Nowadays, Social entrepreneurship field is increasing day by day. A scientist’s team from the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas developed a tool to measure social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurs pursue goals and objectives that relate to solving specific problems within the social economy. According to scientists, the measurement tool is a valid instrument. It is also reliable for future research in social entrepreneurship.
Scientists didn’t find a patterned scale. Thus, they developed a novel one by taking the definition of social entrepreneurship .For the study, scientists have analyzed 210 of the most cited papers, journal articles, and books on the topic. They then break it into components and convert them into an 11 part scale. They are as follows:
Social Entrepreneurship Scale
This is the 11-part scale created by Dr. Shawn Carraher. To be a social entrepreneur, you are:
- Adopting a mission to create social value (not just private value).
- Recognizing new opportunities to serve your mission.
- Engaging in a process of continuous adaptation related to your mission.
- Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand in the fulfillment of your mission.
- Relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve your mission.
- Caring deeply about the outcomes created by the fulfillment of your mission.
- Seeking to be a ‘World Changer’ through the accomplishment of your mission.
- Adopting a mission to sustain social value (not just private value).
- Engaging in a process of continuous innovation related to your mission.
- Exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served by your mission.
- Engaging in a process of continuous learning related to your mission.
The study also finds differences between social and traditional entrepreneurship.
Dr. Shawn Carraher said, “Social entrepreneurship follows goals related to problems in the social economy. In social entrepreneurship, you tend to look more at the general good than at the good of the entrepreneur. In traditional entrepreneurship, you’re trying to do something that will help a specific group of individuals, and ideally, it should bring compensation to the entrepreneur.”
Scientists calculated samples of social and traditional entrepreneurs both. They then concluded that the tool is a valid instrument and reliable for future research in social entrepreneurship.
Carraher said, “We are one step closer to allowing a scientific study of social entrepreneurship. In research of any discipline, if individuals keep using instruments that are only used in a single study, then they’re not moving the scientific method forward. This is designed to move social entrepreneurship forward by providing a standardized instrument that individuals can use when seeking to measure social entrepreneurship.”
Further research may include analyzing personality factors or cultural differences.