Motivations and value creation: a comparison of commercial and social entrepreneurs

All entrepreneurs recognise opportunities, invest resources, engage in exchange relationships and face substantial risk of failure in an attempt to create, capture and share value. Differences between commercial and social entrepreneurs appear when the focus and orientation of entrepreneurial motivations are considered. While both commercial and social entrepreneurs are driven by intrinsic motivations to satisfy basic psychological needs and both are motivated by extrinsic rewards, past research indicates that only social entrepreneurs seek to create value and achieve tangible benefits for disadvantaged segments of society. We offer a conceptual foundation for comparing commercial and social entrepreneurial motivations. We also consider value creation using a social exchange perspective to facilitate better understanding of who benefits from the value that is created.