Drivers of Social Entrepreneurial Intention: Evidence from a Malaysian Higher Education Context

Social entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in the economic well-being of a country. It promotes job creation, instigates innovation, as well as brings about community development and collaboration. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the key factors of Social Entrepreneurship Intention. In this study, we investigated how the factors of Attitude, Subjective Norms, and Social Entrepreneurship Awareness stimulate such intention among public university students in Malaysia. The study aims to determine the gap in empirical research results, thereby offering solutions to overcome the different levels of social entrepreneurship engagement among target respondents. A total of 172 responses were collected and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. An ordinal logistic regression approach was used, where the results suggest that all the factors considered affect Social Entrepreneurship Intention at varying intensity, with Subjective Norms being the most dominant factor. The findings of this study can benefit policymakers and ensure the sustainability of social entrepreneurship ecosystem in higher education.

The young generation as agents of change needs social entrepreneurship knowledge to create social entrepreneurship intention to solve social issues, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was conducted to examine social entrepreneurship intention among university students in Batam City, Indonesia based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with the addition of empathy, entrepreneurship education, and COVID-19 stress perception variables to the framework. This research used the purposive sampling method through an online questionnaire that was distributed to all students of the Faculty of Economics Universitas Internasional Batam who took social entrepreneurship course. The data collected from 269 respondents were analyzed using SmartPLS version 3.0 to test the proposed hypothesis. The research result confirmed that attitude, perceived behavioral control, and empathy have significant positive relationship with social entrepreneurship intention. Entrepreneurship education and subjective norm have no significant positive relationship on social entrepreneurship intention. Meanwhile, COVID-19 stress perception was not proven to have a significant negative relationship with social entrepreneurship intention. Based on this result, universities are suggested to improve social entrepreneurship learning method so it can generate student’s interest in social entrepreneurship as an attractive career choice.
 Keywords: social entrepreneurship; social entrepreneurship intention; theory of planned behavior, COVID-19.

PurposeStudies on social entrepreneurial intention have been increasing in recent years due to the growing concerns of young people on social and sustainability issues. Although social entrepreneurship is gaining momentum in emerging economies, only limited studies explore antecedents of social entrepreneurial intention in these countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. This paper aims to integrate the concept of entrepreneurship competence with the theory of planned behavior and examine the interrelationship between antecedents of this theory.Design/methodology/approachA survey of university students was used to validate the theory of planned behavior in explaining social entrepreneurial intention. Samples were selected using purposive sampling involving university students who had been exposed to social entrepreneurship incubators. The 372 valid responses were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling.FindingsThis study confirms the applicability of the theory of planned behavior to explain social entrepreneurial intention, even though not all attitudes toward social entrepreneurship orientation were significant. Out of five orientations, only attitudes toward social innovation significantly directed social entrepreneurial intention. This study validates that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control determine attitudes toward social entrepreneurship orientation. The roles of education and prior experience in providing entrepreneurship competence also positively shape individuals’ attitudes toward social entrepreneurship orientation and perceived behavioral control.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough perceived behavioral control and entrepreneurial self-efficacy are frequently interchangeable, these concepts are independent. This study does not include social entrepreneurial self-efficacy by only examining the effect of entrepreneurship competence on perceived behavioral control. Data were limited to university students who have been exposed to social entrepreneurship incubators, which may not fully reflect the tendency of general Indonesian youths to become social entrepreneurs.Practical implicationsAs entrepreneurship competence is essential in stimulating social entrepreneurial intention through the formation of attitudes toward social innovation and perceived behavioral control, the government and the universities can collaborate in establishing a supportive social entrepreneurship ecosystem within and outside the universities. This ecosystem may equip youths with essential knowledge and resources as well as complement subjective norms.Originality/valueStudies of social entrepreneurial intention have mostly applied psychological theories; however, they rarely consider the impact of entrepreneurship education as the driver of social entrepreneurial intention. Studies of social entrepreneurial intention from psychological and educational perspectives tend to run in parallel. This study integrates entrepreneurship competence into the theory of planned behavior to explain social entrepreneurial intention. In addition, while social entrepreneurship is believed to consist of multiple orientations, not many studies have deliberated on this. This study reflects these multiple social entrepreneurship orientations in the attitudes toward social entrepreneurship.

