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• Community enterprises may play pivotal roles in sustainability transitions, yet are under-researched. • A conceptual framework of the upscaling processes of community enterprises is proposed. • As community enterprises scale up, institutional complexity may arise between the community, market, and corporate logics. • We formulate nine propositions on the sources of institutional complexity and possible managing mechanisms. • The framework is supported by empirical cases from carsharing and renewable energy. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]