Despite the recent proliferation of research on blockchain, the existing literature is widely dispersed and lacks a comprehensive understanding of the integration of blockchain in impacting environmental and social sustainability. The purpose of our review is to synthesize previous research on the intersection of blockchain and sustainability. In our systematic review, we integrate and reconcile existing research on blockchain and sustainability by presenting antecedents and outcomes of blockchain integration and how blockchain is leveraged to achieve environmental and social impacts. We also propose a future research agenda to advance our knowledge of blockchain’s role in enhancing organizations’ sustainability efforts.

Blockchain research has proliferated in recent years, attracting more attention from academics and practitioners. However, the current body of management literature is widely scattered and lacks a comprehensive view of how the use of blockchain in organisations impacts environmental and social sustainability. To bridge this gap, our review comprehensively examines 238 academic papers sourced from the Scopus database, synthesising previous research on the convergence of blockchain and sustainability. Employing a systematic approach and incorporating bibliometric analysis, our study provides an analysis of the current management research landscape concerning blockchain and sustainability. Our study yields a comprehensive model comprising the antecedents, blockchain mechanisms, and sustainability outcomes of the use of blockchain in organisations. Based on our literature review, we establish a future research agenda and provide practical implications. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to systematically review existing literature concerning the transmission of entrepreneurial values within the context of family entrepreneurship. Specifically, the study aims to address two primary inquiries: First, which entrepreneurial values transferred across generations have been discerned in family entrepreneurship literature? Second, what mechanisms for the transmission of these values have been identified within family entrepreneurship literature?

Design/methodology/approach: We utilized the Web of Science database to identify relevant articles. We employed a broad set of Boolean search terms related to family, entrepreneurship and values. Ultimately, 77 articles were selected for detailed analysis based on their relevance to the topic.

Findings: Our review identified a diverse array of entrepreneurial values that can be categorized into three themes: family values, family business values and societal entrepreneurial values. Furthermore, mechanisms facilitating the transmission of these values were classified into eight distinct types, i.e. relational embeddedness, vicarious learning, explicit communication, imprinting, educating, parenting styles, community-zeitgeist and genetics. The paper concludes with an agenda for future research on entrepreneurial value transmission in enterprising families.

Practical implications: Understanding how entrepreneurial values are transmitted within family firms can inform practices such as succession planning, leadership development and fostering a culture of entrepreneurship across generations.

Originality/value: This paper contributes to the theoretical development of family entrepreneurship by consolidating and synthesizing existing knowledge on entrepreneurial value transmission. It provides a comprehensive overview that can guide future empirical and conceptual investigations in this field.

Research Summary: There is growing consensus that exogenous environmental changes can affect entrepreneurship. The external enabler framework, which provides the structures and terminology to analyze these enabling effects, has typically focused on new venture creation. In an attempt to extend the external enabler framework to corporate entrepreneurship and innovation, our longitudinal multiple-case study explores how environmental changes enable entrepreneurial initiatives in existing organizations. Our findings contribute to the external enabler framework, corporate entrepreneurship, and innovation literature by identifying new conceptual tools to understand the enabling effect of environmental change for the emergence, novelty, and persistence of entrepreneurial initiatives in existing organizations.

Managerial Summary: We studied how the Covid-19 pandemic enabled the initiation and continuation of entrepreneurial activities. Our study of eight small US-based news companies shows that some entrepreneurial initiatives emerged as these organizations redirected their course of action toward new initiatives enabled by the changes in the external environment. Notably, the entrepreneurial initiatives that were new-to-the-industry originated from ideas that were already available in some form within the organization but were not in use until the pandemic gave them a second life. Furthermore, the continuation of these initiatives depended on the persistence of the changes in the environment and on the low maintenance requirements of these initiatives in terms of time, effort, and resources.

Purpose: This paper studies early stages of actor mobilization for institutional change within Swedish esports. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: The authors’ findings explain how actors become motivated to act in critical reflections linked to conflicting legitimacy judgments and emotionally charged personal struggles. Moreover, the findings show how, as actors get activated in collective action, they identify efficacy lines around valid domains and experience emotionally charged collective endeavors. Furthermore, the findings explain how particularities in early experiences project legitimacy aspirations that orient collective action toward validity ends and particular values and ideals shaping actors' grassroots movements. Originality/value: This study adds to legitimacy and institutional change theory through individual actors' perspectives, providing key insights into how they are motivated, activated, and oriented. This study is the first to investigate grassroots activists' personal stories in esports.

It is impossible to think about the role of local journalism out of its context. In the United States of America, as in many other Western societies, this context is of increasing precarity. This chapter analyses observations made at key industrial and academic events, which are complemented by interviews with local players and articles, reports and studies produced by prominent actors in the field of news. Despite the significant changes brought by the digital, the core ideas that organise the business of providing local journalistic content in the regional press remain virtually unchanged from the analogic age. By the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the technological disruption brought by the internet had already syphoned advertising revenue from local newspapers to a reduced number of big technological players. Print advertising is collapsing and collective actors, increasingly aware of the inability of newspapers to compete with SMP for digital advertising, take issue with the sustainability of advertising as a revenue stream.

Aims: The aim of the paper is to explore emerging themes, which support the development of a sustainable esports industry.

Methods and results: This study is based on a workshop methodology, which aims to identify and explore topics perceived as most pertinent by individuals with an intimate understanding of the dynamics of the esports context. Two workshops were held with a total of 64 participants, representing both academia and industry stakeholders. Interpretations of the sustainability of esports were thus recorded, developed, critiqued, and refined through social interaction with experts. The results indicate three critical themes to address regarding the development of sustainability of esports, namely a) health and inclusiveness, b) the incomplete industry structure, and c) the immature business logic.

Conclusions: Sustainability refers to the ability of esports to survive or persist. We argue that sustainability is dependent on how well industry stakeholders can address the identified themes. Currently, social sustainability is the primary concern of both practitioners and researchers of esports. Economic sustainability mostly deals with securing business growth, while environmental sustainability is not yet perceived as a relevant topic (e.g., using sustainable technologies and energy-saving related to gaming and competitive events). Structures and processes within esports presently constitute the focus of sustainability in esports.

Esports is a phenomenon which continues to grow in socio-cultural and economic importance, yet it remains at the edges of mainstream society. To date, there have been few works which address the topic in terms of legitimacy, particularly the micro-processes of legitimization. Given that the esports system is one which currently operates outside wider societal practices, the lived experiences of actors in the ecosystem can offer valuable insights into the world of esports. This research employs IPA in order to understand how actors in organized grassroots esports movements make sense of their individual experiences and actions. A series of novel contributions are provided by this work. First, micro-level theories of legitimacy are applied to a phenomenon which has recently come to mainstream attention, one which is at the same time a business and a culture. Second, it is the first, in our knowledge, to apply a qualitative methodology to the explicit issue of legitimacy in esports. Third, it adds to theories of legitimacy and institutional change by providing empirical insights into the circumstances in which the experience of conflicts in legitimacy judgments independently mobilizes actors, shaping collective action into grassroots activism efforts. Finally, it highlights tensions between international success and the foundations of grassroots esports. 

In this chapter, we argue that well-conducted qualitative research can play an important role in advancing the field of media management through theory building. We outline and compare different perspectives to qualitative research and how these can be used in terms of sampling, data collection and analysis. We also introduce relevant criteria to assess the quality of qualitative research and present some ethical considerations.