Social Entrepreneurship Typologies

Despite the increasing research in the field of social entrepreneurship (SE), unfortunately there is not yet consensus on its conceptualization. The main points of disagreement are related to the business mission and to the source of income. Based on these two dimensions and a bottom-up approach, this chapter contributes to previous literature by proposing and empirically exploring a categorization of three types of social entrepreneurs—socially responsible entrepreneur (SRE), social enterprise entrepreneur (SEE), and social initiative entrepreneur (SIE)—which is applied empirically to explore the social entrepreneurs' personal characteristics (gender, age, and education), similarities, and differences. Multinomial logistic regressions are applied on an international sample of GEM data that includes 11,280 commercial entrepreneurs and 3,373 social entrepreneurs. The findings of the study will permit researchers and practitioners to understand previous empirical findings on social entrepreneurship more clearly and to advance in the study of this evolving phenomenon.

CONTEXTUALIZING ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS: ECONOMIC DYNAMISM AND CULTURE IN MULTILAYERED RELATIONSHIPS

We examine how economic dynamism, along with the cultural orientation of individualism vs. collectivism shape the multilayered relationships between perceptual variables—self efficacy, attitude, social capital and perceived opportunities—and entrepreneurial intentions (EI). For the first time, we introduce economic dynamism as a national context variable for EI. We also join a group of entrepreneurship scholars to apply a multilayered approach to account for the multiple interactions among individual and contextual variables. We test our hypotheses using country-level aggregates of GEM data. For comparison purposes, we consider four nations differentiated along the dimensions of economic dynamism and the cultural trait of individualism vs. collectivism, namely, China, Italy, Japan and the United States. The results show that self-efficacy predicts EI across all four nations; the interactive effects between perceived opportunities and attitude and between social capital and attitude are contingent upon national contexts in terms of economic dynamism and individualism vs. collectivism. Although economic development long has been a popular contextual variable in the study of EI, there remains a lack of empirical support. One reason is economic development assumes a stable state, when in fact changes in an economy may be more critical in impacting entrepreneurial intentions. In the current study, we replace economic development with that of economic dynamism. Future research needs to refine the construct and develop a measure of it.

Entrepreneurial ecosystems quality and productive entrepreneurship: entrepreneurial attitude as a mediator in early-stage and high-growth activities

PurposeThis study examines the mediation effects of entrepreneurial attitudes (EAs) on the nexus of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) quality and productive entrepreneurship for early-stage and high-growth entrepreneurial activities.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) panel data of 137 economies from 2014 to 2018. Random effect panel regressions and relative effect size estimations were used for data analysis.FindingsThe study’s findings show complementary mediation effects suggesting that EE quality steers entrepreneurial activities via the EA. However, such mediation is much more vivid towards high growth than early-stage activities. Vibrant EEs provide necessary resources that boost the attitude of potential and nascent entrepreneurs to engage in early stage and high-growth entrepreneurial activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe study utilizes GEM data to explain the EEs and EA dynamics and their related effects on entrepreneurship at the macro level. Future research may study the phenomena by using micro level data.Originality/valueThe paper explores a less empirically researched question on how EEs steer entrepreneurship growth and development. It reveals a need for new perspectives/logics (e.g. mediation/moderation) for improving the explanations on the extant EEs framework. It further informs policymakers and practitioners to design entrepreneur-centred EE policies and programs.

The Interaction Effects of Innovation, Business Relations, and the Country Context with Firm Age on Entrepreneurial Internationalization

The accelerating rate of technological progress and the increasing number of people having international experiences resulted in the emergence of entrepreneurial internationalization. Internationalization is challenging for entrepreneurs as they have limited resources to compete with large multinationals. We explore how entrepreneurs benefit from the unique individual-level resources and the country’s innovation at a macro level on internationalization pursued by exports. We develop a research model to test the direct effects of innovation, business relations, and the contextual framework conditions of country innovativeness as well as their interactions with firm age on export performance. We construct a data-set covering 72 economies over the globe drawn from GEM data and test our research model using multiple and hierarchical linear regressions. We find that innovation and country innovativeness interact with firm age on export performance when controlled for various entrepreneurial and business level characteristics. Our research contributes to the literature offering important implications for entrepreneurs and policymakers. At the entrepreneurial level, innovation is a unique resource that an entrepreneur can get the most benefit out from it in the early stages of foundation. At the country level, developing policies supporting a favorable innovative environment is crucial, particularly in low innovative countries, to boost entrepreneurial internationalization in their early stages.

