How does patriotism and institutional support affect the social entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) in the presence of social valuation and experiential learning for social ventures

Purpose The individuals take an active interest in society to change it into a better one. For this reason, this study aims to investigate the influence of patriotism with the institutional framework on social entrepreneurial orientation (SEO), which assists us in improving the social welfare activities with socially friendly business and business operations to maintain the existing organization position by engaging potential customers and starting a new social venture for gaining the institutional and external stakeholders support in the competitive environment. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors employed the quantitative offline survey approach to investigate the proposed relationship with 228 valid responses from entrepreneurial organizations holding social ventures as small or big projects in Pakistan. Findings This study’s findings revealed that patriotism positively affects SEO, and institutional support partially mediates the relationship between patriotism and SEO. While social valuation positively strengthens the relationship between patriotism and institutional support and patriotism and SEO. Likewise, experiential learning strengthens the positive relationship between institutional support and SEO. Practical implications This study found that institutional support is vital in helping entrepreneurs to create institutional designs and strategies to cope with dynamic and socioeconomic problems. Moreover, this study benefits policymakers and government officials to make strategic decisions based on a sense of self-worth by adopting the opportunities to raise public awareness about social organizations' importance and expand social capital. Originality/value The previous literature addresses patriotism mainly in social entrepreneurship instead of SEO. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore and show particular ways of SEO to country growth.