Social entrepreneurs develop market–driven ventures to produce social change; some succeed while others fail. This research advances our understanding of start–up behaviors of ventures that span nonprofit and for–profit institutional boundaries. A rigorous qualitative study of 23 social ventures reveals that entrepreneurs employ a blend of nonprofit and business venture behaviors, suggesting the importance of contextual factors. Only selective behaviors from each institution differentiate the successful from the struggling ventures. But while the higher level organizing tasks and activities of successful and struggling ventures may appear similar, fine–grained analyses of their behaviors show stark differences, emphasizing the need for such analyses.

Background: Community-owned solar mini-grids (SMGs) are increasingly promoted to provide communities access to reliable electricity, empowering local actors as they become active stakeholders in projects. However, early failures and difficulties in building local capacity have raised questions regarding their long-term sustainability and ability to be replicated to provide socio-economic benefits to the communities. This study assesses the sustainability of 24 community-owned SMGs in India operating over extensive periods of time using a novel scoring framework using mixed methods to derive its conclusions.

The number of models of Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) systems, particularly for rural electrification, is growing globally. Most approaches to assess the sustainability of these solutions beyond simple techno-economic considerations are comparative in nature, and only allow us to evaluate performance within a set of other interventions. This leaves a gap in our understanding of the conditions for a specific model to be sustainable and whether its replication is likely to succeed. The approach suggested develops a framework to evaluate the sustainability of specific models for energy access individually and proposes analytical methods to illustrate its use. It combines the multi-dimensional analysis over five sustainability dimensions and the Multi-Tier Framework (MTF) to assess technical sustainability, extending MTF's rigorous scoring methodology to the other dimensions. The scores are based on qualitative and quantitative data collected from key stakeholders, taking into account different perspectives and aims. The framework and analytical methods are exemplified using a subset of data collected in over 40 off-grid DRE systems utilizing a common community ownership and hybrid financial structure. The proposed methodology can be used to understand the sustainability conditions of a given approach to energy access and can therefore be used by practitioners and policy makers to develop strategies and guide policies to roll out effective solutions.Goldemberg et al. [9] define 'sustainable energy services' as those that are "environmentally sound, safe, affordable, convenient, reliable and equitable," thus defining an impactful energy service in terms of technical, socioeconomic, and environmental considerations. Recent developments [10][11][12] also emphasize the need to assess the institutional dimensions, considering the governance of energy infrastructure and participation of beneficiaries, particularly in the case of decentralized solutions. Despite the progress towards a comprehensive approach to assessing sustainability of energy access, technological and economic considerations continue to be prioritized [13,14]. Techno-economic approaches may be effective when testing novel technologies and business models, but they risk overlooking the social and institutional dimensions and could fail to provide an objective and comprehensive analysis [4]. Similarly, when social dimensions are given the priority, considerations around the viability of an intervention from a technical and economic point of view may be overlooked, or a deeper analysis of the local institutional arrangements neglected [7], thus resulting in early failures of interventions [3]. The success of new conceptualizations of energy projects lies between the acceptability, usability, and efficacy of the technology within the particular socioeconomic and cultural context of the project [15,16]. As Miller et al. [17] argue, there is a tendency to "focus almost exclusively on energy supply, leaving aside questions about the design of socio-techni...

Purpose This paper aims to understand the nature of affective experiences that can help women to overcome perceived socio-cultural constraints and stimulate entrepreneurship. The paper focuses on rural poor women in India as they represent cultural contexts rich with impediments while also presenting an opportunity for socio-economic development. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative study with interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted with participants from women-owned and -managed crafts-based cooperative entrepreneurial ventures from the state of Bihar in India. Findings Cooperative form of entrepreneurship and sisterhood among its members provides an environment for repeated affective experiences that inspire women to change the status quo. Sisterhood facilitates interactions with role models, mentee-driven mentoring and vicarious incentives, each producing positive affect, whereas cooperatives provide a work environment that fosters equality and helps women find their unique voice, generating affect. Together, the affect allows women to overcome fears associated with deviating from age-old traditions while engaging in entrepreneurial behaviors and sustaining them. Research limitations/implications The paper advances knowledge on women entrepreneurship for non-Western cultural contexts, particularly the environments and experiences that stimulate entrepreneurship. The values of cooperative form of entrepreneurship and the homophily among sisters creates an environment which is relaxed and comfortable, where affective experiences can be naturally embedded in daily routines in contrast to those created through formal-structured training programmes. The paper findings are limited to cultural contexts of rural women in eastern states of India with high levels of poverty. Practical implications Policies for cooperative entrepreneurship and grassroots support to facilitate an environment to foster cooperatives’ values, and sisterhood can lead to affective experiences necessary for change that endures. Originality/value Entrepreneurship for pervasive social change, such as alleviating rural women from poverty, needs theory development, particularly a better understanding of the influence of macro socio-cultural contexts on women’s ability to be entrepreneurial. This paper provides an understanding of contextually relevant affective experiences conducive for rural women entrepreneurship.

Culture plays a central role in the creative economy, not only in terms of developing creative products and services but also in terms of shaping the processes by which products are crafted. Among various pedagogical approaches for the development of creative products, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) emerges as a promising vehicle. Educators can leverage audio, visual, and written communications technologies to connect learners from geographically distant cultures and place culture at the center of the creative product development processes. The University of Minnesota Duluth’s introductory class on cultural entrepreneurship, CUE 1001, hosted a semester-long COIL project with Ocean University of China’s Cultural Industries Management program to facilitate such innovation in cross-cultural teams. An ex-post evaluation of the project suggests that learners can appreciate the overall significance of culture when conceptualizing creative services and products. They develop an intercultural mindset and acquire the tools to work effectively in cross-cultural settings. Institutions of higher education can leverage COIL in a variety of domains, while studies comparing traditional and COIL-based approaches can further add to the body of knowledge regarding intercultural awareness and the internationalization of learning in higher education.