Cultivating social entrepreneurs: Shaping self-evaluations for positive social change in impact careers

How do individuals evaluate their capacity to contribute to positive social change when choosing careers? Drawing on construal level and prosocial motivation theories, we examine how contact with social issues and potential beneficiaries shapes individuals’ self-evaluations, and how these selfevaluations influence their social entrepreneurial and other impact career intentions. Through a longitudinal study of 189 university students experiencing either firsthand or secondhand contact with social issues, we find that, compared to secondhand contact, firsthand contact more strongly enhances positive and reduces negative self-evaluations through perceived positive impact. In turn, changes in positive self-evaluations enhance social entrepreneurial and other impact career intentions. We contribute to social entrepreneurship and impact careers literature by developing the concept of self-evaluations for positive social change. Our findings suggest that creating meaningful opportunities for contact with social issues and potential beneficiaries during formative career stages can cultivate young professionals’ sense of possibility to become social entrepreneurs.