University of Groningen Unpacking opportunity recognition for sustainable entrepreneurship Enthoven, Margo

(1)

University of Groningen

Unpacking opportunity recognition for sustainable entrepreneurship

Enthoven, Margo

DOI:

10.33612/diss.160443584

IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below.

Document Version

Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record

Publication date: 2021

Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database

Citation for published version (APA):

Enthoven, M. (2021). Unpacking opportunity recognition for sustainable entrepreneurship. University of Groningen. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.160443584

Copyright

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).

Take-down policy

If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.

(2)

Unpacking opportunity recognition

for sustainable entrepreneurship

PhD thesis

to obtain the degree of PhD at the University of Groningen

on the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. C. Wijmenga

and in accordance with the decision by the College of Deans. This thesis will be defended in public on

Thursday 18 March 2021 at 12.45 hours

by

Margo Philippina Maria Enthoven born on 16 March 1993

in Hellendoorn

Unpacking opportunity recognition

for sustainable entrepreneurship

PhD thesis

by

(3)

Unpacking opportunity recognition

for sustainable entrepreneurship

PhD thesis

and in accordance with the decision by the College of Deans. This thesis will be defended in public on Thursday 18 March 2021 at 12.45 hours

by

in Hellendoorn

Printed by GVO Drukkers & Vormgevers, Ede

All material in this dissertation, unless otherwise stated, is copyrighted material owned by the author. No part of this dissertation may be reprinted, reproduced, or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author.

(4)

Unpacking opportunity recognition

for sustainable entrepreneurship

PhD thesis

by

(5)

Acknowledgements

In my preparation of this manuscript, I have enjoyed the support, advice, and friendship of many great people. I dedicate the first pages of this thesis to those people. For supporting me in my academic endeavours, I would first of all like to thank my advisors, Gjalt, Berfu, and Emma, who have made this learning experience possible.

Gjalt, first and foremost, I want to thank you for your entrepreneurial initiation of Campus Fryslân’s first research group, and your decision to recruit me as its first PhD. It takes courage to start a new group, and even more so to start a group on a topic that is not always considered a legitimate one by business scholars: sustainability. I count myself immensely fortunate to be the one who has witnessed the Centre for Sustainable Entrepreneurship grow from just the two of us to its current size. Thank you for facilitating this wonderful group of colleagues, for starting my PhD journey, for giving me the freedom to pursue my own projects, and for putting me into the privileged position of the Campus’s first PhD researcher.

Berfu, you became my advisor when I was struggling the most, and you have supported me during some very difficult moments of my PhD by always being ‘on my team’. Your bright nature, the new insights you have given me, and your boundless kindness have made my life as a PhD student so much better. I have learned from you that in a scholarly environment surrounded by smart people, it is immensely valuable to have an advisor who is not just smart, but also kind. Meeting with you has never failed to lift my spirits.

Supervisor Prof. G. de Jong Co-supervisors Dr. E.C. Folmer Dr. A.B. Ünal Assessment Committee Prof. J.M.L. van Engelen Prof. R.J.M. van Tulder Prof. A.J.M. Roobeek

(6)

Acknowledgements

In my preparation of this manuscript, I have enjoyed the support, advice, and friendship of many great people. I dedicate the first pages of this thesis to those people. For supporting me in my academic endeavours, I would first of all like to thank my advisors, Gjalt, Berfu, and Emma, who have made this learning experience possible.

Gjalt, first and foremost, I want to thank you for your entrepreneurial initiation of Campus Fryslân’s first research group, and your decision to recruit me as its first PhD. It takes courage to start a new group, and even more so to start a group on a topic that is not always considered a legitimate one by business scholars: sustainability. I count myself immensely fortunate to be the one who has witnessed the Centre for Sustainable Entrepreneurship grow from just the two of us to its current size. Thank you for facilitating this wonderful group of colleagues, for starting my PhD journey, for giving me the freedom to pursue my own projects, and for putting me into the privileged position of the Campus’s first PhD researcher.

Berfu, you became my advisor when I was struggling the most, and you have supported me during some very difficult moments of my PhD by always being ‘on my team’. Your bright nature, the new insights you have given me, and your boundless kindness have made my life as a PhD student so much better. I have learned from you that in a scholarly environment surrounded by smart people, it is immensely valuable to have an advisor who is not just smart, but also kind. Meeting with you has never failed to lift my spirits.

Supervisor Prof. G. de Jong Co-supervisors Dr. E.C. Folmer Dr. A.B. Ünal Assessment Committee Prof. J.M.L. van Engelen Prof. R.J.M. van Tulder Prof. A.J.M. Roobeek

(7)

iv

Emma, thank you for helping me to find my voice. You have helped me to explore what it means to be an independent entrepreneurship scholar, and I feel that our discussions have helped to establish the foundation of my thinking as an academic. In addition to that, your attitude towards supervision has helped me to become both critical and confident of my work. Working with you has been a paradigm shift in itself.

I am also infinitely grateful to Aleid, for taking on the role of mentor over these past years. Your ‘can do’ attitude and hands-on mentality showed me how to do research without making a fuss and collaborating with you has always been easy and positive. Thank you for the learning opportunities and guidance that you have given me, from the first year of my Bachelor to the last year of my PhD.

Also, I am indebted and grateful to the members of the reading committee for taking the time to read and assess this dissertation. Prof. Jo van Engelen, Prof. Annemieke Roobeek and Prof. Rob van Tulder, your considerations and thoughts have contributed to the quality of my manuscript and continue to inspire me in my career as a researcher.

Doing entrepreneurship research means doing people research, and I am grateful to have researched such inspiring and passionate people. A big thanks goes out to all the people I have interviewed or who have provided input for my research in other ways. You have made me truly passionate about entrepreneurship, and you have shown me what it means to be a change agent for sustainability.

Also, I wish to thank all the staff at the Campus Fryslân who have made PhD life easier, and more pleasurable. Never before have I met a group of people so passionate about a shared purpose. My PhD journey is intertwined with that of Campus Fryslân, for which I am grateful. A special thanks goes out to Kirsty and Antoniya. I want to thank Kirsty for correcting my writing entirely in her free time,

despite the fact that she left the Campus a couple of months before I finished this manuscript. Antoniya, thank you for helping me as a research assistant through a seemingly endless data collection process.

The Campus Fryslân’s PhD community has grown immensely during the start of my PhD, and this community has made me feel at home in Leeuwarden. To all the PhD’s I want to say that there is not one of you who I wasn’t delighted to meet and share thoughts with. It has been very comforting to know that you are always there when I needed support, and I took great pleasure in all the events and games that you have organized.

A special thank you goes out to Angela, Femke, Hendrik and Manon. All of you have helped me to grow as a scholar and a person. Thank you for sharing the best and the worst moments of my PhD, thank you for your support in all the little sustainability transitions in my life, and thank you for tolerating my chatter when we should all have been working.

Femke, thank you for being an ally from the start. You have defended me and my choices on numerous occasions and events, including my choice to become vegan at the beginning of my PhD. You have also helped me to become a better communicator, which is reflected in everything that I do.

Angela, we were not just colleagues, but ‘partners in crime’. You have challenged me to fundamentally question my thinking. Talking with you has changed my view on research and society. You have also taught me to look past my “Dutchness”, and to find a more universal way of being. Thank you for being different than anyone else I know, and thank you most of all for being an inspiration and a wonderful friend.

(8)