Social entrepreneurial intention among working adults: An emerging country context

Abstract

Under the premise of the value-belief-norm (VBN) model, this study examined the influence of values, beliefs and norms on social entrepreneurial intention of working adults in China. The cross-sectional design was employed, and an online survey, which involved 1,075 working adults, was conducted. All data were analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The obtained results showed the significant and positive influence of self-enhancement, openness to change, and self-transcendence on the sense of meaning and purpose. Moreover, the sense of meaning and purpose exhibited significant and positive influence on problem awareness, and problem awareness was found to have positive effect on outcome efficacy. Besides that, the sense of meaning and purpose, problem awareness, outcome efficacy, and injunctive social norms were found to exhibit significant and positive on personal norms. Finally, personal norms and injunctive social norms exhibited statistically significant and positive influence on social entrepreneurial intention. The results of effect size confirmed the considerable influence of personal norms and injunctive social norms on social entrepreneurial intention. Therefore, policy development aimed at promoting socioeconomic and environmental sustainability through social entrepreneurship should comprehensively consider the influence of personal norms and injunctive social norms. Increasing the sense of meaning and purpose of the working population, prompting an increased problem consequence and outcome self-efficacy, as well as instilling personal norms and injunctive social norms through various social and environmental incentives are recommended.

Progressing Sustainable Development through Social Entrepreneurship: Modelling Intentional Predictors for Bangladesh Using the Value–Belief–Norm Model

“…Openness to experience could include open-mindedness, creative behaviour, and a willingness to try new things or take risks based on the motivation of independent thoughts and actions [2]. On the other hand, problem awareness reflects the extent to which people are aware of the adverse consequences of not acting pro-socially, which motivates them to adopt new social behaviours and actions [2]. According to Suchy et al VBN is a suitable theoretical avenue for the present study, as it is perceived to be a comprehensive model integrating diverse individual factors to establish that pro-environmental behaviours, such as social entrepreneurship, are more likely to occur when a causal series of variables (e.g., values, beliefs, personal norms) is present [20].…”

“…Openness to experience could include open-mindedness, creative behaviour, and a willingness to try new things or take risks based on the motivation of independent thoughts and actions [2]. On the other hand, problem awareness reflects the extent to which people are aware of the adverse consequences of not acting pro-socially, which motivates them to adopt new social behaviours and actions [2]. According to Suchy et al (2011) [21], problems and actual difficulties are associated with lower agreeableness, higher neuroticism, and openness to experience.…”

“…Social entrepreneurship, characterized by non-commercial and commercial activities with the potential to develop business prospects related to social welfare, emerged as an optimum solution for ecological imbalance, social disparities, and unemployment [1]. Social entrepreneurship catalyses development and change, creates social value, and hence represents a rapidly extending field of policy development, practice, and academic research [2]. As one of the most viable approaches to effectively address diverse environmental and social issues, social entrepreneurship is a countermeasure against discrimination while promoting economic growth [1].…”

“…In Bangladesh, social and economic issues, such as income inequality, poverty, health, lack of access to formal education, and unemployment, triggered several social impactoriented business initiations [4]. Undoubtedly, exploring the intention towards social entrepreneurship of the masses in society is significant for a comprehensive and effective understanding of public perceptions, which in turn could address social issues, including government and market failure, as well as excessive market competition [2]. Additionally, such research exploring social entrepreneurship intentions could be valuable, as several researchers argued that social entrepreneurship is majorly activated by intentions and influenced by combinations of cognitions and motives [5].…”

Sustainable entrepreneurship out of entrepreneurial opportunity identification: The mediating role of psychological capital

“…As a main driver of socioeconomic growth, innovation, employment, and tackling poverty (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000 ; Abdelwahed, 2022 ; Zhang et al, 2022 ), theoretically and practically, entrepreneurship has become an important issue to be dealt with. Previous studies highlighted that intentions are seen as a key factor in predicting potential entrepreneurs' decisions (Schlaegel and Koenig, 2013 ; Donaldson, 2019 ; Antončič and Auer Antončič, 2023 ; Yang et al, 2023 ). On the possibility of shaping entrepreneurial intention (EI), university students are considered the most potential groups; thus, it is not surprising that governments from all over the world now have been offering entrepreneurial education courses to increase university students' EI (Pandit et al, 2018 ; Al-Harasi et al, 2021 ; Luo et al, 2022 ; Soomro and Shah, 2022 ; Wang et al, 2022 ).…”