Corporate Responses to the Logics of Space Mining: The Case of ispace Inc

Following an institutional logics perspective, this paper explores how one of the most prominent corporations – the Japanese start-up firm ispace Inc – inhabiting the field of space mining has responded to the logics that govern this field. Examining the prevalence of such logics in the company’s extensive news communication, we find that its responses are dominated by the entrepreneurial logic that has grown increasingly prominent in this field. By contrast, evidence of the sustainability logic, that has emerged as a counter-reaction to the entrepreneurial logic, is sparser but increasing over time. A third, regulatory logic also features in the company’s news communication and has mediated the entrepreneurial and sustainability logics in a way that has pulled the latter logics apart and reinforced a state of logics segregation. Taken together, our findings reinforce emerging concerns that the entrepreneurial logic is overshadowing the sustainability logic and that the two logics may be difficult to reconcile in the field of space mining. We discuss the implications of our findings for policy development and future research.