As a result, the decision process for prospective commercial and social entrepreneurs is likely to be infl uenced by diff erent factors. In developing a theory of entrepreneurial action, McMullen and Shepherd (2006) explain the decision to act upon identified entrepreneurial opportunities is a function of the feasibility and desirability of exploitation. Assuming feasibility is constant across both types of opportunities, the desirability of pursuing a commercial opportunity or a social opportunity may also differ.
While recognizing desirability may occur for a number of reasons (for example, Cyert and March, 1963), one important consideration in the commercial entrepreneur’s decision making processes is the fi nancial impact. By comparison, a primary motivator for the prospective social entrepreneur is social value creation for the marginalized. But, why are prospective social entrepreneurs drawn to the marginalized? For centuries, the role of emotion in prosocial human action has been studied (for a brief review, see Eisenberg and Miller, 1987). While there is some debate about whether action is pursued for altruistic or egoistic reasons,1 psychologists generally agree that empathy is a major determinant of prosocial behavior in a wide range of contexts (cf Batson and Coke, 1981; Davis, 1980; Hoff man, 1984).
Empathy is defined as ‘an aff ective state that stems from the comprehension of another’s emotional state or condition, and that is congruent with it’ (Eisenberg and Miller, 1987, p. 91). In developing theoretical paths to helping behavior, Batson (1987) developed three paths by which prosocial behavior may occur. The fi rst two paths suggest egoistic motivations for helping behavior (termed reward seeking/punishment avoiding motivation and arousal reducing egoistic motivation). The third path departed from the traditional approach which viewed all intentional action as egoistic and instead presented a path where prosocial behavior occurred for altruistic motivation. This third model, termed empathetically evoked altruistic motivation, off ered a theoretical model linking empathy to prosocial behavior.
Given the increasing empirical evidence supporting the empathy- altruism hypothesis (for example, Batson and Shaw, 1991), we focus on this third path as one possible explanation for engaging social entrepreneurship. According to the model, a precipitating or instigating situation leads a person to begin to adopt the perspective of another. The perspective- taking of another is often related to one’s own self- perspective or the perspective about another’s perceived reaction to similar situations (Batson, 1991). Often, adoption of the perspective of another person takes place in times of trouble or during personal distress of another. As such, the identifi cation with another’s distress leads to a vicarious emotional response of empathy.
This empathetic response may be induced by prior experience in similar situations or a feeling of attachment to the other person (Batson, 1991; Lee and Holden, 1999); and it is related to the magnitude of the other person’s need and the strength of attachment to the other. This attachment can occur for a number of reasons including perceived similarity as well as attractiveness. In turn, this emotion- matching leads to an altruistic motivation to help another.
The basic premise of this hypothesis is that the suff ering of another leads an individual to seek to reduce suff ering for that other not for personal reasons but for altruistic reasons. The arousal of the motivational state leads the individual to embark on a hedonic calculus of the cost–benefi t analysis of helping behavior. The cost–benefi t analysis compares the magnitude of the suff ering of another with the cost associated with engaging in behavior that will reduce or eliminate the suff ering of the other. Such costs may be physical, mental, social, political or financial.
Finally, when the benefi ts outweigh the costs, the individual engages in helping behavior. Such helping behavior is thought to occur ‘if: 1.) helping is possible; 2.) the relative benefi t of helping is perceived to be positive; and 3.) the relative benefi t of helping is perceived to be more positive than the relative benefi t of having someone else help’ (Batson and Shaw, 1991). The empathy–altruism–prosocial behavior model provides an excellent theoretical explanation to understand the decision- making process of a social entrepreneur. While there may be no personal gain (fi nancial or otherwise) for the social entrepreneur, the opportunity to assist another in need represents an important foundation from which to build a theory that explains the motivations of the social entrepreneur. Given its potential importance, we now examine how the model itself may be useful for social entrepreneurship education.
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