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Motivations and critical success factors of social entrepreneurship initiatives : a case study

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Summary:Within the last three decades, social entrepreneurship has emerged as a relevant field of practice and research. By using management skills and market-based methods to address social problems, social entrepreneurship shows a high economical and social potential and has been the target of increasing attention. Despite its growing popularity, academic research in this area is still disperse and fragmented, far from being consensual. This case study seeks to fill a gap in the existing literature and its purpose is to identify which main motivations and critical success factors are associated with social entrepreneurship initiatives. Obtained results identify five key motivations, which include (1) achievement orientation, (2) personal fulfillment, (3) contribute to a better society, (4) closeness to a social problem and (5) focus towards financial sustainability. Additionally, five critical success factors were also identified: (1) good acceptance of the concept by the public, (2) motivation and commitment of employees, (3) social entrepreneur’s leadership skills, (4) training and development of employees and (5) collaboration with private sector organizations.
Main Authors:Ruela, Filipa Alexandra Leong
Subject:social entrepreneurship social entrepreneur motivations critical success factors empreendedorismo social empreendedor social motivações fatores críticos de sucesso
Year:2014
Country:Portugal
Document type:master thesis
Access type:open access
Associated institution:Universidade de Lisboa
Language:English
Origin:Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
Description
Summary:Within the last three decades, social entrepreneurship has emerged as a relevant field of practice and research. By using management skills and market-based methods to address social problems, social entrepreneurship shows a high economical and social potential and has been the target of increasing attention. Despite its growing popularity, academic research in this area is still disperse and fragmented, far from being consensual. This case study seeks to fill a gap in the existing literature and its purpose is to identify which main motivations and critical success factors are associated with social entrepreneurship initiatives. Obtained results identify five key motivations, which include (1) achievement orientation, (2) personal fulfillment, (3) contribute to a better society, (4) closeness to a social problem and (5) focus towards financial sustainability. Additionally, five critical success factors were also identified: (1) good acceptance of the concept by the public, (2) motivation and commitment of employees, (3) social entrepreneur’s leadership skills, (4) training and development of employees and (5) collaboration with private sector organizations.