Introduction

This chapter discusses the growing expectation that businesses will address some of society's challenges and how there's an increasing interest among business owners in becoming ethical and sustainable. It introduces the central question posed in the PhD research upon which the online training intervention for business owners is based: How can an intervention be developed that leads to increased levels of prosocial behaviour in entrepreneurs? This chapter goes onto explore the need to develop a greater understanding and awareness of entrepreneurs as individuals and how they can be encouraged and supported to act in ways that benefit themselves, their business, society and the planet. The journey from the initial research question to creating relevant, fit-for-purpose learning materials that will change the way people do business is outlined in this chapter, as are the current gaps between learning and practice in entrepreneur education and how the online training intervention detailed in this book will fill those gaps.