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In this study, the authors aim to extend previous research and examine the phenomenon of gender diversity on firm performance in the context that of community-based enterprises (CBEs). The study builds on gender role theory and analyzes three factors that affect the relationship between gender diversity and firm performance: the overall percentage of women in the business, the level of participative decision-making and top management team (TMT) compensation.

Data for this study were obtained from the Solidarity Economy Enterprise Database. The Brazilian Government created the database to gather information regarding the status of the Solidarity Economy in the country.

The authors argue and find support for the idea that gender diversity in TMT positively influences firm performance. However, there is a point where higher presence of women in the business starts to be detrimental for firm performance. That is, the authors find that there is a curvilinear relationship between gender diversity in TMT and firm performance. Moreover, they found strong empirical evidence for the influence of compensation in strengthening the effect of gender diversity on firm performance.

The great potential that this study offers applied to the CBEs relies on the fact that these businesses are naturally oriented toward equality, so understanding how the unbalance in gender diversity may affect the firm performance could help us to understand if there is a disconnection between the theory and the practice in terms of how women are positioned.

The paper has important implications for corporate boards and policy-makers, suggesting the importance of increasing the number of women in boards of directors to benefit from the diversity in value, perspectives, background and skills they bring to TMTs. This study focuses on an under-researched context in terms of TMTs – CBEs.

This work shows that gender diversity in top on boards of CBE’s is positive which is aligned to the orientation toward equality that these businesses have. However, at the same time even although having more women is positive for financial performance, there is a saturation point from when the influences starts to be detrimental.

The authors consider that this study raises areas for further consideration in efforts to understand what are the boundary conditions of gender diversity in top teams.

Social entrepreneurship.

Undergraduate or Honours students interested in Social Enterprise.

The case describes the challenges face by Mafalda Soto, a Spanish pharmacist, who together with two albino Tanzanian colleagues, has patented and produced the first solar lotion for the albino population made in Africa. The social organization, KiliSun, and its main product have had a remarkable success in Tanzania and have received funds from BASF and the Tanzanian government for production and distribution until 2016. However, Mafalda could not help but think about how to make a viable project out of her social innovation. For how long could she keep her collaborators on board? Where will she get the funds from? What role should she give the Tanzanian government? After all, her dream was to help albinos beyond Tanzania. It was Christmas eve, and that night, Mafalda went to bed naively asking Santa to help her make possible that every albino could one day have access to her sun lotion. This way, they also, could get closer to the sun.

How to finance the growth of the organization; how to design a business model that helps social enterprises become self-sustaining; how to measure social impact; and how to craft and choose strategic alliances.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This paper aims to describe how Taoufik Mathlouthi created Mecca‐Cola, a beverage designed as an alternative to major American colas. It is intended to raise student's consciousness about the fact that good opportunities can be driven by political and social changes. Second, it aims to bring them the opportunity to reflect about their own definition of a social entrepreneur and understand the challenges behind pursuing multiple objectives that is, trying to blend and integrate non‐profit goals with rigorous venture development practices.

To write this case, two complementary methodologies were relied on: interviews with founder and employees and use of secondary information such as press articles.

The case describes how what began as a venture for French Muslims, garnered international appeal, with markets opening up in 54 countries in less than two years. However, despite this success, the following stage of transforming Mecca‐Cola into a sustainable business while maintaining its “essence” was proving difficult for the company.

The case is intended for an undergraduate or MBA course in entrepreneurship. The innovative aspect is that the entrepreneur discovered a business opportunity that arose in the wake of the Iraq war in the form of discontent with US foreign policy among some sectors of the population. As courses on social entrepreneurship begin to emerge in academic institutions this case also offers an interesting example of the challenges brought about initiating this kind of business and achieving a double bottom line.

This paper aims to examine the interplay among forms of entrepreneurship and the gendered entrepreneurial divide. Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the World Values Survey (WVS), the authors investigate the likelihood that females will venture in the commercial entrepreneurial ventures versus social entrepreneurial ventures. The authors draw on the theoretical concept of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity to explain gender variance in the organizational forms of commercial and social entrepreneurship. Specifically, the authors investigate whether pursuing an opportunity in a society that highly values ideologies of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity impacts the probability of venturing in either of these kinds of organizations.

To test the hypotheses, the authors use GEM data from 2009 (n = 14,399) for nascent entrepreneurs and baby businesses owners in 55 counties. They also use the WVS to measure the ideologies of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity at the country level. The authors estimate a logistic multilevel model to identify the drivers of social venturing over commercial venturing. Data are nested by countries, and the authors allow random intercepts by countries with a variance components covariance structure.

