The Four‐Pillar Intersectionality Framework: Reframing Sustainable Entrepreneurship as a Transdisciplinary Domain

ABSTRACT This study offers a comprehensive bibliometric and text‐mining overview of two decades of sustainability‐oriented entrepreneurship research. Drawing on 7563 peer‐reviewed articles from the Web of Science Core Collection, we map the field's evolution, thematic structure, and disciplinary convergence, identifying influential authors, networks, and journals. Using rule‐based classification and unsupervised learning, we categorize contributions within a four‐pillar framework encompassing environmental, social, economic, and cultural dimensions and examine their prevalence, overlap, and temporal trends. The results reveal a pronounced shift toward transdisciplinarity: 77% of articles engage with at least three pillars, and 34.5% address all four simultaneously. Building directly on this empirical evidence, we propose the Four‐Pillar Intersectionality Framework (F‐PIF), which reconceptualizes sustainable entrepreneurship as a transdisciplinary knowledge domain shaped by interdependent sustainability logics. The F‐PIF is therefore both derived from and supported by the bibliometric findings, providing an empirically grounded conceptual model that advances theoretical understanding and offers practical guidance for scholars and practitioners navigating entrepreneurship in the age of sustainability.

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Publication Details

Journal
Business Strategy and the Environment
Published
2025-11-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70403
Primary Topic
Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

The Four‐Pillar Intersectionality Framework: Reframing Sustainable Entrepreneurship as a Transdisciplinary Domain

Chiara Spiniello, Alessandra Micozzi, Maria Palazzo, Giusy Sica
Business Strategy and the Environment
Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences
article

The Four‐Pillar Intersectionality Framework: Reframing Sustainable Entrepreneurship as a Transdisciplinary Domain

Chiara Spiniello, Alessandra Micozzi, Maria Palazzo, Giusy Sica
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study offers a comprehensive bibliometric and text‐mining overview of two decades of sustainability‐oriented entrepreneurship research. Drawing on 7563 peer‐reviewed articles from the Web of Science Core Collection, we map the field's evolution, thematic structure, and disciplinary convergence, identifying influential authors, networks, and journals. Using rule‐based classification and unsupervised learning, we categorize contributions within a four‐pillar framework encompassing environmental, social, economic, and cultural dimensions and examine their prevalence, overlap, and temporal trends. The results reveal a pronounced shift toward transdisciplinarity: 77% of articles engage with at least three pillars, and 34.5% address all four simultaneously. Building directly on this empirical evidence, we propose the Four‐Pillar Intersectionality Framework (F‐PIF), which reconceptualizes sustainable entrepreneurship as a transdisciplinary knowledge domain shaped by interdependent sustainability logics. The F‐PIF is therefore both derived from and supported by the bibliometric findings, providing an empirically grounded conceptual model that advances theoretical understanding and offers practical guidance for scholars and practitioners navigating entrepreneurship in the age of sustainability.

Business Strategy and the EnvironmentVol. 35(3)
University of Oxford (GB), Mercatorum University (IT), Science Oxford (GB)
Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca
Openalex Percentile: Top 52%
Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences
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