Interactions between the promotion of prosocial and pro-self values, and entrepreneurial social identities in shaping value creation aims and passion

Abstract

Purpose: Due to the different logic of economic or entrepreneurial, and social value creation, hybrid entrepreneurs (entrepreneurs whose organization is committed to create both entrepreneurial and social values) often make compromises at the expense of economic rationality or social value creation. The purpose of this paper is to examine how entrepreneurial social identities interact with the promotion of pro-self and prosocial values to influence hybrid entrepreneurs’ choice of predominant values to create and their entrepreneurial passion. Design/methodology/approach: To answer the research questions, we designed an experiment using an established priming protocol to temporarily increase the saliency of prosocial and pro-self cultural values. In the experiment, students (n = 203) with no entrepreneurial experience chose a hybrid venture to join its founding team in three conditions: neutral (control group, n = 72), social priming (n = 65) and commercial priming (n = 66). Findings: The results indicate that behavioral choices on the type of the predominant value to create are linked to entrepreneurial social identities. The temporary increase in the saliency of prosocial or pro-self cultural values does not affect the predominant value to create through hybrid entrepreneurial venturing, but influences how passionately entrepreneurs act. Research limitations/implications: The results are based on the behavior of university students who did not risk losing income because of their behavioral choice and could not opt out of entrepreneurship. Even if university students resemble the population of interest, field studies could contribute to the examination of the research questions of this explorative study and corroborate the results. Future studies should examine if, when and how the promotion of prosocial and pro-self cultural values may change entrepreneurs’ social identities and primary value creation aims. Originality/value: The entrepreneurship literature rarely takes into consideration that the effects of cultural values might fluctuate along entrepreneurs’ personality traits and identities. This paper examines how entrepreneurial social identities and the temporary promotion of prosocial, and pro-self values interact to influence value creation choices during hybrid entrepreneurial venturing.