Paulami Mitra, Jill R. Kickul and Colleen Robb
Extant literature on entrepreneurship highlights the importance of the entrepreneurs' social network in mobilizing resources for their ventures. Over the last few years…
Abstract
Extant literature on entrepreneurship highlights the importance of the entrepreneurs' social network in mobilizing resources for their ventures. Over the last few years, entrepreneurial crowdfunding opportunities have become a subject of growing research interest as it acts as a tool to mobilize financial resources. However, many of these studies are limited within the scope of new ventures, creative industries, and commercial entrepreneurship. In this study, we examine crowdfunding within the context of social entrepreneurship in order to gain a deeper understanding of the motivation and the characteristics of the pool of individuals that contribute to social entrepreneurial crowdfunding. Data for this study have been collected from four cases of social entrepreneurial crowdfunding campaigns. The campaigners, who raised the funds in France for social ventures based in India, shared their knowledge of 157 individuals that contributed to their crowdfunding campaign. The findings inform that crowdfunders mainly originate from the crowdfunding campaigner's helper network, such as family, friends, and colleagues. A small percentage were also acquaintances and strangers. This network of individuals was motivated to support the campaigner achieve her/his goal or was attracted to the social cause that triggered them in creating a social impact. Moreover, the crowdfunders were generally open-minded and well-traveled individuals accustomed to participating in social and voluntary activities. Our study reveals that some members of the helper network are likely to disappoint by not supporting the crowdfunding campaign, thus emphasizing a twist to the existing literature on entrepreneurship. This has practical implications that prompt social entrepreneurs to exercise their social capital, networking skills, and communication strategies to attract and expand their community of helpers in order to trigger individuals from both their helper network as well as individuals outside their current network toward crowdfunding.
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Michelle Ouimette, Imran Chowdhury and Jill R. Kickul
Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) increasingly view social entrepreneurship as means to expand their mission scope while simultaneously diversifying revenue streams and strengthening…
Abstract
Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) increasingly view social entrepreneurship as means to expand their mission scope while simultaneously diversifying revenue streams and strengthening financial foundations. However, the pursuit of social entrepreneurial ventures often incites a tug-of-war phenomenon between the deep-rooted social welfare logic of the parent NPO and a newly evolving commercial logic at the subsidiary social enterprise (SSE). The present study seeks to understand how NPOs navigate such logic conflicts as they strive to become more entrepreneurial. Based upon case studies of two NPOs, we found divergence in organizational identity, legitimacy, and mission/vision between parent nonprofits and their SSEs as they struggled with a defining question: Are we a program or are we a business? Our research indicates that organizations reconcile such cognitive dissonance through four distinct processes: connecting, variegating, separating, and augmenting social welfare and commercial logic spheres. We, thus, contribute to the social entrepreneurship and nonprofit management literatures by illustrating ways in which noncommercial organizations may address issues of logic divergence when engaging in revenue-generating commercial activities.
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Mark D. Griffiths, Lisa K. Gundry and Jill R. Kickul
The purpose of this paper is to incorporate the demand and supply‐side theories of entrepreneurship development in a series of stage‐based models that analyze how macro‐level and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to incorporate the demand and supply‐side theories of entrepreneurship development in a series of stage‐based models that analyze how macro‐level and contextual variables influence social entrepreneurship activity. The paper investigates the macro‐level influences, including the socio‐political, cultural and economic factors that can stimulate or impede the emergence of social entrepreneurship. Although little research on these determinants has been conducted, this study seeks to reveal that several variables that are crucial in traditional entrepreneurial studies do not appear to significantly affect social entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
To measure social entrepreneurial activity, the authors used the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) findings from the 2009 study. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test three multi‐level stages of the socio‐political, economic, and cultural determinants of social entrepreneurship activity. The series of three stages for all of the variables were entered in the following order: first, socio‐political variables; second, cultural variables; third, economic variables. This approach allows the authors to explore and thus extend the previous research reviewed here, on how the economic context beyond socio‐political and cultural factors affects social enterprise activity.
Findings
A three‐stage analysis revealed that socio‐political variables accounted for 76 percent of the variance in social entrepreneurial activity. It was found that the single greatest determinant of social entrepreneurial activity is the degree of female participation in the labor force. Additional findings and implications for understanding the role of macro‐level factors on social entrepreneurship are discussed.
