The emotional foundations of sustainable social impact: Emotional agility in social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurs work at the intersection of profound social challenges and resource constraints, creating sustained emotional and operational pressure for them and their teams. While previous work has examined burnout, compassion, fatigue, and emotional labor related to mission-driven work, less is known about how social entrepreneurs engage constructively with difficult emotions while navigating the dual value proposition challenges. This study examines emotional agility as a context-sensitive, work-embedded capability that supports resilience, well-being, and strategic adaptability in social entrepreneurship. Drawing on qualitative interviews with eight social entrepreneurs working across issues like trauma, poverty, health, mental health, and environmental domains, we analyzed the data through reflexive thematic analysis with trustworthiness procedures. We have developed an inductive model showing how emotional agility is enacted through four interlinked capabilities: (a) purpose-anchored emotional recalibration, (b) bounded compassion, (c) collective emotional sensemaking and psychological safety, and (d) the use of emotions as catalysts for strategic adaptation under dual value logics. The findings extend emotional agility theory by showing that in social entrepreneurship it operates not as a stable personal trait, but as a situated capability reinforced through values, relational practices, and organizational routines. We articulate four propositions and discuss implications for theory, leadership development, micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprise resilience, and ecosystem support for sustainable social impact.