Social venture scaling: Does the technological environment matter?

In a generalizable multi-year sample of U.S. counties, we demonstrate that horizontal scaling of social ventures is explained by technological factors including technological endowment (patent stock) and the availability of technological arbitrage opportunity, as well as the growth in these two factors over time. Both the technological endowment and the availability of technological arbitrage opportunity are positively related to social venture scaling. However, growth in the technological endowment eases the pressure on social entrepreneurs to act thus exerting negative impact on social venture scaling. At the same time, growth in the availability of technological arbitrage opportunity indicates that the relative efficiency within the county lags behind the frontier established by the leading counties, which may exacerbate social ills to which social entrepreneurs respond. Accordingly, it exerts a positive impact on social venture scaling observed. • This study investigates factors that contribute to the horizontal scaling of social ventures. • Horizontal scaling is explained by technological factors: technological endowment and the availability of technological arbitrage opportunity. • The growth in these two factors over time also explains horizontal scaling of social ventures. • Growth in the technological endowment eases the pressure on social entrepreneurs to act thus exerting negative impact on social venture scaling. • Growth in technological arbitrage opportunities indicates social ills to which social entrepreneurs respond with a positive scaling impact.