An Intentions-Based Model of Entrepreneurs’ Prosocial Behavior

Entrepreneurs are widely known for their generosity—voluntarily helping others through financial donations, mentoring, and various forms of community involvement. Such contributions are of great social and economic importance, yet little is known about the reasons that entrepreneurs engage in these actions and what factors may influence the occurrence and magnitude of such behavior. To help fill this gap, this chapter draws upon the theory of planned behavior to develop a model that considers both “why” and “when” entrepreneurs are likely to engage in prosocial behavior. Overall, this work extends the study of entrepreneurs’ efforts to generate value in ways that go beyond that which is directly connected to their activities as founders and leaders of their firms. Several avenues for future research on entrepreneurs’ prosocial behavior are suggested.