Institutional Entrepreneurship and Work for Enhanced Sustainability at the Base of the Pyramid

Promoting sustainability at the base of the pyramid (BoP) often falls short of inclusive development due to informal and fragmented institutions, creating institutional voids. Although institutions are critical in BoP settings, there is limited clarity on how institutional mechanisms can address sustainability challenges in low-income contexts with context-specific setups and diverse stakeholders. Without such understanding, sustainability initiatives risk being ineffective or counterproductive, limiting their potential for long-term inclusive development. To address this gap, we integrate insights from institutional entrepreneurship (IE) and institutional work (IW) with BoP research. Our analysis reveals four avenues: navigating the institutional environment, institutional bricolage, explanatory-rhetorical skills and relations and engagement with state actors as critical elements in promoting inclusive and sustainable development. By highlighting how institutional entrepreneurs (IEs) leverage resources, build legitimacy and reconfigure formal and informal institutional arrangements, this study advances BoP literature and provides a roadmap for future empirical research for both practitioners and researchers focusing on emerging economies.