Khan, Eijaz, Chowdhury, Md Maruf Hossan, Royhan, Pradip, Gowan, Sunaina, Rahman, Mohammed Mizanur, and Mahdavi, Mehregan (2024) A decision model for sustainable informal entrepreneurship in cities. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management. (In Press)

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Abstract

Purpose: Sustainable development goals and the climate change agenda are becoming widely promoted topics of research for the 21st century. The role of cities is increasingly recognised as central to investigating these topics. Yet, the field of informal sector entrepreneurship which so many urban entrepreneurs in developing countries depend upon is seldom considered. To redress this imbalance, this study aims to develop a decision model in accordance with institutional theory (IT) and resource dependency theory (RDT) for city managers to deploy. The model identifies and prioritises optimal strategies to address the three areas of sustainability requirements environment society and economy within the study context of Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach: This study used a mixed methods research design. In the qualitative part, the authors identified the three areas of sustainability requirements (i.e. environment, society and economy) and their corresponding strategies involving the informal sector that operates within the urban environment. In the quantitative part, the authors applied fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) integrated with the 0-1 non-linear optimisation technique to identify optimal strategies.

Findings: The findings show that strategies such as legitimate frameworks, waste management, allocation of urban public space and training programs contribute in important ways to the three areas of sustainability requirements.

Practical implications: The proposed decision model will assist policy-makers and city managers to prioritise sustainability requirements and implement optimal strategies to address those requirements.

Originality/value: Through the integration of IT and RDT, the decision model developed in this study is unique in its application to urban-based informal entrepreneurship in the context of developing countries. The effective application of the fuzzy QFD approach and the optimisation model in the context of urban-based informal entrepreneurship also offers unique contributions to the field of study.

Item ID:	76656
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1756-8706
Keywords:	Informal entrepreneurship, Institutional theory, Resource dependency theory, Fuzzy QFD approach, Optimal strategy, Decision model
Copyright Information:	© Eijaz Ahmed Khan, Md Maruf Hossan Chowdhury, Pradip Royhan, Sunaina Gowan, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman and Mehregan Mahdavi. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial & noncommercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2022 04:19
FoR Codes:	35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour > 350704 Entrepreneurship @ 100%
SEO Codes:	15 ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK > 1503 Management and productivity > 150302 Management @ 100%
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