Social Entrepreneurial Research Articles

The Strategic Evolution of Institutional Logics Across Social Entrepreneurial Process: A Multiple Case Study

Abstract Although a hybrid logic is widely recognized as the best institutional logic for social enterprises, why and how such a hybrid logic works for social enterprises is under-explored. Based on the institutional logic theory, we conduct a multiple-case study to investigate how and why the two competing logics are combined to form a hybrid logic during social entrepreneurial process. Data are collected from the in-depth semi-structured interviews with social entrepreneurs from three leading social enterprises in China. We categorize a hybrid logic model as a dominant logic model, which includes a social-dominant logic model and a commercial-dominant logic model, and an equality of dual logic model. We find that the adoption of a hybrid logic is affected by the type of a social enterprise and the motivation to acquire different legitimacy. Specifically, an integrated social enterprise adopts a commercial-dominant logic model while an external social enterprise employs a social-dominant logic model to achieve sustainability. An embedded social enterprise can adopt an equality of dual logic model from its establishment. Our study contributes to research on strategic social entrepreneurship by revealing the dynamic relationship among different types of social enterprises, the adoption of a hybrid logic at different entrepreneurial stages, the motivation to acquire different legitimacy, and business outcomes.

Research Dynamics in Social Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Bibliometric Analysis Based on Citations and Publications

This paper explores the dynamic field of Social Entrepreneurial Orientation (SEO), which melds entrepreneurial tactics with social goals, aiming to address pressing societal issues such as poverty and environmental sustainability. This study examines SEO's academic discourse and impact through a systematic bibliometric analysis spanning thirteen years (2011-2024), employing data from key databases like Scopus and Web of Science. The research illustrates significant growth in SEO scholarship, evidenced by increasing publications and citations, highlighting the field's expanding influence across academic and practical domains. Our analysis utilizes VOS Viewer for trend analysis, author influence mapping, and thematic clusterization, revealing a rich tapestry of collaborative research and evolving themes such as innovation and sustainability. The findings suggest that while the field has robust scholarly engagement, there is room for methodological advancement to enhance the long-term understanding of SEO's impacts. This study underscores the importance of SEO in fostering sustainable business practices and proposes strategic frameworks that can guide future research, policy-making, and business strategies, aiming to integrate entrepreneurial vigor with societal well-being. Through this scholarly inquiry, the paper contributes to a deeper understanding of SEO's role in driving social change and emphasizes the need for global and interdisciplinary collaborations to tackle broad societal challenges effectively.

Transforming the Creative and Social Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: The Broker Roles of Rural Collaborative Workspaces

Creative social enterprises are increasingly emerging in rural regions, motivated by a desire to take social responsibility through creative approaches. These enterprises integrate entrepreneurial activities with creative social attributes and are sometimes set in rural collaborative workspaces (CWSs) facilitating entrepreneurial activities. Under the frame of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs), we argue that CWSs can be seen as brokers, who (1) link resources as liaisons, (2) hold and pass resources as gatekeepers, (3) enhance resource flows as coordinators, and (4) reproduce experiences as representatives. Against this backdrop, this paper presents a case study of two creative social enterprises in a CWS with a cooperative structure in rural Upper Austria by analyzing entrepreneurial biographies about the demand and use of entrepreneurial resources. Through a comparison between before and after the emergence of the CWS, the findings suggest that the EE for creative and social entrepreneurship undergoes two different types of transformation, a radical and a gradual one. The brokerage process of the CWS enhances local resource networks’ transformation of EE and brings the transformation in terms of translocal resources and integral EE of enterprises in the CWS. Additionally, the CWS generates social impacts on the local community through social enterprises. This paper contributes to ecosystem literature by introducing an actor-centric perspective and giving new insights into social entrepreneurship and the transformative power of CWSs as brokers.

