Antecedents of organizational field regulatory change: linking individual profiles of social entrepreneurs with their regulatory needs and priorities?

In this paper, we focus on the interplay between social entrepreneurs and their organizations with the regulatory institutional context within which they work toward positive social change. We show that although regulatory context of the social entrepreneurship field is in its infancy, regulatory needs and priorities of the field are well-defined and heterogeneous. To explain the sources of the heterogeneity, we adopt a two-method strategy which combines traditional quantitative methods with qualitative case analysis. Based on the data about values, motivation, and entrepreneurial orientation of social entrepreneurs from four EU countries, we develop a typology of social entrepreneurs. By establishing links between identified profiles of social entrepreneurs and different regulatory needs and priorities we contribute to the institutional theory literature dealing with organizational field regulatory change. Furthermore, we provide valuable insights for policy makers in the social entrepreneurship field.