Beyond prosocial and altruistic: identifying other-oriented motives of social entrepreneurs

Social entrepreneurs create new ventures to fill market-based gaps in the provision of social goods or services. The young academic field of social entrepreneurship lacks a theory of social entrepreneurial motivation. Both prosocial motivation and altruism are identified as foundations for social entrepreneurial activities, but they are poorly defined and supported by limited empirical evidence. We propose nurturance, social justice and reciprocity as additional other-oriented motives for social entrepreneurs. Based on 217 responses to an online survey, we conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Our findings suggest that while nurturance is not a distinctive motivating factor, social entrepreneurs are influenced by prosocial motivation, altruism, social justice and reciprocity. A better understanding of what drives social entrepreneurs to invest resources in ventures that benefit others may offer insights into ways to encourage continued engagement in this important and growing sector of the economy.