Acceleration of social innovative initiatives: How interactions affect the entrepreneurial process?

Abstract

Over the last decades, the dynamics of the incubation programs and its contribution to the enhancement of the entrepreneurial activities has appeared in the academic literature. Recently, acceleration programs also called as the new generation of incubation program (Pauwels, Clarysse, Wright, & Van Hove, 2016) has triggered sustainable echoes in different research fields, specifically in entrepreneurship. Regarding the field of social entrepreneurship, the subject remains understudied. Few studies have discussed the interactions between the incubatees, the intra-support, and exchange of knowledge (Casasnovas & Bruno, 2013; Hausberg & Korreck, 2017; Nicolopoulou, Karataş-Özkan, Vas, & Nouman, 2017; Pandey, Lall, Pandey, & Ahlawat, 2017). However, the influence of these acceleration programs in the entrepreneurial journey of social entrepreneurs, in particular, the process of moving from idea to action have had little attention.
One theory used in entrepreneurial literature to understand the uncertain path that surrounds the creation of enterprises is effectuation theory (Sarasvathy, 2001)This theory appears as a complementary approach to the causation logic where the entrepreneur recognizes a market opportunity and optimizes the resources according to it, creating a sustainable competitive advantage. (Chandler, DeTienne, McKelvie, & Mumford, 2011). Effectuation assumes that the entrepreneurial opportunity emerges from the interactions with the different stakeholders that engage in the creation of the enterprise (Read, Song, & Smit, 2009) and thus, it is in constant change and experimentation as new information appears. The present study uses this theoretical lens to analyze the decision-making process of social entrepreneurs embedded in an acceleration program to structure and evolve their enterprises.
This study takes place as an in-depth case study of a French support program, in which the social entrepreneurs and staff members were interviewed, before and after the program. The main goal is to scrutinize the dynamics of the internal ecosystem and its influence on the entrepreneurial journey. A special focus is given to the interactions among social entrepreneurs, ex-participants of the incubation program (alumni), mentors and managers. The aim is to understand how these interactions affect the future entrepreneurial actions.
Several learning can be drawn from this study. It sheds light on the structures and subtleties of this specific emergent field. Also, it enhances the academic and practical discussions on how to build strong social initiatives and sketches out the potentialities in fostering more robust social enterprises.