Social entrepreneurship is an entrepreneurial activity centering on solving social problems and creating social values, which can effectively alleviate the problems of sustainable development such as an excessive gap between the rich and the poor, a lack of resources and so on, and can resolve the “triple failures” of government, the market and public welfare departments to a certain extent. As the subjective attitude of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial intention can predict a representational incidence rate of entrepreneurial behavior. Therefore, aimed at university students, a special group of entrepreneurs, this paper constructs a theoretical framework of “network embeddedness – sense of opportunity identification efficacy – university students’ social entrepreneurial intention” from the perspective of social cognitive theory through 466 pieces of valid survey data, and uses Stata 14 to construct a multiple linear regression model to explore the mechanism of action between the three. The results show that university students’ sense of opportunity identification efficacy can significantly and positively stimulate their social entrepreneurial intention, and the network embeddedness (network scale and network intensity) of entrepreneurs is also significantly and positively correlated with their sense of opportunity identification efficacy; however, via the hierarchical regression model, it was found that the sense of opportunity identification efficacy can only partially mediate the relationship between network embeddedness and university students’ social entrepreneurial intention, which is mainly manifested in the positive correlation between university students’ social entrepreneurial intention and their network scale, and is unrelated to network intensity. This research contributes to enriching the theory of social entrepreneurial intention and guides the strengthening of university students’ social entrepreneurial intention in reality.

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate how the social entrepreneurial intention antecedents directly and indirectly affect social entrepreneurial intent. The participants of the study were Filipino and Indonesian university students from selected higher education institutions (HEIs).Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research design was used and partial least square-structural equation modeling was used to measure the direct and indirect effects of the structural model.FindingsThe results revealed that prior experience with social problems positively and significantly affects empathy, moral obligation, social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived social support. Moreover, it was also found that social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived social support positively and significantly affect social entrepreneurial intent, and these two antecedents mediate the positive relationship between prior experience with social problems and social entrepreneurial intent.Research limitations/implicationsAs the present study only examined social entrepreneurial intentions among Filipino and Indonesian university students, other researchers may test the framework in another locale. Others may find interest in identifying the significant difference in social entrepreneurial intent among between or among nations.Practical implicationsThe findings of the present study can benefit HEIs in terms of offering social entrepreneurship programs and courses. The role of HEIs is truly important. Providing an avenue for students for them to be socially entrepreneurial and empowering them to be future social entrepreneurs can truly help in sustainably promoting social entrepreneurship. These can be done by designing relevant learning materials and requirements that will permit students to be social venture creators.Social implicationsBased on this study, if these students were exposed to social entrepreneurship activities during their university life (prior experience), then the propensity for them to be social venture creators in high. With the myriad problems in the Philippines and Indonesia, exposure to social problems is evident. Through proper inculcation of social entrepreneurial spirit, Filipino and Indonesian students will greatly create massive impact in the landscape of Asian social entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThe present study offers a new perspective on social entrepreneurial intentions, as it is in Asian setting. It also provides a viewpoint where only social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived social support positively affect social entrepreneurial intent and, at the same time, act as mediators between prior experience with social problem and social entrepreneurial intent. With these results, it enriches the theoretical foundations of social entrepreneurship.

Journalism, which provides the public with reliable information, can be perceived to be a social service for the public interest. Modern journalism might evolve into social entrepreneurship, with a focus on creating value for the public amid institutional pressures. Two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of various factors on the social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) of environmental journalists. Study 1, with 287 respondents, confirmed the factor structures of the scales that were used. Study 2, with 352 respondents, confirmed the five precursors to SEI, namely, prior experience, empathy, moral obligation, social support, and self-efficacy, and two aspects of entrepreneurial creativity, namely originality and usefulness. Additionally, two aspects of SEI were identified: conviction and preparation. Accordingly, social support (followed by prior experience, empathy, and usefulness) was the most influential factor on entrepreneurial conviction. Social support (followed by usefulness, prior experience, and empathy) also had the greatest influence on entrepreneurial preparation. Conversely, moral obligation negatively affected both entrepreneurial conviction and preparation. The results have considerable theoretical implications for social services and journalism scholarship by suggesting entrepreneurial creativity as a mediator facilitating journalists’ SEI, social responsibility as a substitute for moral obligation, and emphasis on the effects of social support and self-efficacy.