Entrepreneurial Passion and Creativity as Predictors of Business Education Students’ Social Entrepreneurial Intention in Edo State

With the increasing social problems and graduates’ unemployment which have brought untold hardship in the country; seeking alternative employment openings by way of venturing into business creation that can address the societal problems becomes a sine qua non. The present study was on entrepreneurial passion and creativity as correlates of business education students’ social entrepreneurial intention in Edo State. Four research questions were raised to guide the study. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational survey research design. The population of the study comprised all business education students numbering 382 in University of Benin and Ambrose Alli Univeristy, Ekpoma. The instrument used was a questionnaire titled: Entrepreneurial Passion, Creativity and Social Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EPCSEIQ).’ The instrument was validated by two experts. The cronbach alpha was used in ascertaining the reliability of the instrument and it yielded a reliability coefficient of .85 after administering the instrument to 15 business education students in Delta State University, Abraka. The data collected from the respondents were analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, simple linear regression and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that entrepreneurial passion is a significant predictor of business education students’ social entrepreneurial intention in Edo State (R2 = .124, F (1, 242) = 34.261, P <. 05). The finding further revealed that entrepreneurial creativity is a significant predictor of business education students’ social entrepreneurial intention in Edo State (R2 = .172, F (1, 242) = 50.412, P <. 05). And it also revealed that entrepreneurial passion and creativity jointly predicted business education students’ social entrepreneurial intention in Edo State. Based on the findings, it was recommended that business education students should be encouraged to be more creative in order to be able to address societal problems.

A Conceptual Model of Eco- Green Project Social Entrepreneurial Intention Learning

The final stage of this research activity has the urgency of forming independent leading social entrepreneurs in higher education institutions so as to produce graduates who are qualified, competitive and able to create innovations and creations. The general objective of the activity is to develop Eco-Green project learning tools through social entrepreneurial activities based on local wisdom values. This model is expected to be able to serve as social entrepreneurship learning material for students which leads to the creation of excellent graduates in the future. In the early stages of research, a description of the values of local wisdom that can be applied in the creation of an eco-green learning model for social entrepreneurship projects for students was carried out. Participatory action research activities are expected to become mini-theories as a basis for model testing and needs analysis in developing a social enterprise eco-green project learning model in the second year completely. The conceptual model proposes that the elaboration of social entrepreneurship eco-green project learning materials as a trigger for student entrepreneurial motivation can be influenced by the variables of religiosity, subjective norms and self-efficacy with local wisdom values as moderators. The final stage of the activity is expected to form a proven conceptual model and to realize the teaching materials for the ecogreen social entrepreneurship project based on local wisdom values that have been tested for validity and reliability and experiment research for the future.

The Motivational Dynamics of Social Entrepreneurial Intention: The Interactive Effects Between Monetary Rewards and Social Recognition

The Motivational Dynamics of Social Entrepreneurial Intention: The Interactive Effects Between Monetary Rewards and Social Recognition

사회적기업가정신 교육 만족도가 사회적기업 창업의도에 미치는 영향 과정에 대한 연구

최근 심각해지는 경기침체 속에서 다양한 사회적 문제가 발생하고 있으며, 이 중 가장 심각하게 대두되는 문제는 고용과 관련한 사회적 문제이다. 경영환경 불안, 고용부진, 코로나 19까지 겹치며 신규 인력 진입의 벽이 높아지며 고용시장이 악화되는 사상 최대의 상황에 이르고 있으며 따라 특히나 청년실업률의 증가는 이례 없는 심각한 위기에 처해 있는 실정이다.BR 이에 따라 실업자, 취약계층, 청년고용 문제의 대안으로 창업에 대한 적극적인 관심과 지원적 체계에 따라 일반 영리기업에서 필요한 기업가정신, 영리기업의 창업에 대해 대학 및 각 기관에서 전문적인 교육이 이뤄지고 있다. 그에 반면에 사회적 경제, 사회적기업에 대한 지원과 정책적 관심에도 불구하고 사회적 문제를 해결하고자 하는 목적을 가진 사회적기업에 대한 교육과 연구는 미흡한 실정이다. 이에 따라 본 연구는 사회적기업의 창업의도를 활성화 시킬 수 있는 의도에 대한 연구의 필요성을 제기하며, 특히나 잠재적 사회적기업가인 대학생을 대상으로 사회적기업 창업의도에 대한 방안에 대해 모색하고자 한다.BR 본 연구에서는 사회적기업가정신 교육 후 학생들이 인지하는 차원의 만족도에 따라 사회적 경제, 사회적기업에 대한 인식변화를 통해 사회적기업가정신 교육 만족도에 대한 효과성을 검증해보고자 한다. 잠재적 사회적 기업가의 가능성이 있는 대학생을 대상으로 대학에서 전공수업차원으로 사회적기업가정신, 사회적기업 창업에 대해 교육하였으며, 대학생들의 사회적기업가정신에 대한 교육 만족도에 따라 인식변화 정도에 따라 사회적기업 창업의도에 미치는 영향요인들에 대해 확인하고자 한다. 사회적기업가정신 교육에 대한 만족도에 따라 사회적 기업가정신에 대한 인식 변화를 통해 사회적기업 창업의도에 필요한 선행요인을 살펴보고 사회적기업가정신 교육에 대한 효과성을 검증해보고자 한다.

