Encouraging social entrepreneurship among business students
PATRICK ADRIEL H. AURE
It seems gone are the days when business schools, students, and managers mainly adhered to Milton Friedman’s belief: “The business of business is business.”
People are increasingly realizing that it is possible to utilize business principles to solve our society’s problems. Scholars and practitioners label this phenomenon as social entrepreneurship.
In my university, there is the Lasallian Social Enterprise for Economic Development (LSEED) program, which allows for student-led social enterprises (SE) to be incubated while partnering with marginalized communities.
In terms of research, we have initiated the Social Enterprise Research Network (SERN), which has undertaken research and advocacy activities such as studying cases of SE business models and strategies, piloting SE teaching cases, and disseminating our findings in various speaking engagements.
Outside the university, there are alumni who have founded their own social enterprises already.
As an advocate and researcher, I am glad that SE is gaining legitimacy within and beyond the college. After all, social entrepreneurship thrives when there is an ecosystem of support across different stakeholders.
Thus, it is important to continuously advocate SE to business students. With this premise, my co-researchers and I wanted to understand: What drives business students to consider starting or being part of social enterprises?
To answer this question, we drew from conceptual models published in other countries and piloted replication studies in the school through surveys of at least 300 business undergraduate students and some follow-up interviews.
Our statistical analysis suggested there are two factors that consistently influence business students’ intention to engage in social entrepreneurial activities: (1) their perceived support from friends, family, and other organizations and (2) their prior experience in socially-oriented activities such as volunteering.
There were other variables explored, such as personality and their perceived entrepreneurial capabilities, but perceived support and prior experience were the most consistent factors in influencing students’ social entrepreneurial intentions.
What are the implications of these preliminary findings?
First, in designing SE advocacy campaigns, organizations may want to tailor their message to target group participation instead of encouraging students individually.
For example, SE competitions or workshops can emphasize group enlistments and provide mentorship from faculty or outside organizations.
Our findings suggest that if students perceive support from people who matter to them, they are more likely to desire involvement in SE activities.
Second, schools may want to consider creating a pipeline of activities that enrich students’ socially-oriented experiences.
For example, junior business students may be exposed to immersion, volunteering, and service learning activities while senior business students may be encouraged to join SE internships and SE incubation programs.
Such builds on their prior experiences, and thus in the long-term, may influence their aspiration to start their own social enterprises.
Perhaps the appeal of social entrepreneurship is that it can be a communal activity that unifies the next generation to use business solutions to solve social problems.
Filipinos are no stranger to this. We have the bayanihan spirit we inherited from our ancestors. In a sense, encouraging social entrepreneurship is going back to our Filipino values while moving forward in reshaping the purpose of business.
Patrick Adriel H. Aure is an Assistant Professor at the Management and Organization Department, Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business, and head of the Social Enterprise Research Network of the Center for Business Research and Development at De La Salle University. patrick.aure@dlsu.edu.ph
The post Encouraging social entrepreneurship among business students appeared first on The Manila Times Online.