Engineers and Social Responsibility: Influence of Social Work Experience, Hope and Empathic Concern on Social Entrepreneurship Intentions among Graduate Students

Anasuya K. Lingappa, Aditi Kamath and Asish Oommen Mathew ()
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Anasuya K. Lingappa: Department of Humanities and Management, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Aditi Kamath: Department of Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Asish Oommen Mathew: Department of Humanities and Management, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: The synergy of technology-based innovative solutions and Social Entrepreneurship carries an immense potential to provide solutions for numerous environmental, social, and economic issues faced by an emerging economy like India. For an engineering professional, a commitment to society is regarded as integral and can be thought of as being impelled by involvement in various social causes. Therefore, this study seeks to analyze the influence of the Social Work Experience of engineering students on Empathic Concern and the newly identified construct, Hope. Additionally, the effect of Empathic Concern and Hope on Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Social Entrepreneurship Intention (SEI) is examined. Through a questionnaire survey of undergraduate students from 49 engineering and technical institutions across the country, 243 responses were collected. The research employed the Partial Least Squares Approach to Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the proposed hypotheses. This study found that students’ involvement and experience in social activities significantly influenced both Empathic Concern and Hope. Empathic Concern and Hope, the newly introduced antecedent, significantly influenced Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy. In line with the previous studies, self-efficacy positively and significantly influenced SEI. The establishment of Hope as an antecedent to study SEI is particularly novel and contributes to future Social Entrepreneurship research. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge on SEI of engineering students in an emerging nation where studies are particularly scarce, and techno-Social Entrepreneurship may be the ray of hope to address social, environmental, and economic concerns.

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurial Intention; Empathic Concern; hope; Social Work Experience; Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy; emerging economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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