What Motivates Founders of Sustainable Companies?

This paper presents an innovative AI-based method-ology to systematically understand and classify the motivations and goals of founders who establish sustainable businesses in rural Austria. The study analyzes self-descriptions from companies' websites and interviews with founders using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence tools for processing textual and audio data. This dual approach provides a comprehensive insight into the official and personal motivations driving sustainable entrepreneurship in rural settings. Utilizing natural language processing technologies and large language models, the research identifies patterns, themes, and the consistency of motivations across different communication channels. It aims to assess the authenticity and credibility of sustainability efforts by comparing public presentations with personal motivations. The findings contribute valuable insights into the motivations behind sustain-able entrepreneurship, offering implications for supporting and promoting such initiatives in rural areas.