Advanced Mechanical Engineering and Smart Manufacturing
Responsible Ai Driven Entrepreneurship: A Conceptual Framework for Ethical Governance, Stakeholder Accountability, And Sustainable Value Creation
Abstract
Leila Moradi
The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that explains how responsible artificial intelligence (AI) practices can be embedded within entrepreneurial ventures to support ethical governance, stakeholder accountability, and sustainable value creation. Addressing the growing ethical challenges associated with AI driven entrepreneurship, the study seeks to clarify the mechanisms through which ethical responsibility is operationalized in entrepreneurial contexts. This study adopts a conceptual and theory driven approach. Drawing on stakeholder theory, responsible innovation, and digital responsibility perspectives, the paper integrates insights from the ethics, entrepreneurship, and technology literatures to develop a process-oriented framework. A set of theoretically grounded propositions is advanced to explicate the relationships among responsible AI practices, ethical governance mechanisms, stakeholder trust, moral legitimacy, and sustainable value creation. The research theorizes that responsible AI practices influence sustainable value creation indirectly through ethical governance mechanisms and stakeholder trust, which sequentially contribute to moral legitimacy. The framework suggests that ethical governance translates abstract AI ethics principles into organizational practices, while stakeholder trust and moral legitimacy function as critical mediating conditions that enable AI driven entrepreneurial ventures to achieve long term economic, social, and ethical value. The current study offers a novel, entrepreneurship focused perspective on responsible AI by shifting attention from corporate and regulatory contexts to the unique governance challenges faced by AI driven ventures. By conceptualizing ethical governance and stakeholder trust as central mediating mechanisms, the paper advances a process-oriented explanation of how ethical responsibility supports legitimacy and sustainable value creation in entrepreneurial settings.