Today the whole world is embraced by harsh problems than ever in the history of mankind. People are suffering due to many kinds of social and environmental issues; climate changes, environmental pollution, natural disasters, diseases, poverty, crime, corruption, economic crises etc. Mankind has to provide innovative and sustainable solutions since they are the root causes to occur such as disasters to the world. To solve these harsh problems, social entrepreneurs have a big role to play. They are the change agents who combine change and innovations and they should possess the behavioural intention to start social enterprises. However, as per the preliminary findings, Sri Lankan entrepreneurs do not intend to start social enterprises or convert their existing businesses into social enterprises. Accordingly, the current study was dedicated to investigating the impact of the determinants on low social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs which was proved by the preliminary findings. Further, the study investigated the significance of SEI in Sri Lanka. The study was conducted as a quantitative study and the deductive approach was used. Mair and Noboa’s model (2006) adopted by Hockerts (2015) was used with five latent constructs; prior Experience with social problems/social organizations, social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, empathy, moral obligation and perceived presence of social support. Out of 1,800 Registered entrepreneurs in Ratnapura District to the date, 317 entrepreneurs were selected as the sample based on Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table. Convenience sampling technique was deployed, and data collection was done through a questionnaire survey. Structural equation modelling was performed to analyse the variable interested with the assistance of AMOS 16 and SPSS 21. Social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and moral obligation were not validated and analysis was done by using the rest of the three variables. Analysis results indicated that the empathy, prior experience and perceived presence of social support have a direct positive impact towards SEI. Empathy and perceived presence of social support are the partial mediators of the model which significantly affect the relationship exist between prior experience and social entrepreneurial intention. Hence, it is concluded that both the partial mediators create mechanisms for prior experience to impact the SEI rather than individual impacts.
 Keywords: Social Entrepreneurial Intention, Empathy, Prior Experience and Perceived Presence of Social Support

There has been a recent surge in social entrepreneurship to address pressing social problems. Social ventures drive positive change and reshape traditional business norms by providing innovative solutions and fostering inclusive growth. Social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) is crucial to studying social entrepreneurship since it sheds light on the underlying motivations and factors that drive people to engage in social enterprise. The study examines empathy, moral obligation, perceived social support, social self-efficacy, risk-taking motive, and innovativeness as determinants of SEI. Data collected through an online questionnaire from 349 commerce and management students were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Results reveal a significant influence of social self-efficacy, perceived social support, risk-taking motive, and innovativeness on SEI. Notably, the results highlight an indirect influence of empathy and moral obligation on SEI mediated by social self-efficacy and perceived social support. The study also reveals how social vision and social proactiveness relate to social self-efficacy. The findings have significant implications for encouraging social entrepreneurship. Policymakers and educators may use these insights to develop specific activities that assist prospective social entrepreneurs by enhancing the attributes that affect their desire to establish social ventures.

