Individual tailored entrepreneurial orientation:

Abstract

Objective: To present the content validation of a scale to evaluate and measure the Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation aimed at social entrepreneurship (IEO Social). Method: Supported by an integrative approach to the theories that address the affective and cognitive in entrepreneurial behavior, this exploratory study follows the methodology proposed by Churchill (1979), DeVellis (2003), and Johnson and Morgan (2016). Main results: 18 statements validated the scale, distributed into three dimensions: social proactivity, social innovation, and social risk taking. The study also proposes the adoption of a fourth dimension to the final instrument: social change, adapted from Oceja and Salgado (2013), to account for measuring the pro-social behavior of entrepreneurs. Theoretical/methodological contributions: The availability of a theoretically constructed and solidly validated measurement instrument, specifically for social entrepreneurship, contributes to the quality of empirical research in the field, as it ensures the limits of studies, avoiding the derivation of analyses for unwanted fields. Social contributions: The proper evaluation of OEI Social has the potential to contribute to entrepreneurial training programs in the creation and development of mechanisms to awaken interest and intention to undertake in the social. Relevance/originality: This study is unprecedented for understanding, in depth, the individual entrepreneurial characteristics that comprise the Social IEO; and, from the delimitation of an exclusive concept, for constructing and validating a theoretically solid and empirically reliable scale to measure the construct.