Impact of positivity and empathy on social entrepreneurial intention: The moderating role of perceived social support

• Published date: 01 February 2021
• Author: Amna Younis,Peng Xiaobao,Muhammad Athar Nadeem,Shamsa Kanwal,Abdul Hameed Pitafi,Gui Qiong,Duan Yuzhen
• Date: 01 February 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2124

ACADEMIC PAPER

Impact of positivity and empathy on social entrepreneurial

intention: The moderating role of perceived social support

Amna Younis

1

|Peng Xiaobao

1

|Muhammad Athar Nadeem

2

|

Shamsa Kanwal

1

|Abdul Hameed Pitafi

3

|Gui Qiong

1

|Duan Yuzhen

4

1

School of Public Affairs - University of

Science and Technology of China, Hefei,

Anhui, China

2

School of Management - University of

Science and Technology of China, Hefei,

Anhui, China

3

School of Management - Hefei University of

Technology, Hefei, Anhui, China

4

College of Economic and Management -

Anhui Open University, China

Correspondence

Duan Yuzhen, College of Economic and

Management - Anhui Open University, China.

Email: dyzp88@mail.ustc.edu.cn

Funding information

This research is supported by, Grant/Award

Numbers: KY2160000003 and

201806a02020056

Social entrepreneurship is a growing area of interest among practitioners. Social

entrepreneurship meets and satisfies social needs and brings social change through

innovative ideas. This study aims to investigate the impact of positivity and empathy

of individuals on social entrepreneurial intention. This study considers the mediating

role of social entrepreneurial self-efficacy between the relationship of positivity,

empathy, and social entrepreneurial intention. In addition, this study investigates per-

ceived social support as a boundary condition between the relationship of social

entrepreneurial self-efficacy and social entrepreneurial intention. Findings show that

positivity and empathy positively influence social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, which

subsequently positively influences social entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore,

results show that high perceived social support strengthens the relationship between

social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and social entrepreneurial intention. Discussions

and implications based on the study findings are reported.

1|INTRODUCTION

Social entrepreneurship is an increasingly popular topic in the field of

entrepreneurship and is receiving much attention from practitioners

(Liñán & Fayolle, 2015; Saebi, Foss, & Linder, 2019). Traditional entre-

preneurial intention refers to the intention to start a business and

launch a new venture to earn profit (Krueger, 2009). In contrast, social

entrepreneurial intention refers to the willingness to start a business

for the pursuit of social mission. Social entrepreneurs offer novel

entrepreneurial solutions to grand challenges and social problems

(Jurkowski, 2019; Siyal, Peng, & Siyal, 2018). Therefore, the goal of

social entrepreneurs is to help others and not to serve their self-

interests (Miller, Grimes, McMullen, & Vogus, 2012; Santos, 2012).

Several factors contribute in forming social entrepreneurial inten-

tion. The current study investigates positivity and empathy, which we

expect to be contributing factors to social entrepreneurial intention.

Positivity is a recently developed personality construct that directs

individuals to view their lives under positive thoughts (Caprara et al.,

2009). Positivity refers to “an individual's propensity to evaluate posi-

tively or to be positively oriented toward various life domains,

including oneself and one's future and past experiences”(Caprara

et al., 2009, p. 277). Positivity is an individual's judgment of himself,

including self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965), optimism (Scheier & Carver,

1987), and life satisfaction (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985).

Similarly, empathy is defined as understanding others' views and

experiencing compassion and warmth for others. In psychological

research, empathy is associated with experiences of others (Davis,

2015) and shows behavior that helps others (Davis et al., 1999;

Eisenberg et al., 1989). Empathy is a key characteristic and an addi-

tional antecedent of social entrepreneurs that distinguish them from

business-minded entrepreneurs (Dees, 2012; Hockerts, 2017). How-

ever, the present study investigates social entrepreneurial self-

efficacy as a mechanism to better understand the relationships

between positivity and empathy with social entrepreneurial inten-

tions. Self-efficacy is one of the most pervasive and relevant self-

regulating mechanisms (Bandura, 1991; Terblanche-Smit & Ter-

blanche, 2011). Self-regulation mechanism is believed to play an

essential role to perform certain tasks. Bandura's social cognitive the-

ory (Bandura, 1986, 1991) holds that self-regulations of an individual

determine his/her ability to set goals and approach behavior (Xiongfei,

Received: 2 May 2019Revised: 29 December 2019Accepted: 9 March 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2124

J Public Affairs. 2021;21:e2124.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd1of15

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2124