The issues of employment, social inequality, and resource scarcity can be effectively addressed through social entrepreneurship, contributing to the growing research interest on the formation of social entrepreneurial intention. Using the theory of planned behaviour, the current study examined the influence of selected key factors on social entrepreneurial intention among university students. Based on the cross-sectional quantitative research design, online survey was conducted, which involved 684 students and graduates from five universities in Southern China. The obtained results demonstrated the significant and positive influence of perceived values on sustainability, opportunity recognition competency, attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control on social entrepreneurial intention. Additionally, attitude towards entrepreneurship partially mediated the relationships of risk-taking propensity, self-efficacy, and need for achievement on social entrepreneurial intention. The multi-group analysis results also showed that need for achievement and social entrepreneurial intention differed significantly between genders, which provides new ideas for future investigations into the impact of gender on social entrepreneurial intentions. Based on the findings of this study, it is crucial that university students are exposed to relevant courses or training to develop social entrepreneurship competencies and promote sustainable values. The findings of this study will provide policymakers with relevant policy guidelines and more effective theoretical support to achieve the goal of promoting social entrepreneurship among university students in a more resource-efficient and effective manner.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of perceived barriers (PBs) (i.e. perceived lack of support, perceived fear of failure and perceived lack of competency) on social entrepreneurship intentions among undergraduate students with the mediating role of self-efficacy based on the social cognitive career theory. Additionally, this study examines the moderating role of entrepreneurship education (EE) on the relationship between self-efficacy and social entrepreneurship intentions.Design/methodology/approachThe partial least squares-structural equation modeling was employed to estimate the proposed research model with empirical data collected from 476 third- and fourth-year students through structured questionnaires.FindingsThis study revealed various nuances in the impacts of three perceived barrier components on social entrepreneurship intentions through self-efficacy. Specifically, the positive relationship between perceived fear of failure and social entrepreneurship intentions and the negative relationship between perceived lack of competency and social entrepreneurship intentions were significant. However, the direct relationship between perceived lack of support and social entrepreneurship intentions was not significant. Moreover, the results revealed that self-efficacy fully mediates the associations between perceived lack of support and social entrepreneurship intentions and marginally mediates the associations between perceived fear of failure and social entrepreneurship intentions. Furthermore, the moderating role of EE in the relationship between self-efficacy and social entrepreneurship intentions was demonstrated.Research limitations/implicationsThis study does not account for the potentially heterogeneous impact of different groups (e.g. major, working experience, family backgrounds, regions and volunteering experiences) on social entrepreneurship intentions. Second, this study employed a cross-sectional research design, which hinders the generalizability of the research findings due to the sample size and research context.Practical implicationsThe empirical findings imply that stakeholders of social entrepreneurship (policymakers, educators and students) should be aware of the factors that may hinder and/or foster social entrepreneurship intentions, then have actions to govern these factors. Moreover, strategies to enhance the impact of self-efficacy on social entrepreneurship intentions through EE are a fruitful insight.Originality/valueThis study highlighted the diverse effect of PBs (perceived lack of support, perceived fear of failure and perceived lack of competency) on social entrepreneurship intentions through self-efficacy among undergraduate students. In addition, the role of EE in the relationship between self-efficacy and social entrepreneurship is confirmed, which emphasizes the role of higher educators in facilitating students’ social entrepreneurship intentions.

PurposeAlthough karmic beliefs have been found to be positively correlated with pro-social behaviors, the role of karmic beliefs in social entrepreneurship remains relatively unknown. Drawing on the morally extended theory of planned behavior, this paper aims to explore the karmic aspect of social venturing, wherein individuals’ social entrepreneurial intentions and their moral antecedents are activated by karmic beliefs.Design/methodology/approachThe study was performed on a sample of 401 university students in Vietnam. Cronbach’s alpha, confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analyses were then used to test the reliability, validity of scales and developed hypotheses.FindingsThe findings illustrate that karmic beliefs are strongly and positively correlated with empathy, moral obligation, social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived social support. Moreover, individuals’ social entrepreneurial intentions are not only significantly and directly stimulated by karmic beliefs but also receive the indirect effects of karmic beliefs through three mediators: empathy, moral obligation and social entrepreneurial self-efficacy.Originality/valueThe study added fresh perspectives on the role of karmic beliefs in social entrepreneurship literature. Additionally, this study shed a new light on entrepreneurial literature by morally extending theory of planned behavior to explore underlying mechanisms of moral and empathetic components on transferring the effects of karmic beliefs on social entrepreneurial intentions.

