Context Of Social Entrepreneurship Research Articles

Can prosocial motivation harm entrepreneurs' subjective well-being?

Entrepreneurship research on prosocial motivation has outlined its positive impact on well-being, but still little is known about its power, which may have deleterious personal consequences under certain conditions. In this study, we ask whether prosocial motivation can harm entrepreneurs' subjective well-being when they run a commercial venture. Embedded within a contingency perspective informed by self-determination theory, we build on longitudinal survey data to explain the effect of prosocial motivation on entrepreneurs' overall life satisfaction. Our analysis demonstrates that prosocial motivation has a negative effect on entrepreneurs' life satisfaction due to increased levels of stress. However, our findings show that the negative effect of prosocial motivation dissipates when perceived autonomy at work is high compared to when it is low. Overall, our research raises questions on the role of prosocial motivation for entrepreneurs' subjective well-being and, in particular, discusses its potential “dark side” in the context of commercial entrepreneurship. Executive summaryCan there be a “dark side” in helping others? If so, how can we better understand under what conditions it emerges? Entrepreneurship research conventionally presents prosocial motivation as a positive driver for social venture creation and entrepreneurs' well-being. However, we have little knowledge about the consequences of prosocial motivation when we move outside the social entrepreneurship context. When prosocially motivated entrepreneurs lead a commercial venture, they face the difficult task of balancing the desire to help others with the financial requirements of the business. The challenge of simultaneously accomplishing commercial and prosocial goals can result in a stressful experience that is detrimental to the entrepreneur's well-being. In this study, we ask whether and under what circumstances prosocial motivation can harm entrepreneurs' well-being.Embedded in a contingency perspective informed by self-determination theory, this article expands our knowledge on the effects of prosocial motivation in the context of commercial entrepreneurship. We draw from original longitudinal survey data on 186 entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom to demonstrate that prosocial motivation causes entrepreneurs stress and through that stress has a negative effect on their life satisfaction. We also show that the negative effect of prosocial motivation diminishes when the degree of autonomy entrepreneurs perceive in the pursuit of daily work tasks is high. To explore the uniqueness of the entrepreneurial context, we run a comparative analysis with a sample of 544 employees. This analysis confirms that stress fully mediates the negative relationship between prosocial motivation and subjective well-being, but for employees, this negative effect disappears when their level of intrinsic motivation—the desire to expend effort based on enjoyment of the work itself—is high.Building on our findings, we generate several important contributions. First, we help develop an understanding of the “dark side” of prosocial motivation by demonstrating that under certain circumstances, the desire to help others can be detrimental to entrepreneurs' subjective well-being. Second, we expand knowledge about the link between prosocial motivation and well-being by considering the boundary conditions (perceived autonomy and intrinsic motivation) that influence the dynamics of their relationship. Third, we set the stage for further investigations that aim to clarify the relationship between motivation and perceived autonomy and its effect on personal outcomes across different work domains.The key insight of the study is that prosocial motivation creates a dilemma for entrepreneurs when operating a commercial business such that the desire to help others outside the context of immediate work tasks can harm their personal well-being. We also find that the perception of autonomy is key for commercial entrepreneurs to be able to realize their prosocial motivation without creating stressful situations. Extending our understanding of the conditions that shape the relationship between prosocial motivation and well-being among entrepreneurs would help in developing a more holistic notion of prosocial business venturing, one that includes the role of both commercial and social enterprising activities in contributing to personal and societal well-being.

Pronouncement of Embedded Agency in the Field of Social Entrepreneurship

The paper provides insights into how social entrepreneurship and the institutional theory framework can be combined. The author situates the social entrepreneurship phenomenon here, and embarks on the traditional structure vs agency debate from social sciences, sociology of organizations in particular. The concept of embedded agency is referred to and employed to explain the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship. In this paper, the author provides key arguments concerning how the institutional theory framework can be useful in the field of social entrepreneurship research and practice. The author also discusses how the embedded agency concept is more pronounced in the social entrepreneurship context.

