1. Defining the mindset of social entrepreneurship
2018.7.12
Game Changer Institute
Yutaka Tanabe (Japan)
y.tanabe@gamechanger-inst.org
International Society for Thiird-Sector Research (ISTR)
13th International Conference Amsterdam, The Netherlands 10-13 JULY 2018
Session: Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship
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2. Introduction
● Definitions of social entrepreneurship
vary.
● Dees (1998)
● The social innovation school of
thought (Dees & Anderson, 2006)
● The social enterprise school of
thought (Huybrechts & Defourny,
2010)
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3. Introduction
● On the other hand, we still don’t have
a definition of the mindset of social
entrepreneurship.
● Bill Drayton, Founder of Ashoka,
states “social entrepreneurs aim to
bring about pattern change and/or
mindset change.”
● Therefore, we assume social
entrepreneurial mindset is crucial for
social entrepreneurs.
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4. Research Question
● Is the entrepreneurial mindset simply applicable to social
entrepreneurship?
● Are there any differences between entrepreneurial mindset and social
entrepreneurial mindset?
● What constitutes social entrepreneurial mindset?
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5. A mindset of a baby elephant
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6. Growth Mindset as a Monster
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"Believing that success is about learning, students with the growth mindset
seized the chance." (Dweck, 2006)
Though I am a kid
now, I believe I will
be a baseball
player through
learning!

7. © 2018 Game Changer Institute. 7
Ichiro had a mindset to be an excellent baseball player in his future
(His essay when he was 12)

8. Literature Review
the Mindset of Entrepreneurship defined
McGrath & MacMillan (2000) states the mindset of experienced (“habitual”)
entrepreneurs as follows.
1. They seek new opportunities.
2. They pursue opportunities with enormous discipline.
3. They pursue only the very best opportunities and avoid exhausting
themselves and their organizations by chasing after every option.
4. They focus on execution - specifically, adaptive execution.
5. They engage the energies of everyone in their domain.
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9. Literature Review
the Mindset of Social Entrepreneurship not defined yet
● To date, few studies exist that examine the definition of the mindset of
social entrepreneurship.
● Beugré (2016) defines mindset as follows; "A mindset is a particular way
of seeing the world and things around us. In entrepreneurship, a mindset is
a particular way of looking at opportunities and how business should (or
should not) be conducted." However, Beugré also argues “this
characterization of the entrepreneurial mindset was discussed with
respect to commercial entrepreneurship, it could easily apply to social
entrepreneurship.”
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10. Method
Definition of the Mindset of Social Entrepreneurship
A. Social Entrepreneurs have strong ethics and empathy for marginalized
people or creatures to pursue sustainability.
B. They understand social problems are complex and chaos.
C. They have obsession to find an auxiliary line to solve a systemic problem.
D. They apply systems thinking and utilize a market force to tackle the
systemic problem.
E. They build relationship with multi-stakeholders to create an ecosystem or
collective impact.
F. They pursue the triple bottom line - social value, environmental value, and
economic value.
G. They strive to achieve systemic change.
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11. Relationship between the definitions of the mindset of Entrepreneurship and that of
Social Entreprneurship
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Mindset of
Entrepreneurship
(1. 2. 3. 4. 5.)
- Seeking new
opportunity
- Focusing on execution
Mindset of
Social Entrepreneurship
(A. B. C. D. E. F. G.)
- Having strong ethics and
empathy
- Understanding social
problems are complex and
chaos
- Pursuing triple bottom line
© 2018 Game Changer Institute.
The coverage differs because of the scope of stakeholders and
complexity of social entrepreneurship.

12. Conclusion
● In this article, we firstly examined how the mindset works - especially the
growth mindset. Then, we explored the definitions of the mindset of
entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.
● In our comparison of the mindset of entrepreneurship and that of social
entrepreneurship, the coverage differed because of the scope of
stakeholders and complexity. The entrepreneurial mindset is not simply
applicable to social entrepreneurship.
● We hope this article will help practitioners to improve training and
management issues of a social enterprise. Also, it would be our honor if
this article will contribute researchers to utilize the definition of social
entrepreneurship for future research.
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13. References
● Beugré, C. (2016). Social Entrepreneurship: Managing the Creation of Social Value. Routledge.
● Dees, J. G. (1998). The meaning of social entrepreneurship.
● Dees, J. G., & Anderson, B. B. (2006). Framing a theory of social entrepreneurship: Building on
two schools of practice and thought. Research on social entrepreneurship: Understanding and
contributing to an emerging field, 1(3), 39-66.
● Defourny, J., Hulgård, L., & Pestoff, V. (2014). Social enterprise and the third sector: Changing
European landscapes in a comparative perspective. Routledge.
● Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2010). Conceptions of social enterprise and social
entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: Convergences and divergences. Journal of
social entrepreneurship, 1(1), 32-53.
● Hartnell, C. (2015). Interview with Bill Drayton Retrieved from
http://www.alliancemagazine.org/interview/interview-with-bill-drayton/
● Haynie, J. M., Shepherd, D., Mosakowski, E., & Earley, P. C. (2010). A situated metacognitive
model of the entrepreneurial mindset. Journal of business venturing, 25(2), 217-229.
● Hockerts, K., Mair, J., & Robinson, J. (Eds.). (2006). Social entrepreneurship. Palgrave
Macmillan.
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14. References
● Huybrechts, B., & Defourny, J. (2010). Exploring the diversity of fair trade social enterprises.
● McGrath, R. G., & MacMillan, I. C. (2000). The entrepreneurial mindset: Strategies for
continuously creating opportunity in an age of uncertainty (Vol. 284). Harvard Business Press.
● Mitchell, R. K., Busenitz, L., Lant, T., McDougall, P. P., Morse, E. A., & Smith, J. B. (2002).
Toward a theory of entrepreneurial cognition: Rethinking the people side of entrepreneurship
research. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 27(2), 93-104.
● Smith, J. B., Mitchell, J. R., & Mitchell, R. K. (2009). Entrepreneurial scripts and the new
transaction commitment mindset: Extending the expert information processing theory approach
to entrepreneurial cognition research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(4), 815-844.
● Shepherd, D. A., Patzelt, H., & Haynie, J. M. (2010). Entrepreneurial Spirals:
Deviation–Amplifying Loops of an Entrepreneurial Mindset and Organizational Culture.
Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 34(1), 59-82.
● Tanabe, Y. (2016). The five stages of social entrepreneurship.
● Z. Solesvik, M., Westhead, P., Matlay, H., & N. Parsyak, V. (2013). Entrepreneurial assets and
mindsets: benefit from university entrepreneurship education investment. Education+ Training,
55(8/9), 748-762.
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