepreneurship,sustainable technologies,topic modeling,business and international management,geography, planning and development,strategy and management,management, monitoring, policy and law,sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1400/1403
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 22 May 2024 09:31
Last Modified: 12 Dec 2024 01:52
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/95280
DOI: 10.1002/bse.3748

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