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rease the understanding of the triggers and motivations of scientists, specifically environmental entrepreneurs, as they transition into the new venture creation process. Understanding the experience of environmental entrepreneurs for founding their new business ventures will help other scientists understand the experience and enlighten nascent scientific entrepreneurs about the transition from employee to entrepreneur and scientist to businessperson. It will also lend a better appreciation for the triggers and motivations leading to the new venture creation process experienced by the environmental entrepreneur with the intention of abating some of the challenges of the new venture creation process. This research will also uncover the reasons and practices common to the successful new scientific venture creation process.

Rationale

The rationale for this research considered first the nature of the case, second the demographics, and third the importance of the research. First, the nature of the case concerns the lack of study about the environmental entrepreneur's experience. The phenomenon has not been evaluated in peer-reviewed literature in a qualitative study. These individuals have been documented to behave differently in the new venture creation process (Danielson, 1960). Given the dismal success rates in entrepreneurial ventures presented by Headd (2002), additional knowledge about this phenomenon assists with an understanding of the triggers and motivations of these individuals to provide additional insight about the new venture creation process for scientific endeavors.

Second, demographically, this research includes an evaluation of the triggers and motivations of environmental entrepreneurs in Ohio. Ohio is an appropriate platform for this assessment because of its industrial history, presence in one of the “rust-belt” states, volume of contaminated sites, and number of environmental entrepreneurs (Sawhney & Rupa, 2003). Ohio's environmental entrepreneurs serve as an adequate microcosm for other environmental entrepreneurs in the United States given the significance of its demographic.

Environmental services in the State of Ohio totaled $12.2 billion and accounted for 176,000 jobs in 2003 (MISI, 2004). This equates to 4.1% of all sales and 3.5% of employment figures for this market in the United States (Sawhney & Rupa, 2003). Most of the growth in the environmental services business is in the private sector such as professional, scientific, and technical services (MISI, 2004). This is logical since Ohio has, and continues to be, one of the most manufacturing intensive states in the U. S.

There are approximately 6,500 environmental scientists, engineers, biologists, chemists, and geoscientists in Ohio (MISI, 2004). Environmental entrepreneurs are a much smaller subset of this value yet the exact number is undefined. The exact number is less crucial to qualitative assessments because sample size is not as ratio-dependent as in quantitative assessments (Creswell, 2007). A sample size of 20 is deemed appropriate for this study given the potential population, its demographics, and the research methodology.

Third, given the importance placed on environmental and entrepreneurial activities in the U. S. and abroad, the lack of research is an untenable void. No peer-reviewed literature is present regarding these individuals with respect to t