Social entrepreneurship orientation: development of a measurement scale

Purpose Despite growing scholarly interest in social entrepreneurs and the social enterprises (SE) they create, few studies have examined the hybridity of SE including, surprisingly, whether they adopt an entrepreneurial orientation (EO). One explanation for this may be the continuing lack of an appropriate scale measuring social entrepreneurship orientation (SEO). The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap by proposing an initial SEO scale based on input from scholars in the fields of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach This study employed mixed methods and a two stage design. In stage 1, a Delphi study with 18 researchers with expertise of investigating entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship was used to generate constructs combining aspects of both social and EOs. In stage 2, the authors assessed the face validity of the derived items from the Delphi study by conducting a survey with 82 such experts. Findings This paper provides fresh empirical insights into how SEO can be measured by proposing, for the first time, a 12 item scale with four dimensions for the first time. Research limitations/implications The authors recommend that future studies employ quantitative methods, particularly with firms exhibiting differing levels of the “socialness” dimension which the authors propose and that such studies involve a variety of research informants. Statistical analysis of data collected across large sample sizes will help evaluate the reliability and validity of the scale which the authors propose. Practical implications This paper includes implications for future research based on the proposed SEO measurement scale. Originality/value This paper develops the first SEO scale based on empirical data collected from experts in the fields of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.