Waqf as a Tool for Rendering Social Welfare Services in the Social Entrepreneurship Context

The concept of Islamic entrepreneurship centers on ensuring community well-being as the priority, which is one of the important objectives (Maqasid) of the Islamic Shari'ah.Historically, waqf played a significant role in the Islamic economic system, particularly in rendering exemplary welfare services in the areas of healthcare, education, social welfare, environmental, and other community-based programs.However, only a few success stories in recent history have institutionally utilized the properties of waqf under proper management to achieve its substantial objectives. This study uses the literature review as basis to analyze the reasons behind the successful utilization of waqf as an effective tool to ensure social welfare services in the past, as well as how this model can be replicated by considering current contexts. This study will assist Islamic valuecentric entrepreneurs, regulatory authorities, investors, and researchers to gain an overall insight into the potentials of waqf as a tool for rendering commendable social welfare services.

Implementation of Social Entrepreneurship Projects The path to Communities of Practice

n Portugal, Social Entrepreneurship is evolving. New projects/initiatives or organizations are created everyday focused on the positive impact they can achieve. It is important to understand who the target population of these projects is and what their major intervention areas are. This goal seeks a wider one which is to understand the rise of Communities of Practice (CoP) in the specific context of Social Entrepreneurship, specifically how social entrepreneurs beneficiate from CoP to solve the problems they encounter and how Social Entrepreneurship Institute-Social Business School (IES-SBS) can be a catalyst of those CoP. Since social entrepreneurs develop their work apart in Portuguese territory, communication skills and tools are also very important variables to analyze, in order to understand Community Learning Networks.

Use of marketing in social enterprises

Social entrepreneurship is relatively a new concept within social sciences. Like the case with any newly emerging field, social entrepreneurship is confronting the challenges of justifying the use of new constructs and hence the challenge of generating new knowledge and insights. Till date, the field of social entrepreneurship has majorly been consented as a multidisciplinary approach to social problem solving. In this regard, researchers are attempting to take insights from different disciplines in an effort towards delimiting the scope and context of social entrepreneurship. However, social entrepreneurship is projected or seen as sharing much in common with business management and entrepreneurship. As such, the different approaches of management domain find high appropriateness for application, explanation and further expansion of this field. In light of the above and on the basis of a few qualitative case studies conducted in the western countries till date, the paper attempts to gain critical insights about the use of marketing concepts in social enterprises.

Growth orientation in social enterprises

This study explores growth orientation in the social entrepreneurship context through in-depth case studies in six Finnish social enterprises. In light of existing research on business growth and scaling up social enterprises and our data, we propose that willingness to grow is fairly strong among social entrepreneurs, and that growth is sought through various strong and intentional strategies. Growth orientation stems primarily from the entrepreneurs' social mission, but at the same time, the mission appears to narrow down options for growth paths. However, tensions between financial and social goals, often discussed in the social enterprise literature, did not appear as a form of conflict. Our study suggests that the social mission can be both a driver and a barrier of growth for social enterprises.

The Social Entrepreneurial Antecedents Scale (SEAS): a validation study

Purpose – This paper aims to develop and validate measures of four constructs that have often been identified as antecedents of social entrepreneurial behavior: empathy with marginalized people, a feeling of moral obligation to help these, a high level of self-efficacy concerning the ability to effect social change and perceived availability of social support. Nomological validity is demonstrated by showing that, as specified by Mair and Noboa (2006), empathy and moral obligation are positively associated with perceived desirability and self-efficacy and social support with perceived feasibility of starting a social venture. The Social Entrepreneurial Antecedents Scale (SEAS) provides a basis for future research into the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship education, allowing us to study how different educational interventions impact the four SEAS constructs. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on data from two surveys of business school students. Data analysis used both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis for this study. Exploratory factor analysis was used on a first sample to establish the number of factors best representing the data, as well as to identify possibly issues with cross-loadings. Next confirmatory factor analysis was used on the second sample to verify the goodness of fit for the model. Finally, nomological validity was confirmed. Findings – First, this article develops and refines measures of empathy, moral obligation, self-efficacy and perceived social support within the context of social entrepreneurship. Second, the article tests the dimensionality of the constructs and shows that they are distinctive. Originality/value – The resulting SEAS instrument adapts constructs such as empathy, moral obligation, self-efficacy and perceived social support to the context of social entrepreneurship and thus provides the basis for future research into the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship education.