The findings demonstrate that there is a divide in entrepreneurial activity, as women entrepreneurs are more likely to start social ventures than commercial ventures. They also find that hegemonic masculinity decreases the incidence of social entrepreneurship, whereas emphasized femininity increases the incidence of social entrepreneurship. Moreover, the authors find evidence that women in societies with a strong view on hegemonic masculinity are less likely to pursue social organizational forms than male entrepreneurs are. Furthermore, in societies with strong views of emphasized femininity, the probability increases that female founders will pursue social organizational forms. The findings highlight the considerable impact of the gender ideologies on entrepreneurship.

Although the authors use the terms “gender” and “sex” in this paper interchangeably, they recognize that these two terms are not equivalent. For the purposes of this manuscript, the authors use a gender analysis approach activity based on biological sex to investigate empirical differences in entrepreneurial. The findings suggest that women ultimately, and unintentionally, are consenting to the practices and norms that reiterate the masculinity of entrepreneurship. In this way, the patriarchal ideologies of hegemonic masculinity and masculinization of entrepreneurship ultimately leave women unable to fully take up the identity of “woman” alongside that of “entrepreneur”. Future research can build upon our findings by applying a more nuanced view of gender via constructivist approaches.

The findings empirically demonstrate the gendered nature of entrepreneurial activity, leading to specific stereotypical female social organizational forms and male commercial organizational forms. Furthermore, the authors are able to provide theoretical explanations based on hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity to understand why social entrepreneurship appeals to women.

Drawing on the multiplicity of context approach, this study investigates whether female entrepreneurs are more likely than male entrepreneurs to create environmentally oriented organizations. This study aims to examine how context, measured by gender socialization stereotypes and post-materialism, differentially affects the kinds of organizations entrepreneurs choose to create.

To test the hypotheses, this study utilizes Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data from 2009 (n = 17,364) for nascent entrepreneurs, baby businesses owners and established business owners in 47 counties. This study also utilizes the World Values Surveys to measure gender ideologies and post-materialist cultural values at the country level. To test the hypotheses, a logistic multi-level model is estimated to identify the drivers of environmental venturing. Data are nested by countries, and this allows random intercepts by countries with a variance components covariance structure.

Findings indicate that female entrepreneurs are more likely to engage in ecological venturing. Societies with high levels of post-materialist national values are significantly more likely to affect female entrepreneurs to engage in environmental ventures when compared to male entrepreneurs. Moreover, traditional gender socialization stereotypes decrease the probability of engaging in environmental entrepreneurship. Likewise, female entrepreneurs in societies with strong stereotypes regarding gender socialization will more likely engage in environmental entrepreneurship than male entrepreneurs.

The present study uses a gender analysis approach to investigate empirical differences in environmental entrepreneurial activity based on biological sex. However, this research assumes that gender is the driver behind variations in ecopreneurship emphasis between the engagement of males and females in venturing activity. The findings suggest that female entrepreneurs pursuing ecological ventures are more strongly influenced by contextual factors, when compared to male entrepreneurs. Future research can build upon these findings by applying a more nuanced view of gender via constructivist approaches.

This study is one of the few to investigate ecologically oriented ventures with large-scale empirical data by utilizing a 47-country data set. As a result, it begins to open the black box of environmental entrepreneurship by investigating the role of gender, seeking to understand if men and women entrepreneurs equally engage in environmental venturing. And it responds to calls that request more research at the intersection of gender and context in terms of environmental entrepreneurship.

Little previous research has investigated the determinants of social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) in the context of Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this study is to advance a research model that examines the direct and indirect effects of prior experience with social problems via empathy, moral obligation, social self-efficacy and perceived social support on SEI.

This study is based on data collected from a survey using questionnaires completed by 278 Saudis. To analyze data and test the developed hypotheses, an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to investigate the factorial structural of the constructs, their reliability and validity. Then, goodness-of-fit statistics showed model fits of different alternative models. A hierarchical regression modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of main variables on SEI.

Results show positive relationships between prior experience with social problems and SEI antecedents, on one hand, and between prior experience with social problems and SEI on the other hand. Notably, no significant relationships exist between moral obligation and SEI and social support and SEI. Additionally, only empathy and social self-efficacy mediated the relationship of prior experience with social problems to SEI.

This study contributes to the literature by showing how most of the SEI’s antecedents can play a mediating role between prior experience with social problems and SEI. The main limitation of this study is that it was not possible to generalize the findings. Future research perspectives were proposed to address this limitation and add new insights to the field considering the context of an emerging country.

This study is one of the first to conduct such an investigation in the Saudi context. It validates the scales of previous empirical models on SEI and partially replicates their results.