The effect of social entrepreneurship characteristics and education on social entrepreneurship intention

Abstract

Recently, social entrepreneurial education (SEE) has been emphasized, with the aim to empower students to develop innovative solutions to social problems through the development of social entrepreneurial characteristics (SECs). Social entrepreneurship (SE) is expressly important in mitigating gaps in terms of economic discrimination and social development, especially in developing countries like Malaysia. The existing literature has a number of limitations, including those pertaining to theoretical developments, concepts, and surveys about the effect of SEE. The matter of what characteristics are essential for successful social entrepreneurs to develop and, therefore, need to be taught to university students has also remained ambiguous. To fill the gaps in the research, this study aims to analyse the effects of social entrepreneurial characteristics on Universiti Teknologi Malaysia students’ social entrepreneurial intentions (SEIs) via an extended model of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB). The study also investigates the moderating role of SEE. The current correlational study used a quantitative research design by applying a multilevel sampling design with a purposive sampling scheme. Questionnaires were administered to 349 UTM students before an SE course was taken and to 245 UTM students after they completed an SE course. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was utilised for data screening; afterwards, the data were analysed by Smart PLS (Multi-group analysis) for structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings indicate that social entrepreneurial attitudes (SEAs), locus of control, and self-efficacy have positive relationships with SEIs. Moreover, the results show that SEE moderates the relationships of SEAs, locus of control, and self-efficacy with SEIs. Meanwhile, SEE does not moderate the relationship between risk-taking and SEIs. The primary contributions of this study are that it highlights the role of SECs in encouraging SEIs, as well as broadens awareness of the positive effects of education on SECs. Therefore, this finding may assist education policy maker to formulate SE policies for higher education institutions. Through these policies, private and public universities can effectively apply SEE systems to develop strategies to improve the quality and practice of teaching SE programs.