Exploring the social cognitive factors that motivate individuals to start their social enterprises in KwaZulu-Natal.
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Date
2019
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Abstract
Social entrepreneurship (SE) is increasingly gaining prominence in the academia with its
propensity to combine business principles with social sector mindset in addressing community
issues that government institutions are failing to address. The increasing inequality is relegating
poor communities to poverty and its associated struggles across South Africa. South Africa is
currently plagued by a series a complex socio-economic challenges including unemployment,
poverty, and inequality. These problems become particularly acute when looking at the previously
disadvantaged communities. The province of KwaZulu-Natal is one of the poorest provinces in
the country behind Eastern Cape and Limpopo. There is an increase in the number of people living
below the poverty line (BPL) which ultimately increases the number of people who are dependent
on social grant.
Several studies from developed and developing countries point to ‘social entrepreneurship’ as a
vehicle to be used to drive and/or facilitate the development of societies in the world. Social
enterprises involve a range of organisations (not-for-profits, for-profits, and hybrid structures)
within the social and solidarity economy (SSE) which find alternative ways that directly and
indirectly address existing socio-economic challenges. Perusquia and Ramirez (2019) define social
entrepreneurship as a practice in which an entrepreneur – either a traditional business-minded
individual or someone that emerges from the public or non-profit sector – sets out to solve social
problems in a way that combines business management skills with social sector acumen to yield a
sustainable enterprise that derives both financial and social returns.
This study develops an understanding of factors that influence the decision for individuals to start
their social enterprises. Social entrepreneurs are particularly important in Local Economic
Development (LED) because they provide alternative delivery systems for public services such as
education, health, employment, and poverty reduction in areas where government has failed. The
aim of this study was to explore the social cognitive factors that motivate individuals to start their
social enterprises within their communities in KwaZulu Natal. The study used non-probability
sampling - purposive sampling to identify participants, and these are the 12 individuals who are
part of the Champions Programme hosted at the Graduate School of Business and Leadership
(GSB&L) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The participants were chosen because
they have established social enterprises across KwaZulu-Natal through which they are addressing
some important socio-economic problems within their communities. This is a qualitative study based on Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which posits that the decision-making process for choosing a behaviour depends on the personal and environmental factors that shape the resultant behaviour. The study is premised on social constructivism as a
research paradigm, and the ontological assumptions posit that participants have had different
personal experiences with the various community settings, as a result, the motivation behind their
decisions to start their social enterprises are different and subjective to the personal experiences
and environmental conditions that prevail. Thus, the study sought to define the personal
experiences of participants, identify the context and/or community setting, and find out how
personal experiences interact with community conditions to encourage them to start their social
enterprises. In order to do this, the researcher employed ethnography as a research methodology
to collect data and the study used participant observations and semi-structured interviews. The
data were analysed using Nvivo data analytical tool.
The sample participants come from townships (Umlazi, KwaMashu, Inanda, and Oribi Village)
while some come from poor rural areas (Underberg, Amandawe, Maphumulo, Stanger, and
Howick) within the province. These areas are characterised by largescale poverty, increasing
population, illiteracy, poor infrastructure (schools, clinics, water, and electricity) which affects the
quality of services provided in these communities. Furthermore, economic activities in these areas
are based on informal economy and small-scale farming and these are affected by the microeconomic
forces such as skills, education and training, access to capital, geographic location and
market access. Social problems that emanate include drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy,
and crime.
The participants have had a blend of personal experiences which range from traumatic childhood
experiences to transformative events in their later life course. Childhood experiences are
characterised by trauma, for example, of losing both parents to HIV/AIDS, experiencing financial
problems and poverty, and/or growing up in a troubled family background. Transformative events
include gaining religious beliefs, educational qualification, studying abroad, and relocating from
rural areas to live in urban areas. These experiences form an important foundation for participants
to become aware of the social problems in their communities. The desire to solve existing problems
stems from personal struggles with problems, compassionate feelings, and moral judgement. The
participants in the study are motivated by a series of personal and environmental factors to start
their social enterprises. These include existing problems in the community, personal struggles,
helping behaviour, self-fulfilment, and social impact. These factors are further influenced by the
outcome expectation or consequences associated with starting a social enterprise.
The consequences revolve around meeting social needs that government has failed to meet. As a result,
social entrepreneurs start their social enterprises to solve the problems that exists within their
community setting and apply business principles to sustain and capture the social value. This is
done through combining social sector experience with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.