“Emotion Driven or Brain Driven?”: A Study of Motives of Social Entrepreneurs In Sri Lanka Industry: A Review of Literature

Abstract

There is a growth in research in entrepreneurship, but little is known about the process of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is the process of creating value by combining resources in new ways intended to explore and exploit opportunities to create social value by stimulating social change. This research investigated the motives of social entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. This research used a conceptual framework comprising of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived feasibility to analyze the antecedents of social entrepreneurial intention in Sri Lanka. A randomly selected sample of 74 social entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structured Equation Modeling(PLS-SEM) method. Results indicate that 68% of the social entrepreneurs are male indicating the traditional gender bias which is common in business entrepreneurship also. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of social entrepreneurial intention indicated a four-factor loading pattern in contrast to the previous research. The four dimensions of entrepreneurial intention (EI) were named as Social-purpose EI, Profit-seeking EI, Psychological EI and Autonomy EI. This study empirically established that entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived feasibility have a significant positive influence on social entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived feasibility together explained 39% of the variance in social entrepreneurial intention. The outcome of this research will enhance the understanding of social entrepreneurship behavior and will provide valuable insights for policy makers in Sri Lanka.