How Social Entrepreneurs Affect Performance of Social Enterprises in Korea: The Mediating Effect of Innovativeness

Abstract

Schumpeter argued that entrepreneurship brings about creative destruction in capitalist economies. South Korea enacted the Social Enterprise Promotion Act in 2007 to promote corporate social enterprise. However, despite government support, social enterprises in Korea are not successful, especially in social and economic performance, which is defined as the social and economic value that social enterprises should pursue. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 100 social entrepreneurs, and the structural equation model was used as the research method. The results of the analysis are as follows. Openness and innovativeness have a positive direct impact on economic as well as social performance. In addition, openness and innovativeness play a mediating role not only in social performance, but also in economic performance. This paper suggests theoretical and policy implications based on the above analysis.

The Influence of Marketing Capability in Mexican Social Enterprises

“…Vigorous marketing capability supports the performance of commercial activities more efficiently because it allows the company to cope with market changes and its complexities [35]. In social enterprises, innovation is necessary to not only be better than their competitors, but to also satisfy social needs differently from profit enterprises [54,56] and with greater social impact [62]. In addition, whereas marketing capability had a significant indirect effect on social value creation through social innovation, the effect on economic value creation was not significant.…”

“…From RBT, social innovation is developed by applying a combination of resources available, creating new routines, or new ways of doing things [55]. However, it is necessary to creatively combine those resources in new ways to solve communal problems [56], given that social enterprises that lack innovation have a lower probability of surviving in the long term [57].…”

How Social Entrepreneurs’ Value Orientation Affects the Performance of Social Enterprises in Korea: The Mediating Effect of Social Entrepreneurship

“…The factors affecting SEP presented in the previous studies vary widely from study to study: the management capabilities of social entrepreneurs, leadership of social entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurship, networking with various stakeholders, organizational structure, governance, strategy, social support and cooperation, market competitiveness, balance as a hybrid organization, solidarity, values, and missions. While various factors are suggested, four major factors affect SEP: human, institutional, organizational, and environmental factors [34]. The leadership and management capacity of social entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurship, and employee competence are human factors [35][36][37].…”

“…However, in the subjective measurement of individual values, characteristics, and organizational performance, there are differences in the measurement level of variables. In other words, many studies identified the organizational and individual-level characteristics through subjective questionnaire surveys, and the survey respondents understood business situations and company environments well [30][31][32][33][34]. According to Liu et al, who analyzed the relationship between marketing capabilities and the social-economic SEP, subjective ratings to measure financial and social performance are a reliable and valid assessment because managerial decisions and actions are somewhat accurately perceived by the chief executives of companies.…”

“…Many research studies on the social entrepreneurship and behavioral characteristics of social entrepreneurs used self-reporting questionnaires [38][39][40]48,49]. Many studies analyzing the relationships among values, attitudes, and performance in business administration mainly measured values, attitudes, and performance with subjective perception [30][31][32][33][34][54][55][56][57]. Miles et al, leading SEP scholars, analyzed the relationships among value orientation, market orientation, SEPs, and SEPe [30].…”