Does Entrepreneurs’ Darwinian Social Identity Contribute to Business Performance via Corporate Social Responsibility in China? The Role of Entrepreneurs’ Well-Being

Abstract

Although the impact of entrepreneurs’ social identity on successful entrepreneurship has attracted much scholarly attention, it is often to evaluate successful entrepreneurship through direct channel to financial performance. Recently, there is a growing body of researches beginning to pay attention to the impact of entrepreneurs’ social identity on corporate social responsibility (CSR) regarded as indirect social aspect channel to successful entrepreneurship. However, little is known regarding how entrepreneurs’ Darwinian social identity affects CSR, which in turn, affects business performance. This study addresses this issue by combining stakeholder theory with social identity theory, to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurs’ Darwinian social identity and business performance via CSR. In addition, the moderating effect of entrepreneur’s well-being is further examined to uncover the interaction effect of the individual psychological resource on business performance. The empirical results indicate that entrepreneurs’ Darwinian social identity contributes positively to CSR, so as further to business performance. In addition, this relationship is further found to be significantly moderated by entrepreneurs’ well-being. The results indicate that entrepreneurs can achieve business success via CSR, by which entrepreneurs can further acquire successful entrepreneurship through caring more about their well-being.

Corporate Co-Agglomeration and Green Economy Efficiency in China

“…In addition, through their social network relationships, entrepreneurs can also overcome resource constraints and gain access to more resources and information (Bauernschuster et al, 2010 ), which leads to knowledge spillovers and collective learning between the agglomerated enterprises (Crespo et al, 2022 ), reduces the cost of technological innovation, and further improves productivity and boosts economic growth (Xu et al, 2021 ). Entrepreneurship also enables enterprises to take greater social responsibility (Chen et al, 2021 ; Biggeri et al, 2022 ). Entrepreneurs are the shapers of corporate culture and the leaders of corporate development (Mudrack, 2007 ).…”

The Impact of Entrepreneurs’ Social Identity and the Mediation Effect of the Decision-Making Logic on the Bootstrapping Behavior of Nascent Ventures

“…Entrepreneurs take entrepreneurial actions that are consistent with their social identities through self-categorization and social comparison processes (Hogg & Terry, 2000;Leavitt et al, 2012;Murnieks et al, 2014). Entrepreneurs define themselves through their own understanding of "who I am" and "who I want to be" and position themselves in relation to particular social groups (Chen et al, 2021;Zuzul & Tripsas, 2020). Fauchart and Gruber (2011) divided entrepreneurs' social identity into the Darwinian social identity, communitarian social identity, and missionary social identity based on three standards: (1) individual basic social motivation -while Darwinian entrepreneurs aim to create a strong, profitable, and thus surviving business or personal wealth, communitarian entrepreneurs focus on belonging to a social group and thus serving a community, and missionary entrepreneurs are geared toward causes and political goals, and aim to promote the development of a specific social cause (such as a social mission or environmental mission).…”

“…Payment-related bootstrapping such as delaying the payment period and obtaining advance payment by providing discounts (Jayawarna et al, 2015) can help enterprises increase cash Yue Ling Liu / Xue Bing Peng / Jie Huang turnover and gain financial advantages. Second, Darwinians adhere to the principle of commercial business to create and operate companies, they have a rigorous business logic, and they evaluate themselves through professionalism (Chen et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2016). Therefore, Darwinian entrepreneurs are more inclined to payment-related bootstrapping such as active negotiation, formulating strict trading terms, and terminating cooperation with less efficient customers (Vanacker et al, 2011).…”

“…Therefore, Darwinian entrepreneurs are more inclined to payment-related bootstrapping such as active negotiation, formulating strict trading terms, and terminating cooperation with less efficient customers (Vanacker et al, 2011). Third, Darwinian entrepreneurs use competitors in the same industry as a personal reference framework, aiming to produce industry-leading products or provide services superior to competitors in their own field, and they seek to compete with mainstream brands with fair prices and technically similar or even better products (Chen et al, 2021;Fauchart & Gruber, 2011). This makes them more inclined to exploit payment-related bootstrapping such as seeking the best supply conditions from suppliers, coordinating procurement with others, seeking more bargaining space, and controlling procurement costs.…”

“…First, as economic egoists with a high sense of self-efficacy and an adventurous spirit (Brändle et al, 2018;Lerner et al, 2018), Darwinian entrepreneurs are willing to invest in new ventures with funds from external income or through personal credit card loans. Second, respecting business laws and being good at using the business management logic (Chen et al, 2021), Darwinian entrepreneurs are willing to utilize bootstrapping behavior such as using their own homes and other shareholder resources as office space to mitigate the resource constraint problem (Li & Alvarado, 2021). Third, regarding competition as the main external reference point of their social space, Darwinian entrepreneurs hope to use differentiated strategies to establish a unique competitive advantage.…”