Creating impact is a central objective for sustainability-driven enterprises. However, entrepreneurs often encounter various sustainability tensions in their pursuit of impact, specifically conflicts between economic, social, and environmental goals. Recognizing these tensions is critical for navigating and negotiating competing priorities for societal value creation, yet the types of tensions such enterprises face often remain unclear. Existing studies have examined sustainability tensions primarily in the context of large firms, whereas small enterprises that are explicitly founded to fulfil sustainability goals have received limited attention. In this paper, we aim to fill this research gap by examining tensions in sustainability-driven enterprises. We employ a multiple case study approach to identify tensions that entrepreneurs have encountered in the pursuit of social and environmental impacts. Our analysis allowed us to classify sustainability tensions into five categories – identity tensions, value-based tensions, operational impact tensions, scale-related impact tensions and external environmental tensions. These tensions emerged at three levels – individual, organizational, and macro-context – with varied implications for impact creation. We conclude by detailing how our findings contribute to the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship by exploring tensions encountered by sustainability-driven enterprises.
