Sustainable entrepreneurship between ecological distinction and local context

Long regarded as the primary driver of the destructive effects associated with globalized and neo-liberal capitalism, in recent decades firms have re-emerged in scholarly debates not only as a source of problems but also as an agent for promoting more inclusive and environmentally sustainable development models. The growing diffusion of new business models calls for explanations concerning their origins, motivations and intentions, as well as the role of the contexts, factors that ultimately shape their capacity to support concrete transition processes. This paper integrates categories drawn from the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship and from ecological distinction applied to pro-environmental attitudes into a unified analytical framework, with the aim of improving our understanding of emerging forms of entrepreneurship while accounting for territorial specificities. The empirical basis of the research was developed within the case study of Palermo, one of the largest urban areas in southern Italy, which is a peripheral region of Europe. The research employs a qualitative methodology through the use of discursive interviews conducted with 24 entrepreneurs in the service sector, mainly food, circular economy, and sustainable tourism. The paper proposes a typology of firms that makes it possible to highlight the features of a hybrid form of entrepreneurship, interpreted in light of its social foundation (the urban critical middle class) and the characteristics of the territory in the case study (a peripheral area).