Opportunity Capturing from Social Entrepreneurial Perspective

Abstract

This study examined opportunity capturing from social entrepreneurial perspectives. Social entrepreneurs are known to possess a number of antecedents such as empathy, societal moral obligation, self-efficacy and prior experience. A cross sectional survey was employed using twenty-seven (27) Non-Governmental organisations (NGO) in Jos. The owners and employees of the NGOs constituted the unit of analysis who were two hundred and ninety-six (296) in number.Multiple regression analysis was performed to ascertain the contribution of the predictor variables on the outcome. The results revealed that empathy and social moral obligation have negative relationship with opportunity capturing. Characteristics such as self-efficacy, social support and prior experience do have strong positive relationship on opportunity capturing. The implication is that self-efficacy, social support and prior experience are more critical to opportunity capturing in social entrepreneurship. Individuals with these prosocial personalities will be quick in identifying social problems and responding immediately to solve such problems.