Beyond Competences: An Axiological Perspective on Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education

Sélénia Anastasia, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations
Amélie Jacquemin, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations

Summary

In the context of socio-ecological transition, education is increasingly expected to move beyond a purely competence-based approach and support forms of engagement grounded in values. While sustainable entrepreneurship education acknowledges the importance of values, little is known about how they emerge and are mobilized in educational experiences, especially among younger learners. This article examines how values are mobilized in primary school sustainable entrepreneurship projects and how educational situations may contribute to their self-formation. The study articulates Nathalie Heinich’s axiological sociology, which examines how actors mobilize plural registers of value in context, with Hans Joas’s processual perspective on how values may be formed and transformed through experience. Empirically, it is based on a multi-case ethnographic study conducted in 2023–2024 in four primary school classes in Brussels (ages 10–12) involved in projects linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. Data include observations, interviews with pupils and teachers, pupils’ reflective journals, and pedagogical materials. The findings show that values emerge through recurring pedagogical configurations: encounters with socio-ecological realities, reflective and narrative practices, collective project materialization, and forms of engagement extending beyond school. These situations activate and articulate affective, ethical, civic, hermeneutic, and other value registers, while in some cases supporting processes of self-formation. The article thus shifts attention from competencies alone to the axiological dynamics through which sustainable entrepreneurial engagement takes shape from primary school onward.

Keywords: Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education, Early Childhood, Axiological Approach

Resonance Work : How Sustainable Entrepreneurs Shape the Shift from Niche to Norm

Chloé Faton, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations

Summary

Hybrid organizations, which combine market and social or environmental logics, face unique legitimacy challenges as they attempt to scale beyond niche markets and influence broader industry norms. A key mechanism to build legitimacy is framing. While prior research has examined how hybrid ventures achieve distinctiveness and coherence in their framing strategies, the resonance dimension - the degree to which a venture's framing aligns with the values and expectations of diverse audiences - remains underexplored. This is particularly important when hybrid ventures transition from niche innovation to industry norm, as frames that resonate with mission-aligned supporters may simultaneously alienate mainstream actors such as regulators, incumbents, and policymakers. Drawing on institutional theory and literatures on hybrid organizations and entrepreneurial framing, this study asks: how do hybrid entrepreneurs work on the resonance of their frames in their transition from niche innovation to industry norm? We address this question through a longitudinal qualitative study of Green Buildings, a Belgian sustainable construction venture founded in 2020. Between 2021 and 2025, we conducted 31 semi-structured interviews with co-founders, niche partners, domain experts, and industry actors. Using the Gioia method combined with temporal bracketing, we trace how resonance work unfolds over time and across audiences, within a shifting institutional context. Our findings offer two main contributions. First, we show that resonance work extends beyond tailoring frames to heterogeneous audiences, it also involves actively enabling partner agency to act on perceived alignment. When such agency is absent, particularly during periods of institutional uncertainty, the legitimacy process linking framing to resource access breaks down. Second, our temporal analysis identifies two distinct resonance work pathways - value-based and expectation-based - each with different relationships to institutions, agency, and resource mobilization. Together, these pathways illuminate the strategic tensions hybrid ventures navigate as they pursue transformative impact while managing the risk of audience alienation.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial framing, Resonance, Hybrid Venture, Legitimacy

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