Supporting the cause – a case study on social entrepreneurial identity at the Rosenlund heritage site

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study how a social venture perceives and constructs its identity. This study highlights the importance of a common cause and collective entrepreneurial identity when studying entrepreneurial cognition in a social entrepreneurship context. The study also introduces the concept of identity layers. These aspects have not been emphasized in previous research and, therefore, there is a lack of knowledge in this specific area. The research question that this paper sets out to explore is “What influences the identity perception of a social venture and how does the identity construction process affect organizational behavior?”. Design/methodology/approach – The paper starts by presenting references to previous research in social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial cognition and organizational identity, thereby building a theoretical context for the case study. The case chosen is the cultural heritage site Rosenlund located in Pietarsaari, Finland. The study is based on qualitative data. Previous research on entrepreneurial identity has often been based on narrative analysis and discourse analysis (Jones et al., 2008; Down and Warren, 2006). To get a different point of view, this analysis concentrates more on behavior and outcomes, but in combination with narratives. The data analysis starts out by mirroring Rosenlund in the categorization of Zahra et al. (2009) and then moves on to taking a closer look at the organizational identity and how it is constructed. Findings – The results from the case study show that the identity perception and the identity construction process are strongly affected by the mission (i.e. the cause) of the organization. Due to limited resources, the organization needs to be flexible, but the organization is under no circumstances ready to compromise its values. To avoid this potential dilemma, the organization has created an identity consisting of many layers, where the outer layer is thinner and more inclusive, thus providing the flexibility needed. This way of constructing identity clearly impacts the way the organization works. Research limitations/implications – The results indicate that Rosenlund identity-wise perceives itself mainly as a collective actor. The entrepreneurial actions undertaken cannot be assigned to one single actor, but instead to a group of people. This does not rhyme very well with existing entrepreneurial cognition research where the focus is on the person, i.e. individual actor. To get a better understanding of social entrepreneurship, “collective entrepreneurial cognition” therefore needs to be studied. The organization studied turned out to be a social constructionist. It remains for future research to investigate if the same layers of identity can be seen in social bricoleurs and social engineers. Practical implications – The results indicate the importance of identifying and communicating mission and values, i.e. defining core identity. Strategic decisions become easier when the organization has clearly defined its cause and its values, because then the organization will know when to compromise and when to say no in order not to jeopardize the cause. In the long run, this will have a positive effect on the organizational development. Originality/value – One important finding is the existence of different layers in the organizational identity. This aspect has not been addressed before and can certainly deepen our understanding of social entrepreneurial ventures. Moreover, the findings show that by introducing the concepts of organizational identity and identity building, the focus of the entrepreneurial cognition debate shifts from an individual perspective to a collective perspective. This aspect has not previously been explored in entrepreneurial cognition research.

Antecedents of customers’ intention to support Islamic social enterprises in Indonesia

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of extrinsic factors, namely, age, education, gender, marital status and income on customers’ intention to support Islamic social enterprises via donation. The paper also assesses the influence of religiosity on support intention (SI). The impact of customers’ perceptual reaction to the credibility of social enterprises’ advertising is also measured to assess its influence on SI.Design/methodology/approach– A total of 214 completed questionnaires from online and offline surveys were analysed using several statistical analyses, including structural equation modelling, to assess the effects of the independent variables on SI.Findings– The study found that customers’ socioeconomic status and religiosity have no significant influence on their intention to channel their donations via Islamic social enterprises. It is the social enterprises’ advertising which significantly influences their SI.Research limitations/implications– The study focuses on an Islamic research context of social entrepreneurship. Thus, the results cannot be generalised directly to the non-Islamic social entrepreneurship context.Practical implications– Findings of the study suggest that organisations should develop effective communication strategies through advertising to highlight organisational credibility as it plays an important role in shaping customers’ attitudes and intentions.Originality/value– The study investigates the effects of marketing on customers’ SI. It also considers credibility, advertising, and the concept of branding in a context of social entrepreneurship, a concept that is still largely unexplored in the literature.

