Community enterprises may play pivotal roles in sustainability transitions but have received limited attention in the transitions literature. This paper proposes a framework for theorising the challenges that community enterprises face as they scale up due to the rising institutional complexity of their organisational model, combining the institutional logics of community, market, and corporation. We conceptualise the upscaling processes of community enterprises by distinguishing between the community volunteerism phase, the niche creation phase and the niche expansion phase. We formulate nine propositions on how institutional complexity arises and on possible mechanisms to manage it in each phase of the upscaling process. Our theoretical framework is supported by empirical research on carsharing and renewable energy initiatives in Western Europe. The paper concludes with some avenues for further research on community enterprises in sustainability transitions.

社区企业可能在可持续性转型中发挥关键作用，但在转型文献中受到的关注有限。本文结合社区、市场和公司的制度逻辑，提出了一个框架，将社区企业由于其组织模式的制度复杂性不断上升而在扩大规模时面临的挑战进行理论化。我们通过区分社区志愿服务阶段、利基创造阶段和利基扩张阶段来概念化社区企业的升级过程。我们就制度复杂性如何产生以及在升级过程的每个阶段管理它的可能机制提出了九个命题。我们的理论框架得到了对西欧汽车共享和可再生能源计划的实证研究的支持。