Abstract
This research examines the antecedents that motivate and prepare social entrepreneurs to begin social ventures. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 20 social entrepreneurs, this research reveals that there are two paths to social entrepreneurship: the activist path and the business path. Both activist and business social entrepreneurs were motivated by a family legacy or a transformative early adulthood experience as the moral basis for forming a social venture, and both suggested that prior work experience was instrumental in helping them launch their social venture. However, activist social entrepreneurs were likely to form their social venture as a continuation of their ongoing work on a social issue. In contrast, business social entrepreneurs’ first activity on a social issue was to form a social venture. This research suggests that these two different paths to social entrepreneurship result in different types of social ventures.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 404-421 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Management Communication Quarterly |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research is supported by a grant from the Academy of Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and by the National Science Foundation (SES-1264417).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2014.
Keywords
- activism
- entrepreneurship
- nongovernment organizations
- socialization
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication
- Strategy and Management
