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Socially responsible entrepreneurs: What do they do to create and build their companies?

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  • Choi, David Y.
  • Gray, Edmund R.

Abstract

This paper examines 30 entrepreneurs who created profitable companies, and who were also exemplary in their efforts towards social responsibility. It examines their management practices to understand how these socially responsible entrepreneurs created and built their companies. The study reveals that these socially responsible entrepreneurs founded their companies, at least in part, to achieve idealistic objectives, and pursued financial and non-financial objectives simultaneously. Most avoided financing from institutional sources, hired employees for their shared values, and shrewdly leveraged their social identities to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Many of these entrepreneurs made unusual efforts to create a strong organizational culture and implement sustainable operational processes to meet their self-imposed ethical standards. These socially responsible entrepreneurs gave a substantial amount of their profits to causes of their choosing, and volunteered themselves as role models for other businesses and entrepreneurs to follow.

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  • Choi, David Y. & Gray, Edmund R., 2008. "Socially responsible entrepreneurs: What do they do to create and build their companies?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 341-352.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:51:y:2008:i:4:p:341-352
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Harris, Jared D. & Sapienza, Harry J. & Bowie, Norman E., 2009. "Ethics and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 407-418, September.
    3. Xuemei Xie & Yonghui Wu, 2022. "Doing Well and Doing Good: How Responsible Entrepreneurship Shapes Female Entrepreneurial Success," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 803-828, July.
    4. Rita G. Klapper & Paul Upham & Richard K. Blundel, 2021. "Insider perspectives on growth: Implications for a nondichotomous understanding of ‘sustainable’ and conventional entrepreneurship," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1481-1496, March.
    5. Samuel Adomako & Nguyen Phong Nguyen, 2024. "Responsible entrepreneurship, social innovation, and entrepreneurial performance: Does commitment to SDGs matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4887-4900, July.
    6. Irina I. Krasnopolskaya, 2014. "Corporate Volunteering And Its Influence On Employee Civil Engagement In Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 39/SOC/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    7. Samuel Adomako & Mai Dong Tran, 2023. "Doing well and being responsible: The impact of corporate social responsibility legitimacy on responsible entrepreneurship," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1794-1804, July.
    8. Valerie Paelman & Philippe Van Cauwenberge & Heidi Vander Bauwhede, 2023. "Mission alignment with employees and financiers: Probing into the workings of B Corp certification," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1632-1644, July.
    9. Claudiu George Bocean & Michael Marian Nicolescu & Marian Cazacu & Simona Dumitriu, 2022. "The Role of Social Responsibility and Ethics in Employees’ Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-15, July.
    10. Roman N. Abramov, 2014. "The History Of Sociological Research On Occupations And Professions In The Ussr 1960-80s: Ideological Frameworks And Analytical Resources," HSE Working papers WP BRP 40/SOC/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    11. Valerie Paelman & Philippe Van Cauwenberge & Heidi Vander Bauwhede, 2020. "Effect of B Corp Certification on Short-Term Growth: European Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-18, October.
    12. Robin Stevens & Nathalie Moray & Johan Bruneel, 2015. "The Social and Economic Mission of Social Enterprises: Dimensions, Measurement, Validation, and Relation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(5), pages 1051-1082, September.
    13. Matthew P. Johnson & Stefan Schaltegger, 2020. "Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development: A Review and Multilevel Causal Mechanism Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(6), pages 1141-1173, November.
    14. Balashankar Mulloth, 2021. "Exploring Social Business Pathways: Green Map System as a Case in Point," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 25(3), pages 190351-1903.
    15. Qamar Farooq & Peihua Fu & Xuan Liu & Yunhong Hao, 2021. "Basics of macro to microlevel corporate social responsibility and advancement in triple bottom line theory," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 969-979, May.
    16. Länsiluoto, Aapo & Järvenpää, Marko, 2010. "Greening the balanced scorecard," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 385-395, July.
    17. González Rodríguez, María Del Rosario & Díaz Fernádez, María Del Carmen & Spers, Valéria Rueda Elias & Leite, Marcelo da Silva, 2016. "Relação entre variáveis de base, valores e responsabilidade social corporativa," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 56(1), January.
    18. Federico Cosenz & Vinicius Picanço Rodrigues & Francesco Rosati, 2020. "Dynamic business modeling for sustainability: Exploring a system dynamics perspective to develop sustainable business models," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 651-664, February.

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