Personality Traits and Social Entrepreneurial Intention: The Mediating Effect of Perceived Desirability and Perceived Feasibility

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of personality traits on social entrepreneurial intention by extending Mair and Noboa’s (2006) model. Data were collected from a sample survey of 503 individuals. The four-step method suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986) was followed to test the mediational roles of perceived desirability and perceived feasibility in the relationship between six personality traits (need for achievement, risk-taking propensity, innovativeness, proactiveness, empathy and moral obligations) and social entrepreneurial intention. The results showed that the two mediators fully mediated the effects of proactiveness on social entrepreneurial intention, whereas both the mediators were found partially mediating the impact of moral obligation on social entrepreneurial intention. In addition, only perceived feasibility fully mediated the effects of innovativeness on social entrepreneurial intention and partially mediated the effects of empathy. These research results are expected to trigger a change in social entrepreneurship education by cultivating personality traits towards sustainable development. This study’s originality lies in its exploration of potential social entrepreneurs’ personality traits as a combination of general entrepreneurial and social entrepreneurial traits.