| Summary: | Social entrepreneurship has been a topic of academic enquiry for nearly two decades. However, scholarly research has been challenging. It was observed that most of the surveyed empirical studies have been conducted in the United Kingdom and the United States. The concept has to some extent received attention in developing countries, such as Bangladesh and Venezuela. However, the contextual and empirical understanding of the phenomenon is still lacking in Africa, and South Africa is no exception.
The phenomenon of social entrepreneurship has a long history. Since inception, no general consensus has been reached regarding its definition. For the purposes of this study social entrepreneurship is defined as the process through which individuals operate in the commercial sector with the aim of providing products and services that benefit the poor in society. From the onset, social entrepreneurship has consistently been commended as an effective alternative business process of providing much needed social goods and services to society. The activities of social entrepreneurs are significantly important in situations where government facilities have failed or are unable to deliver much needed resources and services such as employment, health care and education.
The primary objective of this study was to identify social entrepreneurship intentions among university students in Gauteng province. A quantitative research approach was followed to collect data. A questionnaire was administered among undergraduate and post-graduate students from selected universities in Gauteng. Factor analysis was used to identify factors that influence social entrepreneurship intentions. Six factors which influence social entrepreneurship intentions were identified namely, social entrepreneurial intentions, attitude towards entrepreneurship, proactive personality,
attitude towards entrepreneurship education/university environment, perceived behavioural control and risk taking propensity. Furthermore, correlation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship amongst social entrepreneurship intentions factors. The results were significant which indicated that there was a positive linear inter-factor association. Additionally, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine whether significant differences exist with regards to the influence of gender, age and year of study on social entrepreneurship intentions factors. Significant differences were found with regard to age and gender on social entrepreneurship intentions.
Based on the findings it is evident that social entrepreneurial intentions, attitude towards entrepreneurship, proactive personality, attitude towards entrepreneurship education/university environment, perceived behavioural control and risk taking propensity are factors that influence social entrepreneurship intentions among university students in Gauteng. Given the need to develop social entrepreneurship research in South Africa, it is recommended that future research further explore and identify social entrepreneurship intentions factors using a larger sample size, by including all provinces in South Africa. Future research could also focus on exploring the relationship between social entrepreneurship intentions, and other variables such as personality traits, culture and other demographic variables. === MCom (Entrepreneurship)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.
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