Abstract:

Social enterprises (SE) aim at improving social issues. The root for its success is the willingness to help those in needs. The SE objectives which place a less emphasise on an absolute profit orientation have become a challenge for some. Therefore, in understanding SE, the main purpose of the paper is to seek what drives people as a community and potential social entrepreneurs to engage in prosocial behaviour. Building from the positivism research approach, and testing for big five personality traits, altruism and empathy, a survey was conducted. The results of structural model provide evidences of agreeableness, consciousness and extraversion as significant determinants to prosocial behaviour, in addition to the moderating effects of altruism and empathy in the personality traits and prosocial behaviour relationships. Understanding the psychological and emotional characteristics of potential social entrepreneurs is important since humans are the main actor that determines the SE success for the creation of social value. The findings could aid for the selection of SE candidates and the theoretical development for the study of human behaviour.