Environmental Consciousness of Entrepreneurs in Ghana: How Do Entrepreneur Types, Demographic Characteristics and Product Competitiveness Count?

Businesses are believed to be partly responsible for upsetting the balance of local biodiversity through activities that degrade the environment. Critically, entrepreneurship is increasingly being cited as a key sector that can bring about sustainable transformation in production and distribution. Ghana’s total entrepreneurial activity rate is estimated at 37%, with businesses operating unsustainably. Meanwhile, little has been explored empirically on the factors that influence businesses’ sensitivity to the environment in Ghana. Using the 2013 GEM data in estimating seven different logic regression models coupled with a qualitative analysis, this paper fills the gap by investigating how the demographic and entrepreneurial characteristics of entrepreneurs in Ghana influence their environmental consciousness. The empirical evidence suggests that education fosters environmental consciousness, while owner-manager and female entrepreneurs as well as rural locality entrepreneurs in Ghana tend to be more environmentally sensitive. The qualitative data also revealed general concerns for the environment as motivating factors for entrepreneurs to be more environmentally conscious. The findings therefore draw attention to the inadequate focus on green entrepreneurship in Ghana. Embarking on educational campaigns to promote the adherence to environmental regulations by all businesses, especially those in urban areas, could help build a robust eco-preneurship landscape in Ghana.

Societal self-control and post-exit entrepreneurial intentions

PurposeThe study examines the role that societal levels of self-control – behavioral and cognitive self-control – play in shaping entrepreneurial intentions after both favorable and unfavorable prior exits.Design/methodology/approachUsing Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data set on the nature of entrepreneurial exits from 32 countries between 2007 and 2010 and supplementing this data set with country-level scores of behavioral and cognitive self-controls, the authors test five hypotheses on the effects of societal levels of self-control on post-exit entrepreneurial intentions.FindingsThe study finds that individuals who exit entrepreneurship for negative reasons (versus positive reasons) are more likely to form entrepreneurial intentions. Further, societal levels of self-control moderate this likelihood.Originality/valueThe study invokes the psychological construct of self-control in the context of entrepreneurship. The novelty lies in rendering self-control as also a higher order societal level construct and then also empirically testing the role that societal self-control plays in shaping entrepreneurial intentions after prior exits. Societal self-control accounts for cross-country variance in why individuals in some societies are better suited and capable to return to entrepreneurship despite unfavorable prior exits.

Exploring Personal and Contextual Variables of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor through the Rasch Mathematical Model

This article studies the variables of entrepreneurship at the regional (countries) level proposed by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) in its periodic global reports. This response to the suggestions and concerns of various authors is related to the need to analyze the theoretical foundation of the variables used by GEM. The validity and reliability of GEM data for the scientific study of entrepreneurship are also analyzed. Finally, the potential of GEM data to manage entrepreneurship variables at the country level is studied. Data from the GEM global report and the fifty countries for which data are available on all variables are used in the study. The methodology used is the Rasch mathematical model, a valuable alternative to the Classical Theory of the Test. The results confirm the theoretical validity of GEM data, its validity and reliability for the development of scientific studies, and its potential for managing entrepreneurship variables at the country level. Both the methodology used and the conclusions obtained constitute novel contributions to this field.

Entrepreneurial initiative in Islamic economics – the role of gender. A multi-country analysis

