Social Enterprise Recommendations Overview

“1. The limited scope of this study, which focuses on undergraduate and postgraduate students, limis the generalizability of the findings. Future research may apply the conceptual framework to working adults.

2. Future research could enhance our understanding of the indirect effect of empathy by examining other types of employee attitudes and behaviors.

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“This study provides business leaders, policymakers, and entrepreneurship educators with several important managerial implications.

1. Findings recommend that the ability to sense others’ thoughts and feeling are of paramount importance in identifying and supporting promising social entrepreneurs. As perspective taking and empathic concern are two crucial prerequisites for social entrepreneurship activities, business leaders are recommended to offer opportunities for their employees to learn and develop their abilities to apprehend and react to customers’ thoughts and feelings.

2. Second, managers’ understanding of how prosocial behaviour intervenes the relationship between empathy and social entrepreneurial intention suggests that prosocial behaviour can be broadened and deepened by appropriate training programs. Firms valuing entrepreneurial and socially concerned employees should recognize that cooperative group values and norms are of paramount importance. They should not only implement financial but also non-financial schemes to cultivate and foster a prosocial mindset that tap into employees’ desires for considering others’ goals and attaching more importance to the well-being of the group.

3. Third, managers should also note that opportunity contingencies shape the impact of prosocial behavior on social entrepreneurial intention by accentuating the role of opportunity evaluation and opportunity exploitation. The effect of prosocial behavior on social entrepreneurial intention is strengthened when both opportunity evaluation and opportunity exploitation are high. This implies that when individuals perceive a positive evaluation of ‘what will be’ if the opportunity was exploited – that is when they see this business opportunity is worth considering – they are more likely to engage in establishing social businesses.

4. Moreover, the results suggest that not only does opportunity evaluation matter but also the pursuit of an actual opportunity in the form of a decisive action (e.g. how to allocate available resources to develop new products) can play a central role. When resource allocation decisions on the likelihood for the opportunity to be exploited appropriately and successfully are taken into consideration, this opportunity exploitation provides fertile conditions for social entrepreneurial intention to thrive.
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“Our findings entail valuable implications for public policy in emerging markets.

1. The government can fund specific programs via local hubs, accelerator and incubators targeting female entrepreneurs with customized support services. Such services can include networking for women in order to encourage them to leverage wider partners and networks beyond their personal and family circles, but also balancing social with business objectives. These publicly funded programs targeting women social entrepreneurs can also support them with evidence- based guidelines on the design of business models, revenue and distribution channels. Because of the aforementioned feminine characteristics of being more empathetic, women entrepreneurs may have a less distinct business focus. Hence, such programs are needed to ensure such a solid business case behind the entrepreneurial ventures.

2. Second, government support can be provided via subsidies or tax incentives to major companies or governmental institutions to incentivize them to work with female-led enterprises with a social purpose. By providing support and/ or procuring products and services from these enterprises, social impact can be maximized for BoP (bottom of the pyramid) communities and women entrepreneurs can be encouraged to expand their businesses. These initiatives have the potential to support female entrepreneurs to navigate turbulent institutional terrains in emerging markets and unlock valuable potentials for social impact in BoP communities. As our results outlined, female entrepreneurs are different, which needs to be considered by governmental actions.
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“1. Future studies might analyze/ should consider also cultural differences in more detail, as this was out of scope for our current study.

2. Second, we only used data from one specific point of time. Hence, future researchers could apply longitudinal studies to analyze effects which might occur over time.

3. Another aspect is the lack of quantitative data, or the application of experimental approaches. With such research strategies applied, further insights could be gained into woman entrepreneurship endeavours in these emerging markets.

4. Moreover, the limited sample size and insights from only one sector (healthcare) might not be sufficient for generalization of the results and hence validating the results with samples from different sectors would enhance the research further.”

1. Policy-makers should take into account that a combination of conditions are required to obtain high levels of national well-being. Governments should be aware of the influence of digitalisation, and they should consider the relevance of partnering with social entrepreneurs in their country. Policies aiming to raise national well-being should take into account digital adaptation since digitalisation can leverage education, governance, and philanthropic financing.

2. If the government can fulfil social needs, at the national level, social entrepreneurship is not so important. However, if institutions are weak, governments should promote social entrepreneurship, since its absence can be one of the conditions that justify low levels of national well-being.

1. Researchers should include digitalisation in future studies aiming to understand national well-being and should take into consideration the national context when studying social entrepreneurship.

2. This research is not without limitations, such as the number of countries in the sample and the cross-sectional nature of the data, which could be addressed by future research.Future studies could overcome these limitations using different datasets.

3. The convergence of digital and entrepreneurship requires new studies to clarify the impact of digital entrepreneurship. For example, future studies could examine the effects of digitalisation on entrepreneurs’ subjective well-being.

The obtained findings should be extended to other countries of the world.

1. Social companies can improve their activities based on AI (artificial intelligence) and create additional advantages.

2. Digital modernization of social companies based on AI is desirable and accessible – but it should consider the specifics of social entrepreneurship.