Entrepreneurial Orientation in Social Enterprises: Balancing Social Impact and Financial Sustainability

This study examined how entrepreneurial orientation can be applied to achieve a balance between social impact and financial sustainability in social enterprises. Based on primary data on 312 registered social enterprises in Punjab, India, the study investigated both direct and indirect impacts of entrepreneurial orientation on financial sustainability by the value of social impact. Analysis of the data was done using the regression and mediation analysis on SPSS. The findings revealed the entrepreneurial orientation to have a strong improvement of both the social impact and the financial sustainability. Also, social impact was partially mediating the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and financial sustainability and this had a positive impact on financial sustainability. The study indicates that mission-driven value creation instead of its cost makes financial viability in social enterprises more robust. In this paper, the authors apply the entrepreneurial orientation theory to hybrid organizations and offer empirical data of the synergies between social and economic missions.