Does Your Life Have Meaning? Social Entrepreneurial Intentions Through Dark and Light Triad Traits

Individuals vary in terms of personality, purpose in life, and intentions for their future careers. By considering six types of personality traits, our research focused on the individual-level antecedents of social entrepreneurial intention as the initial step in the process of launching social enterprises. Our findings, based on 8,037 responses from 30 countries, showed that the Dark and Light Triad personality traits differently impact individuals' experiences of purpose in life, which in turn influences their social entrepreneurial intentions in distinct ways. Our results demonstrate that faith in humanity, humanism, and purpose in life positively influence social entrepreneurial intentions, with purpose in life acting as a mediator. Men showing higher intentions to start a social enterprise when exhibiting higher faith in humanity and humanism. However, we did not find a significant gender moderation effect in the context of Kantianism. Conversely, Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) negatively impact purpose in life and, consequently, social entrepreneurial intentions. Gender plays a moderating role in the relationship between narcissism and social entrepreneurial intention, with females showing higher intentions compared to males. Our study found that males scored higher in Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and faith in humanity, while females scored higher in humanism and Kantianism. No significant gender differences were found for narcissism.