Indicators to measure the performance of sustainable urban entrepreneurship: an empirical case study applied to Portuguese cities and towns
Smart and Sustainable Built Environment
ISSN: 2046-6099
Article publication date: 3 August 2020
Issue publication date: 8 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Urban sustainability is an inseparable dimension of today's cities; thus, the role played by creativity, and consequently sustainable urban entrepreneurship and the networks it raises, gives rise to the pro-activity of these two constructs toward a tripartition (economic, social and environmental). This study aims to measure sustainable urban entrepreneurship through a composite of existing indicators in the literature of cities.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors followed a quantitative research by applying exploratory factor analysis. The sample contains 308 towns and cities in Portugal, and the data were collected using secondary databases (e.g. INE; PORDATA).
Findings
Through quantitative research, this study identified the key indicators that mediate sustainable urban entrepreneurship in cities, as a methodological tool for them to evaluate their sustainable entrepreneurial capacity.
Practical implications
The results obtained here provide information to show that sustainable urban entrepreneurship is an essential construct for cities, allowing a solution to many of their urban problems by its association with creative economy and its influence on the revitalization of urban spaces by urban regeneration, and by the importance of networks in these, the latter being another fundamental construct.
Originality/value
This research makes important contributions to studies considering the sustainability construct in urban entrepreneurship area. It will help to fill part of the gap in existing studies involving the cities’ aspects in entrepreneurship field. Consequently, the main contribution of this study lies in identifying the indicators that contribute to cities' tripartite sustainable balance by assuming sustainable urban entrepreneurship as a crucial premise.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees of the journal for their extremely useful suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from National Funds of the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the project « UIDB/04007/2020».
Citation
Franco, M. and Rodrigues, M. (2022), "Indicators to measure the performance of sustainable urban entrepreneurship: an empirical case study applied to Portuguese cities and towns", Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/SASBE-03-2020-0017
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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