Social entrepreneurship intention (SEI) is a key strategy to address social inequalities. Despite public and private efforts, the prevalence of inequality persists in society. Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) appears to be a fundamental theory in assessing SEI hence this study aims to assess determinants of SEI among students based on TPB. As the MBA program consists of five fields of study and the study intends to have representation from each field, using stratified random sampling was more appropriate as a sampling technique. Quantitative data was collected using structured questionnaires distributed online. SPSS software was used for data visualization and statistical data analysis. All respondents were employed, with 37% being self-employed. The Cronbach Alpha of 0.784 is a good reliable internal consistency, for the items used. Perceived social support (PSS), personal attitude, perceived behavioural control, and social entrepreneurial self-efficacy are the most influential predictors of SEI. Although empathy, moral obligation, and prior experience have weak relationships with SEI, although their correlations are positive. Independent variables account for 64.9% of the variance in SEI. The study contributes to the social entrepreneurship intentions literature among MBA students. Finally, social entrepreneurial intentions can be improved through institutional support. The study suggests conducting additional research covering a broader range of institutions offering MBA programs.

Little is known about how religious beliefs (i.e. karmic beliefs and beliefs in a just world) can active individuals’ social entrepreneurship. Integrating the justice motive theory within stimulus-organism-response framework, our study aims to explore the individual, complementary, congruent, and incongruent impacts of karmic beliefs and belief in a just world on social entrepreneurial intention as well as the mediation role of empathy and moral obligation in this relationship. Using a sample of 401 individuals and employing polynomial regression with response surface analysis, findings indicate that karmic beliefs and belief in a just world serve as significant stimuli which not only inspire empathic and moral organisation, but indirectly reinforce individuals’ social entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, high levels of both karmic beliefs and beliefs in a just world can enhance organisms (empathy and moral obligation), and behavioural responses (social entrepreneurial intentions), but imbalanced levels of these beliefs erode such organisms and responses. Some practical implications have been recommended to foster social business ventures based on the findings of the current study.

PurposeThis study aims to integrate the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory with Mair and Noboa’s (2006) model to evaluate the stimulating role of education-related stimuli (i.e. entrepreneurial education, curriculum and lecturer competency) and the moderation impact of perceived university support on students’ emotional and cognitive processes of social entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 401 university students in Vietnam and a three-step analysis approach via SPSS 28.0 and AMOS 25.0 were used to test the hypothesized model.FindingsThis study revealed that while entrepreneurship education and lecturer competency are positively associated with psychological organisms, then in turn affect social entrepreneurial intention and behaviors, the curriculum seems to be less significant. Social entrepreneurial intention was positively affected by social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived social support, but not significantly influenced by empathy or moral obligation. As expected, the higher the perceived university support, the stronger the relationship between social entrepreneurial intention and social start-up behavior.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study can be valuable for educators, policymakers and practitioners to inspire students’ entrepreneurial activities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by adopting SOR theory to investigate the importance of education-related stimuli, exploring the underlying mediation mechanism of emotional and cognitive organism and explaining the moderation role of perceived university support in the fostering of students’ social entrepreneurship.

In recent times, there has been an increasing push to develop social entrepreneurship as a strategy for poverty alleviation, rural development and economic growth in most developing countries. This has accounted for several policies to encourage more individuals and organizations to venture into social entrepreneurship yet less is known about the intriguing factors that account for the intentions of especially overseas students from developing countries to venture into social entrepreneurship. Hence, this study applied the Structural Equation Model with Smart PLS software to examine some key determinants of social entrepreneurship intentions from the perspectives of overseas students from developing countries currently studying in China. A total sample of 280 overseas students from the developing countries currently studying at the Jiangsu University in China was randomly selected for the study. The results revealed that Psychological capital, Empathy, moral judgment, knowledge, and social support have significant impacts on social entrepreneurship intentions. Importantly, Psychological capital partially mediates the impact of empathy, moral judgment, knowledge and social support on social entrepreneurship intentions. The study recommends that overseas students in China should be exposed to social entrepreneurial skills and social problems as part of their training to be able to develop their intentions and strong behaviors for social value creation and social entrepreneurship. The results have both theoretical and empirical contributions to extending research scholarship in the field.