Purpose The entrepreneurial initiative is believed as being a prosperity engine. Islamic organizations are presently committed to promoting entrepreneurship to generate economic growth, provide job opportunities, reduce government centrality, enhance innovation and sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to identify which factors affect Islamic entrepreneurial endeavors with particular emphasis on the role of gender. Additionally, how education, age, moral constraints, self-perception and social support will affect those entrepreneurial intentions based on Islamic principles. Once identified, policy actions will help to overcome extant gaps, reinforcing the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Design/methodology/approach Determinants of the entrepreneurial initiative will be appraised in the set Islamic countries present in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data set from 2016. Following the Organization of Islamic Cooperation list, 14 countries were identified establishing a total sample of 36,407 individuals. Using a set of predictors included in the theoretical framework a statistical analysis was performed followed by logit estimations. The significance of explanatory variables such as gender, age and social context toward entrepreneurial propensity reinforced the importance of specific tools rather than broad policies. Findings An entrepreneurial propensity is affected by three branches of factors: individual characteristics, individual behavior and individual perceptions along with the economic environment. The analysis shows that holding equal conditions, Islamic women in the sample are less prone to start a business compared to their male counterparts. Knowing other entrepreneurial endeavors enhance the entrepreneurial initiative. Fearing failure unconstraint entrepreneurial projects, but the self-perception of skills strongly triggers these initiatives. Research limitations/implications The empirical analysis relates to the GEM database, and, as a consequence, only 14 countries were considered, but it covers 36,407 individuals whose representativeness cannot be statistically proved, however, due to sample dimension the robustness is granted. Second, the sample is sectional covering the 2016 year, as a consequence results may be classified as exceptional.Finally, other factors such as institutional and behavioral determinants were not considered, despite their theoretical importance, due to their absence in the database. Still, the empirical results reinforce the theoretical debate and offer robust evidence to build a policy package, adapted to the Islamic singularities. Practical implications Still, the empirical results reinforce the theoretical debate and offer robust evidence to build a policy package, adapted to the Islamic singularities. Originality/value The paper identifies gender differences in entrepreneurial propensity among Islamic economics. The potential enhancers of the entrepreneurial initiative are first put in theoretical terms followed by an empirical analysis, encompassing descriptive analysis and econometric estimations. The results allow identification of gender gaps, as well as other individual and context characteristics affecting entrepreneurial endeavors. Empirical evidence casts light on policymakers elaborating accurate policy packages fostering gender equality in entrepreneurship in Islamic economics, aiming to increase overall entrepreneurial activity and leveraging socio-economic development. Finally, the study addresses recommendations to overcome gender differences relating to entrepreneurial activity considering the singularities of the context.

Perceptions on effectiveness of public policies supporting entrepreneurship and internationalization

PurposePublic policies provide a way for governments to influence the effectiveness of business strategies in the international marketplace. The main goal of this article is to show the importance of key aspects for policymaking at the national level and, secondly, to try to evaluate if public policies and programmes are effective in the entrepreneurship and internationalization of firms.Design/methodology/approachThe Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data set was used to perform a multivariate analysis through multiple linear regression.FindingsThe economic and financial crisis that has plagued the world recently has incentivized entrepreneurs to be more creative and encouraged policymakers to be more effective in the important role they can play in economic growth. Thus, the findings indicate that government support can help firms be more entrepreneurial and increase their level of internationalization in the marketplace. The findings indicate that entrepreneurship is an important growth factor, so it is important to understand government support can be effective in stimulating business activity.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focusses on perceptions of government policy based on the GEM database, which means it is limited to subjective assessments rather than objective measures.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study will help business managers focus on their country of origin as a way to stress the impact of government policies on reputation in the international marketplace.Social implicationsGovernments need to acknowledge how their entrepreneurial policies regarding innovation and internationalization affect business success rate. This means emphasizing the trustworthiness and credibility of their policies.Originality/valueThis article highlights the need for more entrepreneurial policymaking that emphasizes government reputational affects in the success rate of firms in the international marketplace. This provides a way for firms to gain better recognition from country-of-origin effects but also for policymakers to prioritize international strategic efforts. By comparing data from different countries, the article highlights the different ways government policy can be utilized strategically in order to increase entrepreneurship and internationalization rates.

Strategic innovation and entrepreneurial ownership: an analysis using GEM data and fuzzy simulation

PurposeThis paper aims to study entrepreneurial ownership and technological input on product innovation globally and in the Indian context. The data used in this study is collected from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM).Design/methodology/approachThe study evaluates strategic innovation and entrepreneurial ownership in global and country-level data. The study was extracted from global and country-level data by the GEM. One of the methods used is ordinal regression analysis to examine the importance of entrepreneurial ownership and technology usage on product innovation. Another technique used is the fuzzy-based simulation to simulate the scenario of entrepreneurial ownership and usage of technology in business processes impacting product innovation.FindingsResults from statistical analysis indicate that entrepreneurial ownership is high in India compared to the globe. The usage of technology and its excellence is still lower than the global level and in other countries. In India, product innovation is achieved because of strong entrepreneurial ownership but, globally product innovation is achieved because of the higher level of technological excellence and technology usage in innovation activities. The fuzzy-based simulation shows that product innovation is at peak only when both technological input and entrepreneurial ownership are high.Originality/valueThis paper's original contribution is that the fuzzy-based simulations are applied to GEM data to study the relationships of entrepreneurial ownership and technological input on product innovation through simulation. The study has shed light on how entrepreneurial ownership and usage of technology are influential in product innovation.