Abstract
The importance of entrepreneurial activity as a driver of sustainable economic growth is well established. Interest in social enterprises as a means to fill gaps that exist in society is growing. With the emerging concept of social entrepreneurship in China, this paper aims to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial mindset, individual intention to start an enterprise, the likelihood of actually starting a business and personal interest in social causes. Theoretical models in the field of entrepreneurship study indicate that personal entrepreneurial desire is a strong factor in predicting future business behaviour but there is little in the existing research about entrepreneurial mindset as a predictor of actual activity. Considering entrepreneurship and psychological research and theory, four main psychological entrepreneur traits including chance alertness, risk tendency, tolerance of vagueness and intentional optimism are considered to measure the aptitude towards starting a business. Based on the results of 590 online surveys, the role of entrepreneurial mindset as a predictor is analysed using Correlation, Linear Regression and Multiple Regression Analysis. The findings of this research indicate that social cause interest is unlikely to drive entrepreneurial activity in the absence of structured intervention. The findings contribute to the future development of social entrepreneurial programs, and to the role and assessment of the entrepreneurial mindset of potential social entrepreneurs. The study also provides insight into the perspective of the individual towards the concept of social responsibility.
Highlights
Entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in economic development both for many nations, and globally [1,2,3]
The existing literature on new venture formation is vast [8] and fragmented with some inconsistencies in the findings implying that encouraging economic growth through the encouragement of entrepreneurial activity requires the application of existing knowledge with a considerable level of adaptation based on external factors such as socio-cultural and economic factors [9], as well as factors that are specific to the individual [10]
The analysis focused on the previously identified factors of entrepreneurial mindset, social cause interest, and entrepreneurial desire
Summary
Entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in economic development both for many nations, and globally [1,2,3]. Establishing more SMEs by developing entrepreneurship could provide a solution for the social problem looming in the form of large numbers of Chinese workers who face unemployment due to the rapid transformation of business value processes from manufacturing to information based commerce [11,12]. For several reasons both social and economic, requires sustainable growth [9,13]. By viewing these issues through the perspective of social cause interest it is possible to apply the theory of social capital [14] including in the current and most relevant form of human resource development [15]. Through gaining insight into how social capital can be created through entrepreneurial activity focused on solving social as well as economic problems, the creation of social capital can be achieved
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