Investigating learning in social enterprises: a boundary perspective

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to further theory development in the field of social entrepreneurship by developing a research agenda for examining organizational learning in social enterprises.Design/methodology/approach– This paper anchors in the interpretive paradigm of learning. It draws on social entrepreneurship literature to identify unique features of social enterprises. These characteristics are then investigated from a situated learning perspective to develop research questions around the following themes: social structures enabling learning, boundaries, boundary objects, boundary roles and boundary interactions.Findings– Boundaries are identified as loci around which critical learning interactions occur in social enterprises. The significance of studying implicit and explicit boundaries, knowledge brokering, boundary objects and boundary interactions for gaining novel insights into the social enterprise learning process is highlighted.Originality/value– This paper assists the progression of academic discussion in social entrepreneurship from definitional debates to critical organizational-level phenomena. It brings to attention the importance of studying organizational learning in the unique context of social entrepreneurship for advancing organization theory. It informs practice by highlighting critical social structures, boundaries, agents and objects which need to be identified and managed for promoting learning in social enterprises.

The Potential of Social Entrepreneurship

The first proposed presentation is a paper co-authored by Julie Battilana, focusing on how imprinting at founding influences paradoxical performance tensions between social and economic goals faced by mature social enterprises. Investigating the nature and development of these paradoxical tensions in a growing social enterprise, Marya Besharov offers to paint a rich and dynamic picture of how the social enterprise and its leaders managed issues around hiring, growth, and leadership. Rolf Hoefer, delving into Battilana et al.'s argument about the criticality of the founding phase, plans to zoom into how nascent entrepreneurial actors build and maintain productive social networks over time to advance their social business ventures. Finally, Peter Roberts aims to provide a broader perspective by discussing the promise that his ongoing, large-scale data-collection effort for a new database holds for scholars interested in conducting research within the context of social entrepreneurship. Building Productive Networks: A Longitudinal Study of Nascent Entrepreneurial Actors Presenter: Rolf Lorenz Hoefer; INSEAD Harnessing Productive Tensions in Hybrid Organizations Presenter: Julie Battilana; Harvard U. Testing Ideas About Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for a Comprehensive Program Presenter: Peter W Roberts; Emory U. Sustaining Paradoxical Tensions over Time: A Longitudinal Study of a Global Social Enterprise Presenter: Marya L. Besharov; Cornell U. Presenter: Wendy K. Smith; U. of Delaware

