Graduate Students’ Behavioral Intention towards Social Entrepreneurship: Role of Social Vision, Innovativeness, Social Proactiveness, and Risk Taking

In prior studies, several researchers have adopted entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in determining students’ intention toward entrepreneurship, although the application of EO is scant in determining intention toward social entrepreneurship in existing literature. Hence, in consideration of this research gap, the current study empirically examines the influence of the dimensions of social entrepreneurial orientation (SEO): social vision, social proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk-taking motive on graduate students’ entrepreneurial intention toward social entrepreneurship-based business start-up. An online-based survey method was used to collect data from a sample of 465 students purposively who were studying at different universities in Bangladesh. A PLS-based SEM was applied to analyze the data and examined the proposed relationships in the conceptual model. The findings reveal that Graduate students’ social proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk-taking motive significantly affect their social entrepreneurial intention. However, students’ social vision does not have direct influence but has indirect influence on social entrepreneurial intention through their social entrepreneurial attitudes. The research contributes to the body of knowledge in the existing social entrepreneurship literature as well as provides practical implications for the policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders working toward flourishing of social-based entrepreneurship, venture, and start-up.