Unpacking Drivers of Micro-Social Entrepreneurs in a Less Affluent Economy

The rapid growth of a social business enterprise is inevitable, and the uniqueness of social business model has created widespread interests among academics and policy makers (Yunus, 2017). The social business entrepreneurs and investors pre-eminently focus on the agenda of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address overarching social issues rather than seeking profit from the venture (Yunus, Moingeon, & Lehmann-Ortega, 2010). The vast majority of social entrepreneurs collaborated or nested in various affluent and less affluent markets have already initiated this type of business effort, referred to as Type I Social Business, to generate values (Sabatier, Medah, Augsdorfer, & Maduekwe, 2017). Thus, we define the Type II Social Business as a system of independent activities of micro-entrepreneurs that are socially driven and creates value through operating on maximising social and economic benefits for the stakeholders. Empirical work on the type II social business enterprises is limited, especially in less affluent markets that critically examines their role in this market. Additionally, there are other issues limiting our understanding about the role of type II social businesses in the context of less affluent markets. First, there is limited consensus about the governance model, that is, how these micro level organisations are formed and operated. Second, the conceptual distinction between the type I and type II social business remains unclear. Third, how the underlying principles of social business enterprises influence their value propositions towards the market (Santos et al., 2009). To address these research gaps, this study aims to develop a conceptual framework of the phenomena and employs empirically based typology, to explain how the understanding of values between different markets can lead to a better understanding of business model innovation, entrepreneurship theory and managerial practice.