Five Practices for Building Local Capacity in Sustainability-Driven Entrepreneurship for Place-Based Transformations

Diele Lobo,Silvia Pereira De Castro Casa Nova,Ana Carolina Rodriguez,Alexandre A Ardichvili

doi:10.3390/su14053027

Diele Lobo, Silvia Pereira De Castro Casa Nova + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053027

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Abstract

There is a growing interest in how entrepreneurship animates deliberate sustainability transformations across societal levels. Few studies, however, have provided an empirically grounded account of practices employed by sustainability-driven entrepreneurial organizations for sustainability transformations. We address this gap by applying the critical Human Resource Development (CHRD) framework to identify practices for developing organizational and community capacity conducive to sustainability transformations in two cases of sustainability-driven entrepreneurship in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil. We used case study methodology to identify five practices by conducting a reflexive thematic analysis with qualitative data from key informant interviews, documents, and secondary sources. Our results show that each practice was strongly oriented by relational values of care and social–ecological systems thinking. Both humans and nonhumans were taken as stakeholders who participate in and benefit from practices. Caring for the local place, place-based learning, and regenerative organizing appeared to be relevant for learning and development interventions that imparted significant changes in the local social–ecological context. We updated the CHRD framework to incorporate a nonhuman dimension and highlight caring, place-based learning, and regenerative organizing as essential areas of engagement in which HRD practices in support of place-based sustainability transformations occur.

Highlights

A transformative approach requires the introduction and governance of bold, innovative changes focused on targeting the root causes—instead of the symptoms—of unsustainability and social inequalities that explicitly or implicitly guide the interactions in social–ecological systems [2] (underlined terms are defined in the Glossary (Box 1)
We identified five Human Resource Development (HRD) practices that enabled the Sustainability-oriented hybrid organizations (SOHOs) to support the building of capacities conducive to fostering sustainability transformations at the organization and community level
We found that design and implementation choices in HRD interventions made by the founders and top management team members were guided by values of responsibility, reciprocity, solidarity, kinship, trust, social inclusion, stewardship, and work ethics

Summary

Introduction

Introduction published maps and institutional affilThe need for transformative change in business-as-usual practices is a timely debate in both sustainability sciences and policy agendas [1]. A transformative approach requires the introduction and governance of bold, innovative changes focused on targeting the root causes—instead of the symptoms—of unsustainability and social inequalities that explicitly or implicitly guide the interactions in social–ecological systems [2] (underlined terms are defined in the Glossary (Box 1). Many of such root causes stem from a development path that privileges limitless economic growth, alienates humans from nature, and disregards power disparities at the expense of human wellbeing and the health of ecosystems [3]. Initiating and governing deliberate transformations towards sustainability requires human agency capable of transforming social–ecological systems away from only pursuing economic growth towards ones that combine concerns over economic, environmental, and social— power disparities—issues [3–5]. iations.

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