Blended Value Creation: The Mediating Role of Competences

What is it about?

Research on prosocial entrepreneurship so far has focused either on ex-ante motives to create prosocial enterprises or on ex-post strategies to protect mission orientation. Surprisingly little is known about the prosocial entrepreneurial competences that help acquire resources to create blended value once a venture has been established. To fill this gap, this article presents a qualitative study in an Indian setting that shows how prosocial entrepreneurs adopt three types of competences to assemble resources when they establish their ventures.

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Why is it important?

------------------------------------------------------- Contribution to Academic Scholarship ------------------------------------------------------- I argue in this article that there are seven competence dimensions that prosocial entrepreneurs typically adopt to assemble resources and to deal with both internal and external stakeholders in their thrust to create blended value. Those competence dimensions include innovation, communication, motivation, community and team dynamism, outward perception building, human resources, and nurturing the team. This study finds that competences required for blended value creation differ significantly from the competences required for commercial value creation. Literature assumes that presence of both social and commercial missions in a social venture is a sufficient context to create blended value, whereas I argue that the ‘dual goal-oriented competences in fact help achieve equilibrium between the community oriented and entrepreneurial oriented competences. ------------------------------------------------------- Contribution to Management Practice ------------------------------------------------------- My research finds that there are three types of competences, which are spread across seven dimensions that are essential for prosocial entrepreneurs to create blended value, i.e., commercial, community and dual-oriented competence. Further, prosocial entrepreneurs imprint the social motives that aid in venture creation such as compassion, empathy, and caregiving –as the ventures grow in order to sustain the blended value creation intent. The competence I highlighted in this study can be learned through a systemic learning approach. Thus, I propose that both the business schools and social sciences schools at university level should teach these competences to their students which allow them to understand and appreciate the importance of blended value creation. The competences we proposed are also relevant for commercial firms interested in creating blended value. I suggest that they encourage their managers to adopt the competence we proposed to engage with broader set of stakeholders and contribute to create social impact. ---------------------------- Author Perspective ---------------------------- I have been conducting research on prosocial entrepreneurship for about 15 years now. Starting and growing a commercial enterprise which requires entrepreneurs dealing with a set of like-minded commercial oriented internal and external actors is itself difficult, which leaves most of the ventures fail in the long run. Whereas creating prosocial ventures is furthermore difficult given the fact that prosocial entrepreneurs need to navigate both diverse internal teams and external environments that guard both social and commercial missions. Thus, I echo with the European Union’s view that entrepreneurial competence develops necessary entrepreneurial mindset that would help prosocial entrepreneurs navigate the complex internal and external contexts, thereby successfully growing their ventures. This strong belief that I have for competence drove my research interest in this subject.