Motivating Prosocial Venturing in Response to a Humanitarian Crisis: Building Theory From the Refugee Crisis in Germany

Abstract

In the context of the humanitarian refugee crisis in Germany, we conducted an 8-month qualitative study of prosocial ventures that emerged during this crisis to build a theory of motivation in prosocial venturing. We identified two venturing paths driven by founders’ distinct motivations. Founders motivated by others’ suffering focused on rescuing refugees, following an execution-oriented approach, and scaling their activities to meet victims’ short-run needs. Founders motivated by entrepreneurial aspirations focused on building an organization, following a foundation-oriented approach, and customizing activities to meet victims’ long-run needs. This study contributes to prosocial venturing and crisis research.

Crises, Covid-19, and Entrepreneurship

“…Indeed, such responses may also vastly increase the subjective well-being by the enhanced sense of agency and control over individuals’ own lives. Similar outcomes are also often achieved by social entrepreneurs, but more than that, social entrepreneurs undertake actions that are primarily targeting others’ welfare, and as demonstrated by Mittermaier et al’s (2023) study of social entrepreneurs as well as Browder et al (2023) study of citizen groups, this can make a big difference. While public policy response is indispensable, it is almost never rapid enough and targeted enough due to the nature of political and administrative processes.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a multitude of co-creation initiatives in which enterprises, research institutes, governments, citizens, and other stakeholders jointly produced innovations to urgently address the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper by Mittermaier et al (2023) reveals how prosocial ventures emerged in the context of the humanitarian refugee crisis in Germany. They show that these ventures are led by founders motivated by others’ suffering; they attempt to meet victims’ short run needs, while those ventures that are led by founders motivated by more entrepreneurial aspiration attempt to meet victims’ long-term needs.…”

Me-Search for Generating Ideas for Entrepreneurial Theorizing

“…Through this highly creative and relatively costless process, researchers are likely to identify a research opportunity that they are already somewhat capable of undertaking and motivated to pursue. For instance, both Shepherd and Williams (2014), Williams and Shepherd (2016) and Mittermaier et al (2021Mittermaier et al ( , 2022 used their me-search to help people in need by combining it with their existing knowledge elements on startups, entrepreneurial action, and cognition to generate research opportunities on compassionate venturing, resilience, and resource acquisition. This approach to identifying a research opportunity also shed light on other knowledge elements these authors needed to obtain to develop and communicate conceivable theoretical models-a process that continues today.…”

How Crisis May Generate and Sustain Creative Cycles: The Role of Problem Persistence

“…Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic involve many negative consequences, challenging individuals to find solutions to unexpected problems and increasing the opportunity to accelerate new ideas while providing motivation to promote creativity. Crises can also act as catalysts for innovation and meaningful work (Fritz, 1996), enhancing individuals' prosocial motivation to help others (Grant, 2007(Grant, , 2008Grant & Berg, 2011;Mittermaier, Patzelt, & Shepherd, 2021). Recent studies indicate that engaging in creativity can serve to buffer the negative effects of living during the pandemic (Kapoor & Kaufman, 2020).…”