Impact of Collaborative Problem Solving on Youth Social Entrepreneurial Intention

Abstract: Social Entrepreneurship has been recognised as a means of improving the welfare and quality of life for marginalised and neglected communities around the world. Social entrepreneurs apply entrepreneurial approaches to identify problems; create solutions and marshal the necessary resources to form social ventures. To meet an increased demand for socially driven entrepreneurs we need to increase the supply of citizens armed with the competencies and desires to address future social issues. Society’s capacity to solve both social and economic problems can be augmented through the implementation of carefully designed, multidisciplinary educational programmes in second level education.
 This paper presents the findings of the theoretically informed Design Thinking process, that sought to explore how adolescent learners develop shared meaning through collaborative, social interactions centered around solving localised societal challenges. This pedagogical approach, informed by a social constructionist paradigm, required students to collaborate in teams for the creation of an artefact that addressed the sustainable transport needs of their community. The study employed a mixed methods data collection strategy that included both the student and the teacher voice. Data sources included interviews, questionnaires, lesson evaluations and classroom resources. Results from the Social Entrepreneurship Pilot Programme conducted with a teacher and 20 students in small rural post-primary school revealed that social learning is an effective approach to increasing Social Entrepreneurial Intention, 47% of students would consider starting a social venture with their group. Collaborative approaches to problem solving proved an effective means of enhancing student efficacy, empathy, and engagement. 82% of students reported confidence in solving social problems in groups but students reported a decline Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy – indicating collaborative learning works better to increase Perceived Collective-Efficacy. It is anticipated that the research will be of interest to those involved in the delivery of Social Entrepreneurship education and applied research within this field.

How Gender Moderates the Mechanism across Social Experience, Self-referent Beliefs, and SE Intention

This study aims to understand how social experience influences social entrepreneurial (SE) intentions through different types of self-referent beliefs, and how gender affects this mechanism. To test our conceptual model, we conducted an online survey and recruited respondents via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Our analysis is based on 743 responses. We used structural equation modeling to test the main hypotheses, conducted decomposition tests using the bootstrapping method to test mediation effects through self-referent beliefs, and executed multi-group analyses to examine gender-moderated mediation effects. The results confirm that social experience significantly influences all three types of self-referent beliefs (entrepreneurial self-efficacy, SE self-efficacy, and self-esteem). Furthermore, the mediating relationship across social experience, self-referent beliefs, and SE intentions is moderated by gender, as the relationship is stronger for women than for men. A clear gender gap exists in the relationships between the perceptual variables and attitudes towards social entrepreneurship. This study reveals gender differences in the mediating mechanism across social experience, self-referent beliefs, and SE intentions. This study also provides a practical suggestion to reduce the perceptual gender gap by showing that social experience more effectively enhances self-referent beliefs (self-efficacy and self-esteem) for women. Our findings support and extend Milliken’s (1987) framing of three distinct types of uncertainty to explain how individuals form SE intentions.

An Investigation on the Cognitive Process Leading to Social Entrepreneurial Opportunity Recognition

Social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is a critical step in social entrepreneurship. However, we know little about the cognitive process leading to social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. This conceptual work examines direct experiences of social problems as a predictor of social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. Building on construal level theory, we proposed that direct experiences of social problems enable individuals to form a more concrete representation of social problems, which in turn activates social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. We further propose that business model schema richness moderates this indirect relationship. We contribute to the literature on social entrepreneurship and opportunity recognition in several ways.

