Socio-demographic influences on environmental entrepreneurship: a systematic review

Environmental entrepreneurship can play a key role in facilitating sustainable development. To achieve this potential of environmental entrepreneurship, it is crucial to gain knowledge about the characteristics of individuals pursuing environmentally oriented entrepreneurial activity. Therefore, this study systematically reviews the literature on the influence of socio-demographic variables on environmentally oriented entrepreneurial activity. Inter alia, the paper identifies that environmental entrepreneurs are usually highly educated. Furthermore, the authors show that gender bias in conventional entrepreneurship is reversed in environmental entrepreneurship, as most of the reviewed studies found females to be more active in environmental entrepreneurship than males. Based on these findings, the authors advise entrepreneurship education, as well as political interventions, to concentrate on the identified target groups and highlight the importance of including socio-demographic variables in a potential theory of environmental entrepreneurship.