Empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship: insights from the Bulgarian context
Social entrepreneurship, understudied as a business and social phenomenon, hides its potential, and what drives those involved in a social activity still needs to be clarified. The paper's authors assume that empathy is the basis of starting a socially significant business and seek confirmation...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues |
| Online Access: | https://jssidoi.org/jesi/article/1247 |
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| _version_ | 1850225924346216448 |
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| author | Ana Todorova Irina Kostadinova Nataliya Venelinova |
| author_facet | Ana Todorova Irina Kostadinova Nataliya Venelinova |
| author_sort | Ana Todorova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social entrepreneurship, understudied as a business and social phenomenon, hides its potential, and what drives those involved in a social activity still needs to be clarified. The paper's authors assume that empathy is the basis of starting a socially significant business and seek confirmation of this thesis in direct communication with social entrepreneurs from Bulgaria. The research methodology is based on the author's conceptual framework, which includes two groups of results – quantitative and qualitative – that aim to confirm or reject the formulated hypotheses. The results show a positive relationship between empathy and starting a socially engaged business. The analysis identifies empathy as a vital catalyst for the social entrepreneur, along with communication skills, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking. The research shows that empathy is a prerequisite for starting a socially engaged business and can significantly contribute to the organisation's success. At the same time, there is a subjective conclusion that Bulgarian social entrepreneurs are not responsive enough, which may hinder social changes and the development of social enterprises in the country. Future research will explore that topic. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1a6061d59f954eb4bc209edaf869e2bf |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2345-0282 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues |
| spelling | doaj-art-1a6061d59f954eb4bc209edaf869e2bf2025-08-20T02:05:13ZengEntrepreneurship and Sustainability CenterEntrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues2345-02822024-12-01122718410.9770/n4955682927Empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship: insights from the Bulgarian contextAna Todorovahttps://orcid.org/0009-0007-2993-077XIrina Kostadinovahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8845-7598Nataliya Venelinovahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7580-5263Social entrepreneurship, understudied as a business and social phenomenon, hides its potential, and what drives those involved in a social activity still needs to be clarified. The paper's authors assume that empathy is the basis of starting a socially significant business and seek confirmation of this thesis in direct communication with social entrepreneurs from Bulgaria. The research methodology is based on the author's conceptual framework, which includes two groups of results – quantitative and qualitative – that aim to confirm or reject the formulated hypotheses. The results show a positive relationship between empathy and starting a socially engaged business. The analysis identifies empathy as a vital catalyst for the social entrepreneur, along with communication skills, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking. The research shows that empathy is a prerequisite for starting a socially engaged business and can significantly contribute to the organisation's success. At the same time, there is a subjective conclusion that Bulgarian social entrepreneurs are not responsive enough, which may hinder social changes and the development of social enterprises in the country. Future research will explore that topic.https://jssidoi.org/jesi/article/1247 |
| spellingShingle | Ana Todorova Irina Kostadinova Nataliya Venelinova Empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship: insights from the Bulgarian context Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues |
| title | Empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship: insights from the Bulgarian context |
| title_full | Empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship: insights from the Bulgarian context |
| title_fullStr | Empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship: insights from the Bulgarian context |
| title_full_unstemmed | Empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship: insights from the Bulgarian context |
| title_short | Empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship: insights from the Bulgarian context |
| title_sort | empathy as a driver of social entrepreneurship insights from the bulgarian context |
| url | https://jssidoi.org/jesi/article/1247 |
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