How gender moderates the mediating mechanism across social experience, self-referent beliefs and social entrepreneurship intentions

PurposeThis study aims to understand how social experience influences social entrepreneurial (SE) intentions through different types of self-referent beliefs and how gender affects this mechanism.Design/methodology/approachTo test this study’s conceptual model, the authors conducted an online survey and recruited respondents via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. This study’s analysis is based on 743 responses. This study used structural equation modeling to test the main hypotheses, conducted decomposition tests using the bootstrapping method to test mediation effects via self-referent beliefs and executed multi-group analyses to examine gender-moderated mediation effects.FindingsThe results confirm that social experience significantly influences all three types of self-referent beliefs (entrepreneurial self-efficacy, SE self-efficacy and self-esteem). Furthermore, the mediating relationship across social experience, self-efficacies, and SE intentions is moderated by gender, as the relationships between social experience and self-efficacies are stronger for women than for men.Originality/valueA clear gender gap exists in the way how social experience affects perceptual variables (self-referent beliefs), providing a practical suggestion to reduce the perceptual gender gap in social entrepreneurial contexts. This study also reveals the mediating mechanism across social experience, self-efficacies and SE intentions, also highlighting the importance of domain specific self-efficacies. This study’s findings support and extend Milliken’s (1987) framing of three distinct types of uncertainty to explain how individuals form SE intentions.

Entrepreneurship Education and Social Entrepreneurial Intentions: The Mediating Effects of Entrepreneurial Social Network.

Social entrepreneurship has received considerable recognition from universities in recent years. This study aimed to examine the mediating effect of the entrepreneurial social network on entrepreneurship education and social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) of students at the university level. This study adopted a cross-sectional quantitative approach. A convenience sampling method was utilized to choose 392 students studying at the public and private universities in Chattogram, Bangladesh, who then completed a self-administered survey. The data were then analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results revealed a significant positive relationship between entrepreneurship education and students’ social entrepreneurial intention on the one hand and between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial social network on the other hand. It was also found that entrepreneurial social networks had a significantly positive link with students’ SEIs. Furthermore, the study found that entrepreneurial social networks significantly mediate the relationship between entrepreneurship education and students’ SEI. Based on these outcomes, it is suggested to pay attention to entrepreneurship education further and strengthen the entrepreneurial social network to enhance SEI among students. Research findings have provided valuable insights regarding how entrepreneurship education can significantly impact SEI and emphasize the importance of entrepreneurial social networks as a mediator in social entrepreneurship. This study aims to contribute to the relevant social entrepreneurial literature by providing insights on practical issues related to the role of the entrepreneurial social network at the entrepreneurship education level.

A Case of Noor Arfa: The Corporate Social Entrepreneurship

The pressures between the economy and community development increase corporate social responsibility activities, which are more than a strategy to improve a company's corporate image and reputation. Therefore, organizations must provide different options and approaches to increase their contribution to community engagement program. This study has investigated the societal contributions made by organization undertaking entrepreneurial activities. More specifically, this study examines how Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) can provide long-term societal contributions. The study consists of an intensive case study on Noor Arfa, a Corporate Social Entrepreneurial firm started by Terengganu Batik Industry, to address the social issue of youth unemployment in Terengganu. Noor Arfa hires unemployed young adults to provide them with work experience and training. The study conducted qualitative interviews with CEOs, supervisors and trainees at Noor Arfa and performed observations during one day at Noor Arfa. The study resulted in a proposed model for CSE derived from the empirical findings and entrepreneurship literature. Significant contributions are the critical presence of a business and a social dimension required to be aligned for CSE to provide long-term societal contribution successfully. The underlying factors that affect these dimensions are also presented as well as the values generated through CSE. Additionally, new insights are presented in terms of challenges and opportunities that face a Corporate Social Entrepreneurial organization.

Rise of social entrepreneurship during COVID-19 pandemic

The purpose of this research is to gather insights about the overall scenario in Bangladesh regarding social entrepreneurship in this COVID-19 pandemic. This research is based on secondary data collected from newspapers and journal articles. The collected information has been divided into sections as providing protective gear and food to the poor, employment opportunity for rickshaw pullers, free online education, free laptops for students, voluntary shopping and home delivery of grocery, supply of oxygen cylinder, Garbageman program, BD assistant, PeaceMaker Studio, iFarmer and Shuttle. The research found four major segments that are prone to social entrepreneurship in the middle of a pandemic - food, healthcare, employment, and education. Managers should focus on four segments for social entrepreneurship from the very beginning of any crisis. There has been no other paper focusing on the social entrepreneurial that took place in the middle of a pandemic in the context of Bangladesh.

National Social Benefit Systems and Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Cross-National and Cross-Level Analysis

In this study, we examine how social benefit systems (public and private social expenditure) may influence entrepreneurial intentions, and how it may moderate the relationship between fear of failure and entrepreneurial intentions. Our cross-level model of 97,012 people from 32 countries demonstrates that individuals in countries with high levels of public social expenditure are less likely to show entrepreneurial intentions because they compare and contrast the safety net provided by social systems versus risk associated with starting a business. In addition, the results show that higher levels of private social spending weaken the negative impact of fear of failure on entrepreneurial intentions.

