Antecedents of Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship Initiatives in Pakistan and Outcomes: Collaboration between Quadruple Helix Sectors

The concept of social entrepreneurship has not reached full understanding in almost all developing countries, specifically in Pakistan. Social entrepreneurship is an outstanding social vehicle that, if adopted, can transform a society by resolving its social, economic, and environmental issues with the help of homemade solutions for social problems. The phenomena of social entrepreneurship rarely exist in Pakistan, due to a lack of research in and awareness of the field. So far, no quantitative or qualitative research has been conducted on the subject area of social entrepreneurship. Thus, the prime objective of this study is to investigate the effect of personal factors (human capital, social capital, motivational factors) on the development of social entrepreneurial ventures in Pakistan. This research study has investigated the interaction effect of the collaboration of quadruple helix sectors on the factors that affect the development of social entrepreneurial ventures in Pakistan. Quadruple Helix Innovation Theory (QHIT) explains that the economic development of a country stands on four pillars: university, industry, government, and civil society. In this research, a quantitative research approach has been adopted by using a survey questionnaire. This research study has used convenience sampling to select a sample from the target population for collecting answers from respondents who were conveniently available. The population of this study includes all of the social entrepreneurs operating in two important cities (Bahawalpur, Multan) of southern Punjab, Pakistan. SmartPLS 3 was utilized to analyze the data. Moderation has been tested using the bootstrapping technique in SmartPLS software. It is found that human capital, social capital, and motivational factors have a significant positive relationship with social entrepreneurship. Moreover, quadruple helix sectors moderate the relationship between personal factors (human capital, social capital, motivational factors) and social entrepreneurship. The study provides a road map for the development of social entrepreneurship in Pakistan as a solution to social problems.