Sustainable entrepreneurship: Insight from a case study of hydroponic business in Urban Indonesia

Abstract

Sustainable Entrepreneurship (SE) is increasingly recognized as a promising field for addressing interconnected economic, social, and environmental challenges through entrepreneurial action. While SE remains underexplored, with much of the literature shaped by Global North contexts, little is understood about how it unfolds in the Global South, especially in the urban agricultural sector. This paper offers insights from a holistic, multiple-case study of hydroponic entrepreneurs in the urban region of Jakarta, Indonesia (Jabodetabek), examining how SE emerges in real-world contexts, resource-constrained settings. Guided by a constructivist paradigm, the study is based on data collected through in-depth interviews, field observations, and documentation. We employ thematic analysis and theoretical interpretation across four levels: individual, process, firm, and environment. There are eight identified themes, leading to three propositions that contribute to understanding SE in practice. The findings reveal that SE among hydroponic entrepreneurs in Jabodetabek emerges from personally meaningful concerns and evolves through adaptive, relational practices shaped by local conditions, with sustainability gradually represented as a contextual response, rather than a premeditated strategy. This study contributes to SE theory by introducing the concept of SE emergence through cross-level dynamic interactions across process and firm levels, with the individual at the core intersection, all embedded within the environmental context in which it takes place.