Advancing Ecopreneurship for Regenerative Outcomes: Evidence from Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: In the era of regenerative development, regenerative entrepreneurship has evolved as a feature of contemporary business models, emphasizing ecological restoration and renewal, social resilience, and long-term economic sustainability through innovative and sustainable business activities for net-positive outcomes.

Objectives: This study focused on an analysis of the impact of circular economy principles, systems thinking and sustainable business practices on regenerative outcomes of ecopreneurial firms in Nigeria. It also contrasted the regenerative outcomes of firms that have ecological innovation strategies with conventional innovation strategies, and examined the impact of ethical leadership, community engagement and regenerative performance metrics on regenerative outcomes.

Methods: The study was a quantitative cross sectional survey design with twenty ecopreneurial firms from different sectors in Nigeria selected through purposive sampling technique. Structured questionnaires were employed for data collection. Logistic regression was used to analyze the influence of circular economy principles, systems thinking and sustainable business practices on the likelihood of achieving regenerative outcomes; an independent samples t-test was utilized to compare the regenerative outcomes of ecological innovation and conventional innovation strategies, and the effects of governance and stakeholder drivers on regenerative outcomes were assessed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM).

Results: The findings showed that the application of circular economy principles (p = 0.045, Exo[B] = 3.32) and systems thinking  (p = 0.071, Exo[B] = 2.46) significantly increased the probability of achieving regenerative outcomes, whilst the greater reliance on conventional sustainability practices lowered the chances of achieving regenerative outcomes (p = 0.034 Exo[B] = 0.43). The ecological restoration outcomes were significantly greater when innovation strategies were ecological as compared to conventional (t = 13.10, p < 0.001). SEM results also revealed that ethical leadership (β = 0.45, p < 0.001), community engagement (β = 0.39, p < 0.001), and regenerative performance metrics (β = 0.52, p < 0.001) all significantly and positively influenced the regenerative outcomes, with the latter being the most influential.

Conclusions: The study shows that the change towards regenerative business is not only a change towards sustainability, but the integration of circular economy principles, systems thinking, ecological innovations, ethical leadership, community engagement and regenerative performance measurement into a coherent ecopreneurial framework. The results contribute to the growing body of literature on regenerative ecopreneurship and offer empirical evidence to guide policy makers, business executives and entrepreneurs in facilitating the shift towards regenerative economies in emerging markets.