Lambrechts Wim, Caniëls Marjolein C J, Molderez Ingrid, Venn Ronald, Oorbeek Reinke
Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Faculty of Management, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, Netherlands.
SEIN-Identity, Diversity & Inequality Research, Faculty of Business Economics, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
Front Psychol. 2020 Nov 6;11:579500. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579500. eCollection 2020.
Social entrepreneurs are generally believed to have started their venture to improve societal needs and create social value. Yet, in order to achieve continuity of their organization, they need to generate economic value as well. These seemingly opposite objectives of social and economic value creation can cause tensions in social enterprises. This study aims to derive in-depth insights into personal dispositions and motivations of social entrepreneurs, with a specific focus on empathy. The study assesses differences in motivations of social entrepreneurs and how moral empathy helps them to cope with tensions that arise from trying to achieve both commercial and social goals. Analysis of semi-structured interviews with 33 social entrepreneurs in Belgium explores the tension between social and economic objectives as a paradox social entrepreneurs have to deal with. First, empathy is an important motivator, but not for all entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs who are driven by empathy often indicate that experiencing a critical life event has led to certain business choices. The life event does not always directly lead to increased empathy but often changes an entrepreneur's career or life path. Second, while social entrepreneurs are supposed to stress social impact, some respondents firmly state that financial impact is more important to their organization. The results show that social entrepreneurs display other motivations that are typical for "traditional" (commercial) entrepreneurs as well, such as self-realization and the sense of doing meaningful work. Empathy seems to play an important role in successfully dealing with the paradox and tensions between social and economic value creation, and more specifically to prevent mission drift.
社会企业家通常被认为是为了改善社会需求和创造社会价值而创业。然而，为了实现组织的持续发展，他们还需要创造经济价值。社会价值创造和经济价值创造这两个看似相反的目标可能会在社会企业中引发紧张关系。本研究旨在深入洞察社会企业家的个人特质和动机，特别关注同理心。该研究评估了社会企业家动机的差异，以及道德同理心如何帮助他们应对因试图实现商业和社会目标而产生的紧张关系。对比利时33位社会企业家进行的半结构化访谈分析，探讨了社会和经济目标之间的紧张关系，这是社会企业家必须应对的一个悖论。首先，同理心是一个重要的动机，但并非对所有企业家都是如此。受同理心驱动的社会企业家经常表示，经历重大生活事件导致了某些商业选择。生活事件并不总是直接导致同理心增强，但往往会改变企业家的职业或人生道路。其次，虽然社会企业家应该强调社会影响，但一些受访者坚定地表示，财务影响对他们的组织更重要。结果表明，社会企业家也表现出一些“传统”（商业）企业家典型的其他动机，如自我实现和从事有意义工作的感觉。同理心似乎在成功应对社会和经济价值创造之间的悖论和紧张关系中发挥着重要作用，更具体地说，是为了防止使命漂移。
