Social entrepreneurs are driven by different social motivations that encourage entrepreneurial activity when addressing wicked problems. Omorede (2014) shows that the success of a social enterprise is directly influenced by the passion and commitment that drives the social entrepreneur. Ruskin & Webster (2011) determined that social entrepreneurs express a strong drive for social justice as a foundation for their commitment to a community in need. Still, the understanding of how social motivations encourage entrepreneurial behavior is quite limited (Austin, Stevenson, & Wei-Skillern, 2006).
Prior research has identified four constructs as antecedents of social entrepreneurial behavior, specifically: compassion, moral values, self-efficacy (autonomy and competence), and a supportive environment (Hockerts, 2015). Compassion motivates the creation of sustainable social value and a reaction to the needs of others and also deepens the concept of empathy: both sufferers and actors engage in sensemaking by interpreting each other’s situations and conditions (Dutton, Workman, & Hardin, 2014). How this sensemaking is enacted by different motives has not been studied in the field of social entrepreneurship.
This paper examines the relationship between motivational constructs and the reasons for action within the narratives of social entrepreneurs.
In order to understand the way motives lead to action, Weick’s theory of sensemaking is used. According to Weick (1995), people require values, priorities, and clarity about preferences to help them interpret which problems are of importance (Weick, 1995, p.27). People create their own environments as much as those environments create the individuals. Weick also introduces the term enactment. People organize in order to make sense of equivocal inputs and project this sense back into the world to make that world more orderly (Weick, Sutcliffe, & Obstfeld, 2005, p. 410). Sensemaking is about accounts that are socially acceptable. Stories help to give events and actions meaning and serve to organize sense making (Weick, 1995). This article moves Weick’s theory into the field of social entrepreneurship by applying his insights on sensemaking in wicked circumstances.
Based on the theory of Weick, in-depth interviews with ten social entrepreneurs were performed in the Netherlands to collect narratives on the reasons why they became a social entrepreneur. These social entrepreneurs have been working in the field of social value creation (inclusion and social cohesion) for groups at risk, such as the youth or the elderly, for at least two years. An additional qualitative method was introduced by asking the participants to visually draw their stories of becoming a social entrepreneur (Seanor, Bull, Baines, Ridley-Duff, 2013).
The results indicate that the narratives of the social entrepreneurs contain sub-narratives on what social entrepreneurship should be (normative, value driven) and an idealistic vision of solving social problems beyond their enterprise. Compassion and moral values play an important role in becoming a social entrepreneur. Meaning is created through cooperation and co-creation. Visual data demonstrate growth in personal meaningfulness.
This research elaborates Weick’s theory on sensemaking when addressing wicked problems and on what motivates social entrepreneurs. Findings are in accordance with prior research on motivation of social entrepreneurial behavior and deepen our understanding of how social entrepreneurs make sense in uncertain circumstances. In particular, this research emphasizes the significance of meaning that is created by social entrepreneurs.
Main references:
Austin, J., Stevenson, H., & Wei-Skillern, J. (2006). Social and commercial entrepreneurship: Same, different, or both? Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 30(1), 1–22.
Dutton, J. E., Workman, K. M., & Hardin, A. E. (2014). Compassion at Work. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 277–304.
Hockerts, K. (2015). The Social Entrepreneurial Antecedents Scale (SEAS): a validation study. Social Enterprise Journal, 11(3), 260–280.
Omorede, A. (2014). Exploration of motivational drivers towards social entrepreneurship. Social Enterprise Journal, 10(3), 239–267.
Ruskin, J., & Webster, C. M. (2011). Creating Value for Others: An Exploration of Social Entrepreneurs’ Motives. In 25th Annual Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference. Wellington, NZ.
Ryan, R. M., Huta, V., & Deci, E. L. (2008). Living well: A self-determination theory perspective on eudaimonia. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 139–170.
Seanor, Pam. Bull, Mike. Baines, Sue. Ridley-Duff, R. (2013). Seanor.pdf. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 19(3), 324–343.
Weick, K. E., (1995). Sensemaking in Organisations. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.
Weick, K. E., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Obstfeld, D. (2005). Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking. Organization Science, 16(4), 409–421.
2. Social innovation and social entrepreneurship
Article_I_de_Vries_EMES_2017.pdf 