From fire comes light: transformational entrepreneurship and the quest for societal change in Africa

Purpose Despite increasing scholarly interest in how entrepreneurship can serve as a vehicle for addressing complex societal challenges, the dominant literature has largely centred on Western contexts, overlooking how African enterprises, often constrained by institutional voids and resource scarcity, mobilise entrepreneurial capabilities to tackle grand challenges. This study addresses this gap by theorising and empirically testing a context-sensitive model that integrates transformational entrepreneurship, responsible innovation, and institutional logics to explain how African firms respond to grand challenges. Design/methodology/approach The study employs structural equation modelling to test hypothesised relationships using time-lagged and multi-sourced data collected from SMEs in Ghana (n = 311) and South Africa (n = 373). Findings Transformational entrepreneurship positively influences the tackling of societal grand challenges, with responsible innovation serving as a significant mediator in both countries. However, the findings diverge across contexts with respect to the moderating effects: stakeholder salience significantly moderates the transformational entrepreneurship and responsible innovation link in South Africa but not in Ghana, while SDG commitment strengthens the responsible innovation and tackling grand challenges link in Ghana but not in South Africa. These differences reveal the contextual nature of innovation pathways across African markets. Practical implications Policymakers and business leaders in Africa should prioritise leadership development that fosters transformational entrepreneurship and embed SDG principles into corporate strategies. Building stakeholder salience and responsible innovation capacity can enhance the social impact of African enterprises, although localised strategies may be required depending on institutional and cultural differences. Originality/value This study taps into an underdeveloped dimension of the African entrepreneurship literature by developing a context-specific model that integrates institutional contingencies, such as stakeholder salience and SDG commitment, thereby illuminating when and how entrepreneurship can yield broader societal outcomes.