The Moderating Effect of Countries’ Development on the Characterization of the Social Entrepreneur: An Empirical Analysis with GEM Data

Ana Fernández-Laviada,Carlos López-Gutiérrez,Paula San-Martín

doi:10.1007/s11266-020-00216-7

Ana Fernández-Laviada, Carlos López-Gutiérrez + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00216-7

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Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the moderating effect that the level of development of countries exerts on the factors that define the behavior of social entrepreneurs, distinguishing the effect produced in innovation-driven economies from that in factor/efficiency-driven economies. Our study contributes to the advancement of one of the most relevant problems detected in social entrepreneurship research: the lack of empirical quantitative studies, mainly due to the lack of harmonized and comparable international data. We perform an empirical multivariable analysis using 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data related to social entrepreneurship. The results show that both the variables that measure the values and skills to start a business and those related to the environment differentiate social from commercial entrepreneurs. In addition, our findings show how the development of the country plays a decisive moderating role, modifying the effect of the values and skills to be a social entrepreneur, the influence of gender, and even the relevance of entrepreneurs’ perception of their environment.

Highlights

Social entrepreneurship (SE), as one of the research lines of the global study of the entrepreneurial phenomenon, focuses on the use of business management strategies with the aim of generating benefits with a social purpose (Kickul and Lyons 2012; Lumpkin et al 2013)
If we look at the cultural support for entrepreneurship index (CULSUP), the moderating effect is even more relevant, since the absence of significant influence observed in model (1b) was hiding the asymmetric effect that occurs when we consider the development of the country
When we want to understand the behavior of social entrepreneurs, it is necessary to consider the environment where the social entrepreneurial activity takes place (Bacq and Janssen 2011; Fernández-Laviada et al 2020)

Summary

Introduction

Social entrepreneurship (SE), as one of the research lines of the global study of the entrepreneurial phenomenon, focuses on the use of business management strategies with the aim of generating benefits with a social purpose (Kickul and Lyons 2012; Lumpkin et al 2013). Social entrepreneurs are people who use their projects and businesses to create social value, directing their resources and benefits to achieve this end This may mean that their activities and characteristics have their own peculiarities, but research on this differential behavior is still a field that requires more attention (Martin and Osberg 2007; Nicholls 2010; Sassmannshausen and Volkmann 2018). The main contribution of our research is to provide empirical evidence on the moderating effect that the development of the country has on the variables that define the behavior of social entrepreneurs. Bearing this in mind, both the policies to promote entrepreneurship and their effectiveness could be conditioned by the environment in which they are applied. The first is the lack of empirical studies, especially studies using quantitative analysis

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