Browsing by Subject "Social entrepreneurship"

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When entrepreneurship becomes a matter of perspective — Four studies exploring the perception of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs
(2021) Prochotta, Alicia; Kuckertz, Andreas
The belief that entrepreneurship is crucial to address various economic and social problems, like unemployment, has embedded entrepreneurship into mostly political discourses around the world. However, what has often been ignored is the fact that entrepreneurship requires entrepreneurs. Despite its (economic and social) contributions, for instance, very little is known about how appealing entrepreneurship is for individuals, which might be crucial as the attractiveness of entrepreneurship is related to how many individuals choose to become entrepreneurs. In this context, the question also arises of how entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are generally perceived and understood. What is “entrepreneurial” seems difficult for many to define as different players in society (e.g., policymakers, financers, entrepreneurs, or society as a whole) perceive things differently. Previous research findings show that the mere existence of resources will not translate into the thriving of entrepreneurship in an economy per se as this does not implicate that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are favored and encouraged by society or societal actors. Against this background, the present dissertation is guided by the overall research question: What are the perceptions held about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship by different stakeholders (and entrepreneurs themselves)?
Wohlbefinden als neue Erfolgsgröße im Dienstleistungsmanagement : eine Analyse von Kunden- und Mitarbeiterwohlbefinden im Dienstleistungskontext
(2019) Falter, Mareike; Hadwich, Karsten
Currently, a paradigm shift from a customer-centered mindset to humanistic marketing takes place in science and practice. Thereby, individual, collective and social wellbeing plays a significant role. In service management, the subject area of transformative service research, which serves as a starting point for social transformation with regard to improving our society and environment, has been established. However, current research about wellbeing as a new success factor in the service context is very limited or incomplete. The present study’s central aim is therefore to make a scientific contribution to the topic of wellbeing in the service context, and to give practical implications for service managers, companies and political decision-makers with regard to service design, in order to create a positive impact on individual and social wellbeing. Subsequently, chapter 2 includes an analysis of wellbeing in the context of internal service marketing. This article aims to analyze the effects of digitalization in the work environment on employee wellbeing. The results show that with a high degree of digitalization in an employee’s work environment, the fulfilment of the basic needs competence, autonomy and human relationships decreases, as opposed to a work environment with a medium or low degree of digitalization. Mediation analysis reveals that employee satisfaction is not only influenced by digitalization in the work environment. These findings suggest that looking beyond indicators for employee satisfaction and taking psychological employee wellbeing as a new success factor into account benefits service management. Thus, by surveying employee wellbeing, additional determining factors can be identified in order to further explain employees’ reactions and behavior, and to create a pleasant work environment that serves employees and their individual needs. In the third chapter, wellbeing is considered as a new success factor in external service marketing. The study aims to analyze the effect of buying from social enterprises on consumer wellbeing, as in comparison with buying from other business models. Four experiments were conducted. The results of the variance analysis clearly show that buying products or services from a social enterprise increases consumer wellbeing, in comparison to buying from profit-oriented companies or companies with CSR activities. Accordingly, the present study gives an indication that a social enterprise not only represents a suitable business model for improving societal wellbeing or protecting the environment, but also brings wellbeing to the consumers themselves. Moreover, the results show that consumer wellbeing depends on the mission, or the objective of the business model. No significant differences between the purchase of products or services regarding consumer wellbeing occur. This finding especially widens the discussion about whether consumption of material goods as opposed to experiences increases wellbeing. The authors emphasize the significance of social enterprises and encourage managers and political decision-makers to invest in social enterprises. Chapter 4 contains an analysis of wellbeing in interactive service marketing. Its objective is to conceptualize and operationalize customer wellbeing in customer-employee-interaction in the service context, and thus develop a suitable measurement tool. Along the scale development process by Churchill (1979), the customer service wellbeing scale is developed. Hence, the measurement tool customer service wellbeing consists of the following five dimensions: positive emotions during the service process, engagement during the service process, (good) relationships with the service employees, meaning and accomplishment of the service, and absence of negative emotions during the service process. The results show that the customer service wellbeing scale, as compared to established dimensions, yields an important explanatory contribution in the service context. Furthermore, the study provides valuable findings regarding the scientific discourse on the bottom-up-spillover theory, and the suspected connection of individual consumption situations affecting superordinate areas of life, and therefore contribute to people’s overall life satisfaction. In chapter five, the author finally takes up all findings obtained, and illustrates how relevant it is to incorporate wellbeing as a new success factor in service management. It is emphasized that a consideration of wellbeing in the service context allows for further developing the design of sustainable services, for promoting services with a social value and impact, for creating a suitable work environment for employees, and last but not least for valuing individuals with their personalities and needs, instead of merely focusing on a calculable consumer.