Aspects of Social Entrepreneurship Orientation

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Addressed Gaps in the Literature
Ideas and Arguments Found Stimulating
Questions and Concerns with the Main Claims
Similarities and Disagreements Reported in The Literature
Future Research Directions
A Recent Work Missing
References

Introduction

The study conducted by Halberstadt et al. (2020) aimed to research the influence of social entrepreneurship orientation (SEO) on the social entrepreneurial performance of startups and established firms. The researchers used a sample of 308 industrial firms from Northern Macedonia and Austria to study this relationship. Their findings indicated that all dimensions of SEO, namely, social proactiveness, social risk-taking, social innovativeness, and socialness, positively influence social performance. Halberstadt et al. (2020) also found that there are differences in how SEO affects the social performance of established firms and startups. The study has practical implications for entrepreneurs searching for best practices to improve their social performance and enterprise support communities assisting established firms and startups.

Addressed Gaps in the Literature

The authors discovered that although social entrepreneurship receives much attention in research and practice, SEO remains an under-researched field. Furthermore, the extant literature has not considered the differences between startups and established firms regarding the impact of SEO on performance. Halberstadt et al. (2020) addressed these gaps by conducting a study evaluating the influence of SEO on performance and taking into account the differences in the characteristics of established firms and startups. Additionally, the researchers combined the person-centered and variable-centered approaches to entrepreneurship research, thus addressing the weaknesses of prior studies that used only one of these perspectives.

Ideas and Arguments Found Stimulating

The first stimulating argument is that profitability is not the only goal of social entrepreneurs since they reinvest their profits to achieve their mission instead of dividing profits among shareholders (Halberstadt et al., 2020). This idea is interesting because it reflects the shift in entrepreneurs’ orientation from economic to social benefits and emphasizes the importance of considering various stakeholders’ interests when doing business. Another stimulating argument is that socialness, that is, social value creation, can positively affect the company’s image (Halberstadt et al., 2020). Indeed, socialness serves as a value-added component of the company’s business. If the firm creates social value in addition to making profits, it is more likely to elicit favorable attitudes toward itself from its stakeholders.

Questions and Concerns with the Main Claims

The authors’ main claim is that SEO should get more scholarly attention. One question related to this claim is whether and how SEO influences the firm’s performance. Another question is whether and to which extent both economic and social performance are important for social entrepreneurs. Further, Halberstadt et al. (2020) were interested in how different SEO dimensions (social proactiveness, social risk-taking, social innovativeness, and socialness) influence performance. Finally, the researchers were concerned about the differences in the influence of SEO on performance in startups and established firms. One more question that one can think of concerning the main claim is whether SEO has a different impact on firms in various industries, particularly in service-oriented and profit-oriented industries.

Similarities and Disagreements Reported in The Literature

Halberstadt et al. (2020) reviewed the literature related to the importance of social and economic activities for social entrepreneurs. They found that various scholars agreed on the significance of social entrepreneurial activities, but the importance of economic performance was arguable. Halberstadt et al. (2020) then presented their perspective on this issue, according to which both social and economic performance had significance. This refers to both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations because any firm should generate enough income to be able to deliver social value.

The authors also discussed similarities and disagreements related to the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on performance. During their literature review, Halberstadt et al. (2020) discovered that some scholars found no significant impact of SEO on the performance of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. In contrast, other researchers identified a positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, particularly its dimensions of innovativeness and autonomy, and performance, especially in the public sector (Halberstadt et al., 2020).

Finally, Halberstadt et al. (2020) described the differences between startups and established firms. They stated that established firms had advantages because of their size, allowing for economies of scale. Furthermore, such firms have considerable market experience and demonstrate more effective social innovativeness. In contrast, startups have greater flexibility and connection to their markets due to their small size, which positively influences their social performance. Additionally, in startups, the founders are often involved in management, so their intrinsic motivation can lead to a better accomplishment of social goals. The study conducted by Halberstadt et al. (2020) also indicated that the performance of established firms is influenced by all dimensions of SEO, while that of startups is affected only by social proactiveness and innovativeness.

Future Research Directions

Halberstadt et al. (2020) suggested that future research should contribute to the nascent SEO literature by studying SEO in emerging economy contexts. Further, scholars may conduct longitudinal research to explore SEO from an international perspective. Halberstadt et al. (2020) proposed gradually adding more countries to research to make sure that the findings remained consistent under varied conditions. Finally, future studies can investigate the differences among various industries in terms of SEO impacts.

A Recent Work Missing

Gupta et al. (2020) conducted a systematic literature review of 188 studies in the field of social entrepreneurship (SE) to identify research gaps and suggest future research directions. The literature on SEO revealed that most entrepreneurs balance commercial and social goals in their business activities, but social entrepreneurs prioritize social objectives over economic ones. Gupta et al. (2020) also discovered five dimensions of SEO; in addition to innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, and socialness, as proposed by Halberstadt et al. (2020), Gupta et al. (2020) mentioned effectual orientation. Gupta et al. (2020) found out that, in terms of SEO research, the alignment of economic and social objectives, applied marketing strategies and business models, and entrepreneurial challenges have not received enough scholarly attention.

References

Gupta, P., Chauhan, S., Paul, J., & Jaiswal, M. P. (2020). Social entrepreneurship research: A review and future research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 113, 209-229. Web.

Halberstadt, J., Niemand, T., Kraus, S., Rexhepi, G., Jones, P., & Kailer, N. (2020). Social entrepreneurship orientation: Drivers of success for start-ups and established industrial firms. Industrial Marketing Management. Web.

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