Exploring the Institutional and Personal Determinants of Social Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Cross-Country Analysis

Abstract

In this dynamic world with complex social, ecological, and economic problems, social entrepreneurship has emerged as a beacon of hope since the beginning of this century. The present study analyzes personal and country-level institutional antecedents of social entrepreneurial intentions (SEI) among business students of universities in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Romania and the USA. Our surveys resulted in a total of 788 valid responses (precisely 148 respondents from the USA, 242 from Romania, 213 from Malaysia, and 185 from Bangladesh). The research findings demonstrate that personal factors such as prior hardship in life and prior entrepreneurial experience are significant predictors of SEI, across the four country samples. From the institutional perspective, perceived social support has a positive influence on SEI in all the country samples except the USA, while entrepreneurial knowledge has a positive influence on SEI in the USA, Malaysia, and Bangladesh samples but not in the Romanian sample. However, the regulatory volatility does not affect SEI in any of the country samples except Bangladesh, where it has a positive impact.