A framework for antecedents of social entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence and research agenda

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship (SE) increasingly contributes to diversity in entrepreneurship. The different approaches to SE suggest a variety of antecedents which drive individuals' intention to become social entrepreneurs. While this variety of antecedents is insightful, it also creates a need for systemisation and prioritization. We address this need by introducing an integrative, multi-level framework for person-based antecedents of SE-intention. Based on this multi-level framework the antecedents are grouped on three theoretical levels which refer to an individual's (1) personality, (2) cognition, and (3) entrepreneurial exposition. When testing our framework with 499 South African University students we find support for the multi-level framework and its notion that antecedents from the diverse levels complement each other. Therefore, this study provides a structure for person-based antecedents of SE-intention and additionally points to future research which may extend the proposed framework.

Social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition among higher education students: scale development and validation

“…One approach to studying opportunity recognition in social entrepreneurship is examining the factors that act as antecedents to social entrepreneurial intention. Researchers have identified human values such as empathy, compassion, altruism, moral judgement, prosocial motives, financial and ethical risk-taking, self-enhancement, self-transcendence and openness to change as the drives of social entrepreneurial intention (Bergner et al , 2022; Stirzaker et al , 2021; Bacq and Alt, 2018; Hockerts, 2015; Mair and Noboa, 2006). However, such values are only broad determinants of social motives, which could influence preference for any socially inclined career.…”

Antecedents of women’s social entrepreneurship: values development and the perceived desirability and feasibility of social venture creation

“…As noted by Stirzaker et al (2021), the combinations and interplay of drivers of SE are complex (Bergner et al, 2022), reflecting the diversity of lived experiences that precede SE (Shumate et al, 2014). Such lived experiences occur over time and within diverse places, spaces and contexts (Reynolds and Holt, 2021).…”

“…As noted by Stirzaker et al. (2021), the combinations and interplay of drivers of SE are complex (Bergner et al. , 2022), reflecting the diversity of lived experiences that precede SE (Shumate et al.…”

“…As the social entrepreneurship (SE) sector has grown over the past twenty-five years (Teasdale et al, 2023), so too has interest in identifying and better supporting people with social entrepreneurial potential (Ip et al, 2021;Usman et al, 2022) to create and amplify sustainable solutions to intractable social/environmental problems (Cieslik, 2018). Social entrepreneurial intentions (SEIs) and their antecedents (Bergner et al, 2022;Keles Taysir and Asarkaya, 2021) have therefore attracted significant research interest, as have social entrepreneurial motivations (Jarrodi et al, 2019;Yitshaki and Kropp, 2016) and associated action-taking antecedents (Boughattas and Claey e, 2022;Kim et al, 2020). However, there remains a dearth of research and theorising focussed on women's SE (Garcia-Lomas and Gabaldon, 2023;Rosca et al, 2020) and motivations (Humbert and Roomi, 2018), alongside the role that personal values play as antecedents to SE (Paramita et al, 2022), particularly amongst women (Borquist and de Bruin, 2019).…”

“…, 2022) to create and amplify sustainable solutions to intractable social/environmental problems (Cieslik, 2018). Social entrepreneurial intentions (SEIs) and their antecedents (Bergner et al. , 2022; Keles Taysir and Asarkaya, 2021) have therefore attracted significant research interest, as have social entrepreneurial motivations (Jarrodi et al.…”