Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

3-2014

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship plays an important role in local development in emerging economies, but scholars have paid little attention to this emerging phenomenon. Under the theory of moral sentiments, we posit that some entrepreneurs are altruistically motivated to promote a morally effective economic system by engaging in social entrepreneurial activities. Focusing on China's Guangcai (Glorious) Program, a social entrepreneurship program initiated by China's private entrepreneurs to combat poverty and contribute to regional development, we find that private entrepreneurs are motivated to participate in such programs if they have more past distressing experiences, including limited educational opportunities, unemployment experience, rural poverty experience, and startup location hardship. Their perceived social status further strengthens these relationships. Our study contributes to the social entrepreneurship literature by offering a moral sentiment perspective that explains why some entrepreneurs voluntarily join a social entrepreneurship program to mitigate poverty in society.

Keywords

Moral sentiments; Personal experience; Social entrepreneurship; Social status

Discipline

Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Strategic Management Policy

Research Areas

Strategy and Organisation

Publication

Management and Organization Review

Volume

10

Issue

1

First Page

55

Last Page

80

ISSN

1740-8776

Identifier

10.1111/more.12043

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1111/more.12043

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