Directors’ exposure and social enterprise performance: does entrepreneurial mindset and financial resource availability matter?
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
ISSN: 1355-2554
Article publication date: 24 May 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Building on insights from the upper echelons theory and resource-based view (RBV), this study explains how directors’ exposure influences social enterprise performance through the mediating effect of entrepreneurial mindset, and the contingent role of financial resource availability.
Design/methodology/approach
The study follows a quantitative approach. Data were gathered from a survey of 168 social enterprises (i.e. Community Interest Companies (CICs)) in the United Kingdom (UK), and covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that directors’ exposure positively relates to social enterprise performance, and that the relationship is mediated by entrepreneurial mindset. Additionally, the findings reveal that financial resource availability moderates the indirect path between directors’ exposure and social enterprise performance such that the effect is more pronounced at high levels of financial resource availability.
Originality/value
This study is a pioneering attempt to uncover the linkage between directors’ exposure and social enterprise performance. Unlike past research, the study integrates the upper echelons theory and RBV to extend social enterprise research within the social entrepreneurship domain and provide important practical value for social enterprise practitioners.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The development of this paper was supported by The Open University, UK through The Open University Business School PhD Studentship Award, and a Conference Travel Grant from Brunel Business School, UK. The author appreciates participants at the 2023 Brunel Business School Conference and the 9th EMES International Research Conference on Social Enterprise at Frankfurt, Germany for their constructive comments on the earlier versions of the paper. The author is also grateful to Dr Mohamed Haddoud for his editorial guidance and the two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments/suggestions, which improved this paper.
Citation
Achi, A. (2024), "Directors’ exposure and social enterprise performance: does entrepreneurial mindset and financial resource availability matter?", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-10-2023-1105
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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