All for one and one for all? Towards a collective view of entrepreneurial persistence in social enterprises

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the collective dynamics of entrepreneurial persistence. We argue that the individual/project nexus – associating persistence to individual commitment, is insufficient to account for the complexity of social entrepreneurship. Instead, we argue that business survival is the outcome of collective cognitive and agentic dynamics, rather than purely individual ones. Through an seven years qualitative longitudinal study led on two nascent social ventures, we identify different patterns related to the profiles of commitment driving venture persistence, and the collective dynamics affecting individual commitments. Specifically, we investigate examine how founders' commitment profiles evolve over time, combine themselves, and ultimately shape a collective effort to pursue the venture. We also explain the conditions for persistent commitment in social entrepreneurship and show that the individual persistence of the entrepreneur can be dissociated from the process venture persistence.