Abstract
Despite the current prevalence of social entrepreneurs, research on their psychological triggers is relatively scarce. To address this issue, in this study, we explore the gender-based motivation of social entrepreneurs. We conduct the experimental study in an entrepreneurial decision-making context. We find that women and men are driven by gender-based motivations (sympathy and empathy) to become social entrepreneurs. Our findings contribute to the literature on social entrepreneurship by exploring the mediating role of gender-based motivation as underlying explanatory mechanism of the gender difference in social entrepreneurial activities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chandra Y (2017) Social entrepreneurship as emancipatory work. J Bus Ventur 32(6):657–673
Dees JG (1998) The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship. Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership
Kai H (2006) Entrepreneurial Opportunity in Social Purpose Business Ventures. Palgrave Macmillan UK
Kai H (2015) Determinants of social entrepreneurial intentions. Entrep Theor Pract 2014(1):12,465–12,465
Wry T, York JG (2015) An identity based approach to social enterprise. Academy of Management Review
Levie J, Hart M (2011) Business and social entrepreneurs in the uk: gender, context and commitment. Int J Gend Entrep 3(3):200–217
Andr\(\acute{e}\) K, Pache AC (2016) From caring entrepreneur to caring enterprise: Addressing the ethical challenges of scaling up social enterprises. J Bus Eth 133(4):659–675
Miller T, Grimes MG et al (2015) Venturing for others with heart and head: How compassion encourages social entrepreneurship. Acad Manag Rev 37(4):616–640
Goetz JL, Keltner D, Simon-Thomas E (2010) Compassion: an evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychol Bull 136(3):351–74
Kanov JM, Maitlis S et al (2004) Compassion in organizational life. Am Behav Sci 47(6):808–827
Kanze D, Huang L et al (2017) We ask men to win & women not to lose: Closing the gender gap in startup funding. Acad Manag J
Harmeling SD, Susan S, Sarasvathy SD (2013) When contingency is a resource: educating entrepreneurs in the balkans, the bronx, and beyond. Entrep Theor Pract 37(4):713–744
Austin J, Stevenson H, Wei-Skillern J (2006) Social and commercial entrepreneurship: Same, different, or both. Revista De Administrac 30(1):370–384
Zahra SA, Gedajlovic E et al (2009) A typology of social entrepreneurs: motives, search processes and ethical challenges. J Bus Ventur 24(5):519–532
Yitshaki R, Kropp F (2016a) Entrepreneurial passions and identities in different contexts: a comparison between high-tech and social entrepreneurs. Entrep Reg Dev 28(3–4):1–28
Yiu DW, Chen X (2014) Sentimental drivers of social entrepreneurship: a study of china’s guangcai (glorious) program. Manag Organ Rev 10(1):55–80
Christovmoore L, Simpson EA et al (2014) Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 46(4):604–627
Yitshaki R, Kropp F (2016b) Motivations and opportunity recognition of social entrepreneurs. J Small Bus Manag 54(2):546–565
Wispé L (1986) The distinction between sympathy and empathy: to call forth a concept, a word is needed. J Pers Soc Psychol 50(2):314–321
Powell EE, Baker T (2013) If you build it, will they stay? mission stabiilty in nascent social ventures. Front Entrep Res
Themudo NS (2009) Gender and the nonprofit sector. Nonprofit Volunt Sect q 38(4):663–683
Amabile TM (1990) Within you, without you: the social psychology of creativity, and beyond
Davis MH (1983) Measuring individual differences in empathy: evidence for a multidimensional approach. J Pers Soc Psychol 44(1):113–126
Lee SA (2009) Measuring individual differences in trait sympathy: instrument construction and validation. J Pers Assess 91(6):568
Jeanne M, Gross JJ et al (1998) Mood matters: negative mood induction activates dysfunctional attitudes in women vulnerable to depression. Cognit Ther Res 22(4):363–376
Batson CD, Dyck JL et al (1988) Five studies testing two new egoistic alternatives to the empathy-altruism hypothesis. J Personal Soc Psychol 55(1):52
Preacher KJ, Hayes AF (2004) Spss and sas procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 36(4):717–731
Bosma N, Schtt T et al (2011) Global entrepreneurship monitor 2015 to 2016: special topic report on social entrepreneurship. Soc Sc Electr Publ 3(1):66C70
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant Nos. 71472072, 71702029 and 71602067.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Li, X., Liu, J., Li, CR. (2019). Decision on Social Entrepreneurship: Empathy or Sympathy?. In: Xu, J., Cooke, F., Gen, M., Ahmed, S. (eds) Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management. ICMSEM 2018. Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93351-1_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93351-1_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93350-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93351-1
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)