IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v15y2025i6p222-d1674605.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Roles of Social Entrepreneur Competencies and Social Innovation in Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship in Thailand

Author

Listed:
  • Nilubon Wirotthitiyawong

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand)

  • Natcha Limpasirisuwan

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand)

  • Atcharawan Thaodon

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand)

  • Warantorn Wimuttisuksuntorn

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand)

  • Thanapong Champahom

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand)

Abstract

This research examines social entrepreneur competencies and the ability to create value through social innovation, which affect sustainability in Thai social enterprises. The study used questionnaires administered to 200 social enterprises registered with the Social Enterprise Promotion Office. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that social entrepreneur competencies had the highest overall mean among causal factors, while sustainability in social entrepreneur groups had a high mean level. The study found that visionary leadership was the strongest indicator of social entrepreneur competencies, marketing innovation was the strongest indicator of innovation capability, and environmental performance was the strongest indicator of sustainability outcomes. Social entrepreneur competencies strongly influenced the ability to create value through social innovation ( β = 0.972), which in turn significantly affected sustainability outcomes ( β = 0.707). The study’s limitations include its cross-sectional nature and its focus solely on registered social enterprises. These findings can guide policy formulation to help enterprises create value through social innovation and achieve sustainable success.

Suggested Citation

  • Nilubon Wirotthitiyawong & Natcha Limpasirisuwan & Atcharawan Thaodon & Warantorn Wimuttisuksuntorn & Thanapong Champahom, 2025. "The Roles of Social Entrepreneur Competencies and Social Innovation in Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship in Thailand," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-29, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:15:y:2025:i:6:p:222-:d:1674605
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/15/6/222/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/15/6/222/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Veland Ramadani & Sucheta Agarwal & Andrea Caputo & Vivek Agrawal & Jitendra Kumar Dixit, 2022. "Sustainable competencies of social entrepreneurship for sustainable development: Exploratory analysis from a developing economy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3437-3453, November.
    2. Estrin, Saul & Mickiewicz, Tomasz & Stephan, Ute, 2016. "Human capital in social and commercial entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 449-467.
    3. Jeremy Galbreath, 2018. "Do Boards of Directors Influence Corporate Sustainable Development? An Attention‐Based Analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 742-756, September.
    4. Dubey, Rameshwar & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Samar Ali, Sadia, 2015. "Exploring the relationship between leadership, operational practices, institutional pressures and environmental performance: A framework for green supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 120-132.
    5. Najeb Masoud, 2017. "How to win the battle of ideas in corporate social responsibility: the International Pyramid Model of CSR," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amirmahmood Amini Sedeh & Rosa Caiazza, 2024. "Does entrepreneurship hold the key? Steering through income inequality towards happiness," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4424-4440, July.
    2. Md. Ahashan Habib & Md. Rezaul Karim & Marzia Dulal & Mohammad Shayekh Munir, 2022. "Impact of Institutional Pressure on Cleaner Production and Sustainable Firm Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-25, December.
    3. Barbara Bradač Hojnik & Katja Crnogaj, 2020. "Social Impact, Innovations, and Market Activity of Social Enterprises: Comparison of European Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, March.
    4. Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih & Ahmed Hasanein & Ibrahim Elshaer, 2020. "Influences of Green Human Resources Management on Environmental Performance in Small Lodging Enterprises: The Role of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Surajit Bag & Shivam Gupta, 2017. "Antecedents of Sustainable Innovation in Supplier Networks: A South African Experience," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 18(3), pages 231-250, September.
    6. Xiaoyu Yu & Xiaotong Meng & Laura Stanley & Franz W. Kellermanns, 2024. "Self-employment and life satisfaction: The contingent role of formal institutions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 135-163, June.
    7. Dimple & Mamta Tripathi, 2024. "Bridging the Gap Between High-Performance Work System and Organizational Performance: Role of Organizational Agility, Transformational Leadership, and Human Resource Flexibility," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 25(2), pages 369-393, June.
    8. Ferreira, Joao J. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Veiga, Pedro Mota & Caputo, Andrea, 2022. "The interactions of entrepreneurial attitudes, abilities and aspirations in the (twin) environmental and digital transitions? A dynamic panel data approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    9. Seles, Bruno Michel Roman Pais & de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes & Jabbour, Charbel José Chiappetta & Dangelico, Rosa Maria, 2016. "The green bullwhip effect, the diffusion of green supply chain practices, and institutional pressures: Evidence from the automotive sector," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 342-355.
    10. Abdul Majid & Muhammad Yasir & Muhammad Yasir & Asad Javed, 2020. "Nexus of institutional pressures, environmentally friendly business strategies, and environmental performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 706-716, March.
    11. Shaista Wasiuzzaman & Vasanthan Subramaniam, 2023. "Board gender diversity and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure: Is it different for developed and developing nations?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2145-2165, September.
    12. Jeremy Galbreath & Chia‐Yang Chang & Daniel Tisch, 2023. "The impact of a proactive environmental strategy on environmentally sustainable practices in service firms: The moderating effect of information use value," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5420-5434, December.
    13. Sameeksha Desai & Johan E. Eklund & Emma Lappi, 2020. "Entry Regulation and Persistence of Profits in Incumbent Firms," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(3), pages 537-558, November.
    14. Sangita Choudhary & Anil Kumar & Sunil Luthra & Jose Arturo Garza‐Reyes & Simon Peter Nadeem, 2020. "The adoption of environmentally sustainable supply chain management: Measuring the relative effectiveness of hard dimensions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3104-3122, December.
    15. Sheikh Farhan Ashraf & Cai Li & Muhammad Umair Wattoo & Majid Murad & Babak Mahmood, 2024. "Green horizons: Unleashing green innovation through green business strategies and competencies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4233-4251, July.
    16. Wang, Quan-Jing & Wang, Hai-Jie & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2022. "Environmental performance, green finance and green innovation: What's the long-run relationships among variables?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    17. Saul Estrin & Tomasz Mickiewicz & Anna Rebmann, 2017. "Prospect theory and the effects of bankruptcy laws on entrepreneurial aspirations," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 977-997, April.
    18. Zhang, Caiping & Liu, Falong & Wu, Dawei & Tan, Deming & Niu, Linping, 2025. "The impact of the carbon emissions trading scheme on corporate strategic deviance in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    19. Francisco Bravo & Nuria Reguera‐Alvarado, 2019. "Sustainable development disclosure: Environmental, social, and governance reporting and gender diversity in the audit committee," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 418-429, February.
    20. Graham, Stephanie & Graham, Byron & Holt, Diane, 2018. "The relationship between downstream environmental logistics practices and performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 356-365.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:15:y:2025:i:6:p:222-:d:1674605. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.