Social Entrepreneurship Education and Intentions

The field of social entrepreneurship education has emerged as a pivotal arena for nurturing individuals who combine entrepreneurial acumen with a commitment to social and environmental change. At its core, social entrepreneurship education comprises pedagogical approaches that develop both the mindset and the practical skills necessary for launching ventures with explicit social missions. Programmes often draw on experiential learning, project-based assignments and stakeholder engagement to cultivate competencies in empathy, systems thinking, ethical leadership and resource mobilisation. Central to this endeavour is the formation of social entrepreneurial intentions, understood as the deliberate motivational state that precedes social venture creation. Research identifies key antecedents to these intentions, including attitudes towards social value creation, perceived behavioural control over social venture activities, moral obligation and the influence of peer and institutional support. By leveraging frameworks such as the theory of planned behaviour, educators design curricula that integrate theory, real-world application and reflective practice. The global significance of this work is underscored by its potential to address Sustainable Development Goals, strengthen community resilience and foster inclusive innovation. Practical applications span university degree programmes, vocational training, online modules and incubator-style accelerators, all aiming to convert nascent social aspirations into lived initiatives with measurable impact.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Social Entrepreneurship Education and Intentions publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in social entrepreneurship education and intentions across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Social entrepreneurial intention: The conscious desire and commitment to establish an enterprise with social or environmental impact.

Theory of planned behaviour: A framework describing how attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control shape intentions and subsequent actions.

Knowledge exploitation: The use of existing knowledge, routines and best practices in a given domain.

Knowledge exploration: The pursuit of new insights, experimentation and creative problem-solving.

Quintuple helix model: A system theory positing interactions between academia, industry, government, civil society and the natural environment to drive sustainable innovation.

References

1. Social Entrepreneurship Education: A Combination of Knowledge Exploitation and Exploration Processes. Administrative Sciences (2021).
2. Social entrepreneurship education: changemaker training at the university. Higher Education Skills and Work-based Learning (2021).
3. Social Entrepreneurship Education as an Innovation Hub for Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: The Case of the KAIST Social Entrepreneurship MBA Program. Sustainability (2020).