HEARTFELT VENTURES: THE POWER OF EMPATHY IN DRIVING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURIAL

Abstract

Although the notion of social entrepreneurship is not new to us today, it has not yet gained widespread acceptance and development in Vietnam. Although there are numerous study publications on the relationship between empathy and social entrepreneurial intentions, this problem has yet to be studied much in the context of Vietnam's, particularly among youth. The goal of this study is to see if young empathy is linked to their desire to start a social enterprise. Reliability analysis using PLS-SEM software and a binary regression model will be used to examine data obtained from 339 university students in Vietnam. According to the findings, as well as the theory of planned behavior and the theory of action phases, (1) empathy does not directly affect social business intention, but rather indirectly through two mechanisms, social worth and social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and (2) individuals who are confident in their own abilities have more social entrepreneurship intentions. We provide recommendations based on these findings to inspire young people to pursue social entrepreneurship, contribute to the development of a sustainable economy, and contribute positive values to society.