Market Orientation, Social Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Learning Orientation

One of the emerging research areas in the strategic orientation is how to transfer different orientations from the commercial sector to the non-profit sector. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the mediating effect of Learning Orientation on the Market Orientation, Social Entrepreneurial Orientation, and Organizational Performance in the non-profit sector. The data from more than 300 employees of the non-profit organizations was collected through snowball sampling method from different parts of Pakistan and was analyzed using Smart PLS software to perform Structural Equation Modeling. The findings indicate that acquiring strategic resources is also relevant for non-profit sector, but these resources are useless if they can be easily imitated. Therefore, an organization should develop such capabilities to make resources imperfectly imitable. Research also shows that Market Orientation and Social Entrepreneurial Orientation are key strategic resources, but in the presence of Learning Orientation, an organization can exploit these resources more effectively. The study also discusses practical implications, limitations, and future directions.

Can Sense of Opportunity Identification Efficacy Play a Mediating Role? Relationship Between Network Embeddedness and Social Entrepreneurial Intention of University Students.

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.

Before Nonprofit Organisations Become Social Enterprises

In the context of weak global economic growth, the transformation of nonprofit organisations (NPOs) into social enterprises is perceived as a critical process of social innovation and sustainable development. This study explored the antecedents and their influences on the social entrepreneurial intentions (SEIs) of NPO workers. Two sets of samples were collected through online surveys. First, 200 samples were used for exploratory factor analysis, and subsequently, 602 samples were used to establish a structural equation model. The results revealed that the involved antecedents partially influenced SEIs through social entrepreneurial (SE) creativity. The originality aspects of SE creativity demonstrated dominant positive effects on both the SE conviction and the SE preparation of SEIs, followed by cognitive empathy and bonding social capital. The stockholder perspective of social responsibility and affective empathy negatively affected both the conviction and preparation of SEIs. The stakeholder perspective of social responsibility and the usefulness aspect of SE creativity demonstrated minor positive effects on SE conviction. We suggest that NPO leaders keep an open mind to business strategies and focus on SE originality, cognitive empathy, and bonding social capital when developing talent for future achievement.

Feeling capable and valued: A prosocial perspective on the link between empathy and social entrepreneurial intentions

Empathy is a key trait distinguishing social entrepreneurs from traditional entrepreneurs, and an important antecedent of social entrepreneurial (SE) intentions. Yet, little research explains the mechanisms through which empathy motivates SE intentions. We argue that studying the link between the prosocial trait of empathy and the prosocial outcome of SE intentions requires a prosocial lens that traditional entrepreneurial intent theories cannot offer. Building on prosocial motives research, we propose that empathy explains SE intentions through two complementary mechanisms: self-efficacy (an agentic mechanism), and social worth (a communal mechanism). We find support for our hypotheses in a study of 281 university students.

The effect of perceived barriers on social entrepreneurship intention in Malaysian universities: The moderating role of education

This paper attempts to identify barriers of social entrepreneurship intention by the moderating role of education amongst research universities in Malaysia. Entrepreneurship is regarded as the major factor for economic development while social entrepreneurship is considered as the alternative method of solving social problems. Entrepreneurship is not new for Malaysia as is evident from various policies and programs initiated by the government. However, social entrepreneurship is a relatively new phenomenon in Malaysian context that requires much attention. To promote entrepreneurship we need to know the barriers influencing on entrepreneurship to overcome the barriers and promote new policies and measures to create new ventures. The study used Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior as a framework to investigate the barriers of social entrepreneurship intention. Data was collected through questionnaire and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted by using AMOS 18. The multilevel sampling design was used with purposive sampling scheme in Malaysian research universities. The findings of this study show that overall students consider the lack of competency, lack of self-confidence and lack of resources were the barriers that affect social entrepreneurial intentions. Results also show that the social entrepreneurial education moderated the relationship between the perceived barriers and social entrepreneurial intentions of the students. This implies that teaching of social entrepreneurial can help to reduce perceived barriers. Also, the present study premises future directions that a cross country analysis between developing countries and between developed and developing countries can be done to figure out barriers of social entrepreneurship intention amongst students.