Originality/value
Social entrepreneurship has the potential to confront and address some of society's most challenging and complex problems arising from market and government inadequacies or failures. Social entrepreneurial firms exist within environments that are often severely resource‐constrained. Therefore, social entrepreneurs may rely on a unique set of strategies to mobilize resources available to them, such as collaboration with others and accessing social capital to generate value solutions for their communities. The growth of women's participation in the labor force is a powerful influence on social entrepreneurship activity, and with the increase in training programs and local networks to support women's business ownership, it is likely that this trend will continue and positively impact communities around the world.
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Lisa K. Gundry, Jill R. Kickul, Mark D. Griffiths and Sophie C. Bacq
Social entrepreneurship is primarily concerned with the development of innovative solutions to society's most challenging problems. Since social entrepreneurship flourishes in…
Abstract
Social entrepreneurship is primarily concerned with the development of innovative solutions to society's most challenging problems. Since social entrepreneurship flourishes in resource-constrained environments, social innovation may depend on the extent to which social entrepreneurs can combine and apply the resources at hand in creative and useful ways to solve problems – “bricolage.” Moreover, innovating for social impact relies on a set of institutional and structural supports – “innovation ecology,' which can facilitate or impede innovation. Our research empirically examines these variables as drivers of systemic social change through scaling and replication – “catalytic innovation” (i.e., the development of products and services targeted to unserved markets). Results of a survey conducted with 113 social entrepreneurs indicate that, while innovation ecology is associated with the degree of catalytic innovation, it is mediated by the role and degree of bricolage that social entrepreneurs bring to solving problems. These findings reinforce the role of entrepreneurs as the indispensable agents of social change.
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Bala Mulloth, Jill R. Kickul and Lisa K Gundry
There has been a profound neglect in most of the literature dealing with social entrepreneurship on the relationship between social entrepreneurship and technological innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
There has been a profound neglect in most of the literature dealing with social entrepreneurship on the relationship between social entrepreneurship and technological innovation. The purpose of this paper is to provide new insights into that relationship by using the case of Prezi, a Budapest, Hungary-based mission-driven software company.
Design/methodology/approach
The research approach used for this paper is qualitative in nature and uses the case study methodology. Evidence was based on interpretative/qualitative interviews and direct observations.
Findings
Using the example of Prezi, the authors show that social entrepreneurial activities and projects could act as an important innovation source for technology-based industries.
Originality/value
The authors use the case of Prezi and describe several of Prezi’s socially driven projects and show how they influence those involved with the company to continuously innovate and solve problems that have positive impact in the community as well as their core product offering.
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Sophie Bacq, Frank Janssen and Jill R. Kickul
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the factors that influence social entrepreneurial ventures’ (SEVs) pursuit of a blended value approach. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the factors that influence social entrepreneurial ventures’ (SEVs) pursuit of a blended value approach. This paper predicts and examines that the mindset of SEV senior decision-makers leads them to perceive organisational goals differently.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper tests the hypotheses on an original data set of 171 SEVs by means of discriminant analysis.
Findings
The results suggest that social entrepreneurs who display an agency-oriented mindset tend to perceive organisational goals as being single: either social or financial. Conversely, social entrepreneurs who have a stewardship-oriented mindset tend to perceive organisational goals as blending both. The findings also underline that senior decision-makers’ mindsets in terms of governance are far from being uniform in SEVs.
Research limitations/implications
The findings empirically contribute to the argument that agency principles do apply to broader contexts than profit-oriented organisations (Wiseman et al., 2012) and frame SEVs as a promising context that redefines principal-agent relationships. It follows that the expected association between non-economic goals and stewardship put forward in the literature needs to be nuanced: only a blended value approach of social and financial objectives is associated with stewardship, whereas single social goals are best perceived by agency-oriented senior decision-makers. The results are limited to a single survey, using cross-sectional data.
Practical implications
The findings have a bearing on goal setting in social entrepreneurship. The results suggest that practitioners who display a stewardship mindset are more likely to perceive a double bottom line than those displaying an agency mindset.
Originality/value
A novel feature of the model is the incorporation of senior decision-makers’ heterogeneous “governance mindsets” (agency and stewardship) and one of the first empirical tests of blended value in social entrepreneurship.