Finding the ‘social’ in (social) entrepreneurship

This thesis has first looked at the degree in which social goals are being pursued by social and conventional entrepreneurs. Second, theories on human capital and social capital were used to explain potential differences in social goals pursued. The data used to perform a two-sample t-test and several multiple regression analyses comes was retrieved from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2009 Adult Population Survey which contains social entrepreneurship as a special topic. Findings from this research confirm that social and conventional entrepreneurs significantly differ in the relative priority they give to the pursuit of social goals. Also, findings on social entrepreneurship suggest human capital and social capital do not show to be important factors in the degree to which social goals are pursued by social entrepreneurs. When looking at conventional entrepreneurs, human capital does have an effect on the pursuit of social goals – social capital, however, does not.