Abstract This paper merges the literature on green and high-quality entrepreneurship by introducing environmental orientation as an unrecognised characteristic of start-up quality and the three quality dimensions innovativeness, high-growth, and internationalisation. Entrepreneurship literature argues that only high-quality start-ups contribute to sustainable development and that a better understanding of what determines the quality of start-ups is required. Empirical research has recently shown that the environmental orientation of start-ups is one such determinant, as it significantly predicts their innovativeness. This paper pursues this novel research avenue on the importance of environmental orientation for start-up quality in two ways. First, this paper evaluates and extends this initial evidence on environmental orientation and innovativeness by examining a three times larger sample, covering additional countries and entrepreneurial stages. Second, this paper also analyses the impact of environmental orientation on the quality dimensions of high-growth and internationalisation. Investigation using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data on 9,650 entrepreneurs from 51 countries revealed that start-ups with a higher environmental orientation are of superior quality regarding their innovativeness, growth expectations, and exports. These results remain robust for start-ups at different entrepreneurial stages, and tests employing different methodological approaches and variable definitions. However, the categorisation into factor-driven, efficiency-driven, and innovation-driven countries showed that greener start-ups are more innovative in countries at all three levels of development, while the relationships with high-growth and internationalisation remained significant for only two of the three categories. The findings of this paper provide a new approach for practitioners to identify the small number of high-quality start-ups and an economic reason warranting intensified efforts to support green start-ups.
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