Systematic review and scientometric analysis of scientific research in the field of green entrepreneurship development

Purpose: With the increase in environmental problems and the world's need to achieve sustainable development, a new subfield of entrepreneurship has emerged, which is named green entrepreneurship. Considering the newness and the early stage of the literature in this field, the current research has been done to analyze studies in green entrepreneurship by using some indicators of measuring science. This study helps to better understand the subject of green entrepreneurship.
Methodology: This study was done using a scientometric approach, descriptive, content analysis, and systematic review. In this research, in order to answer the research questions, we used the electronic database Scopus, Science Direct and Emerald during the years 2000 to 2022. In the next step, all descriptive and analytical studies were examined in this study. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are the steps of systematic study in which, related articles are imported and unrelated articles are deleted from the analysis. The framework of this systematic review was set based on the PRISMA checklist which includes 4 steps (Identification, Screening, Eligibility, and included), eventually, after applying the evaluation criteria, 171 articles were analyzed.
Findings: The Analyzes show the upward trend of published articles on green entrepreneurship. It was found that most of the studies were quantitative and were done with the case study method. Another interesting finding has been the popularity of terms related to green entrepreneurship in recent years for example: green innovation, green and circular economy and the prevalence of green and institutional innovation theories. The findings showed that England and China have the most co-authorship in green entrepreneurship studies. Among the identified factors, institutional and political factors have received the most attention among researchers.
Conclusion: The upward trend of studies in the field of green entrepreneurship, especially in recent years, can be seen as a result of the growing needs of societies, the lack of resources, and the upward trend of problems in the field of environment and employment and the growth of researchers' interest in studies related to the field of environment and entrepreneurship that has caused governments to support green businesses. The results of the analysis show that words such as sustainable development, sustainability, and entrepreneurship, which are at the top of the list, express the fact that more research has been done in the field of those words, while the word green entrepreneurship is in the fourth place in terms of number, which shows that Still less research has been done in its field. Therefore, the increase of research, especially in the field of green entrepreneurship, needs time. On the other hand, the findings obtained from the countries studied in green entrepreneurship show that most of the research contributions were from developed countries such as England, China, and the United States, which have a relatively high focus on this topic. Also, the findings of highly cited journals showed that the top journals mentioned in this research cover most of the authors from developed countries. In addition, the results show that quantitative and qualitative methods have received more attention from researchers separately. Although the mixed research method is one of its strengths, it has not received much attention in this field. Another issue is that the theories presented in this research have been used in the field of entrepreneurship for many years, but the application of these theories in green entrepreneurship is completely new. Findings show that some theories such as innovation and institutional have received more attention, because the institutional approach shows that the development of green entrepreneurship requires a favorable institutional quality. Therefore, necessary reforms should be made in the institutions so that they can support entrepreneurship as an engine of development. Also, in this research, factors affecting the development of green entrepreneurship were identified, which can be potential new fields for future scientific research. The findings of this research will help future researchers to identify the gaps in this field and by saving time and money and not paying attention to repetitive issues, they can take steps to fill the research gaps and play an important role in the decision-making of policymakers and Planners.