Understanding the Motivations Throughout the Stages of a Social Enterprise’s Life Cycle

Social entrepreneurs have several motivations that lead them to open and continue their companies, which vary according to the stage of the social enterprise’s life cycle. This study seeks to analyze the motivations throughout the stages of a social enterprise’s life cycle. To do this, we carried out a qualitative research with primary data collected through interviews with experts and social entrepreneurs and secondary data collected through documents and websites. The results indicate three types of motivational factors: essential factors, building factors, and solidifying factors. Each type plays different roles during life cycle. All essential factors are present across all stages of the life cycle. The building factors are found mainly in the early stages, while different solidifying factors are distributed throughout the stages of the life cycle. The essential factors are the main difference between social and traditional entrepreneurs. This research brings new insights by linking motivational factors to the life cycle stages of social enterprises. Entrepreneurs can use this information to identify their stage and leverage their motivators for development, while training programs can be tailored to better align with the life cycle stage of social enterprises.