Social Entrepreneurship in Theory and Practice—An Introduction

The field of social entrepreneurship has grown exponen-tially in recent years and has become a social, economicand cultural phenomenon. In light of the current economiccrisis, the inability of some governments to meet the socialneeds of their constituencies, a widening gap between richand poor in many developed countries, and—for many—aless than appealing, scandal-ridden corporate world, thestories of individuals and groups of individuals who want‘to change the world’ (Bornstein 2004) are inspiring. Theexamples of dedicated and visionary entrepreneurs whodesign solutions for unmet social needs, and whose primaryintention is to help others, are a source of hope in marketswhere traditional forms of capitalism are struggling torebuild their reputation and legitimacy.From a research perspective, Dacin et al. (2011) offer amore muted reception for social entrepreneurship. Asincreasing numbers of researchers venture into the intrigu-ing, interdisciplinary context of social entrepreneurship,‘researchers continue to struggle to delineate boundaries ofthe field and to arrive at a set of relevant and meaningfulresearch questions’ (p. 1203). As a consequence, socialentrepreneurship research is still in an embryonic state and aunified definition is missing (Short et al. 2009, p. 161).However, the most scholars agree that a broad definitionshould be adopted given the cross-sectoral and interdisci-plinarynatureofthesocialentrepreneurshipfield.Inanearlyattempt to bring structure in a nascent field, Mair and Marti(2006, p. 37) define social entrepreneurship ‘as a processinvolvingtheinnovativeuseandcombinationofresourcestopursueopportunitiestocatalysesocialchangeand/oraddresssocial needs.’ Their definition moves beyond the initiallydominating stream of research on social entrepreneurs andthe personalities, qualities, values and visions of individualchange agents (Bornstein 2004). While these often powerfulandinspiring stories helptopopularise thefieldandcontinuetoinspire,scholarshavelatelycalledforabroader,andatthesame time, more focused approach. Short et al. (2009) con-ductedanin-depthreviewofthesocialentrepreneurshipfieldand found only ‘152 relevant articles’. They concluded thatto establish a more unified terminology, researchers shouldembrace key themes in strategic entrepreneurship—such ascontingency theory, discovery theory and resource depen-dency theory. Dacin et al. (2011) suggested five avenues of‘theorybuildingatvaryinglevelsofanalysis:institutionsandsocialmovements,networks,culture,identityandimageandcognition’ (p. 1211) and emphasised the importance ofcontext and outcomes. In particular, Dacin et al. emphasisedthe relevance of social processes in the pursuit of socialentrepreneurship. They located existing research in four keyareas: (1) the characteristics of individual social entrepre-neurs; (2) their sphere of operation and the social needs andconstituencies targeted; (3) the processes and resourcesused—it is in this area where core research questions areidentified and (4) the mission of the social entrepreneur/enterprise.This Special Issue—the first of its kind in the Journal ofBusiness Ethics—seeks to advance the discourse on, andtheory building in, social entrepreneurship. With fewexceptions (e.g. Koe and Shamuganathan 2010; VanSandtet al. 2009; Murphy and Coombes 2009; Sud et al. 2009)social entrepreneurship has yet to be embraced as aresearch domain in this journal. By assembling some of theleading scholars in the field, the Special Issue aims toencourage more relevant research and enhance the under-standing of social entrepreneurship and its ethical, social

How Strategy is Adapted and Extended in Social Entrepreneurship

We examined three strategy frameworks in the social entrepreneurship context: industrial/organization economics; the resource-based view; and the relational view. Our qualitative study investigated...

Social Ventures from a Resource–Based Perspective: An Exploratory Study Assessing Global Ashoka Fellows

This study aims to discover relationships using a resource–based view of entrepreneurship and the social value creation characteristics of 70 social entrepreneurs. This study builds on existing research that commercial and social entrepreneurs share similar operational processes by providing empirical support for these relationships from a sample of acknowledged successful social entrepreneurs and by applying a resource–based lens to the context of social entrepreneurship. Novel qualitative and quantitative content analysis techniques were applied to the online profiles of Ashoka Fellows. Statistically significant relationships were found among measures of partnerships, financial capital, innovativeness, organizational structure, and knowledge transferability. These findings suggest that social entrepreneurs, when viewed through a resource–based lens, demonstrate similar internal operational processes in utilizing resource bundles as commercial entrepreneurs.

A Model of Social Entrepreneurial Discovery

Social entrepreneurship activity continues to surge tremendously in market and economic systems around the world. Yet, social entrepreneurship theory and understanding lag far behind its practice. For instance, the nature of the entrepreneurial discovery phenomenon, a critical area of inquiry in general entrepreneurship theory, receives no attention in the specific context of social entrepreneurship. To address the gap, we conceptualize social entrepreneurial discovery based on an extension of corporate social responsibility into social entrepreneurship contexts. We develop a model that emphasizes mobilization and timing as underpinnings of social entrepreneurial discovery and offer distinct conceptual aspects and theoretic propositions instrumental to future social entrepreneurship research.