Transforming Future Start-Ups Through Servant Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship Profitability

Introduction

Over the past few decades, it can be seen that social entrepreneurship has grown in importance as global artistic phenomena. Several powerful organizations are supporting social entrepreneurship by offering convincing subjective confirmation of valiant individuals “changing the world” (Bornstein 2004). The focal point of social entrepreneurs is on societal concern. They arrive at innovative practices instead of routine commercial criteria by building novel social arrangements, and marshal resources as a prompt response to the problems that arise during the process. In recent years, there has been a notable upswing in enthusiasm for social entrepreneurship as a means of tackling some of society's most persistent social challenges (Mair and Marti, 2006; Nicholls and Cho, 2006). Though it is difficult to find in the literature, a universally agreed definition of social entrepreneurship (Defourny & Nyssens, 2010; Hill et al., 2010; Light, 2008), yet there is some agreement that it entails the pursuit of social transformation through the use of novel resource combinations (Mair and Marti, 2006).

The choice of organizational type is impacted by the relative weight given to social or economic aims. Social entrepreneurs might build for profit or non-profit companies (Mair and Marti, 2006). Many definitions emphasize the role of innovation in social entrepreneurship. To some extent, this may be due to the early emphasis on individualistic potential. As the field expands, it is becoming clear that, like social change, innovation is frequently incremental (Light, 2008; Zahra et al. 2008). One implication is that, like traditional entrepreneurship (Shane and Venktaram, 2000), social entrepreneurship includes leadership in existing firms as well as the creation of new ventures.

While the concept of servant leadership was introduced by Greenleaf (1970) four decades ago, it has only garnered the attention of scholars and professionals in recent times. Greenleaf (1977) introduced the concept of servant leadership as a management approach where the leader's role is that of being a first among equals. In addition to focusing on the development and empowerment of their followers, servant leaders place a strong emphasis on creating value beyond the boundaries of the organization by actively serving the broader community. This perspective is supported by various researchers in the field (Ehrhart, 2004; Parris & Welty Peachey, 2013; Liden, Wayne, Zhao, & Henderson, 2008; Stone, Russell, & Patterson, 2003; Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The present study uses Liden et al(2008)'s servant leadership measure, which signifies seven main dimensions demonstrated by servant leader - conceptualization, emotional convalescence, followers' influence, followers' growth and succession, ethical behavior, empowerment, and value-creation for the community. Social enterprises may be seen as productive environment for practicing servant leadership because entrepreneurs focus more on employee growth and the workforce have a greater impact on the society.