Abstract
This study advances understanding of interpersonal feedback seeking as a relational micro-foundational process whereby social entrepreneurs proactively involve others in venturing and engage in sensemaking when this fails. Our inductive analysis of 82 interviews with 36 social entrepreneurs reveals the agency in and the plurality and precariousness of feedback seeking by identifying three distinct feedback-seeking trajectories. Feedback seeking is an identity-driven process whereby how and why social entrepreneurs seek feedback depends on their psychological closeness to the targeted social issue. Our study elucidates the relationship between identity and feedback processes and uncovers psychological distance from the social issue as a new construct in social venturing.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 106123 |
| Journal | Journal of Business Venturing |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2021 |
Funding
We thank Editor Oana Branzei and the reviewers for their constructive comments and guidance through the revision process. We are grateful to Sally Maitlis for friendly feedback on this manuscript. Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Anaheim, USA and the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference in Bod?, Norway. We thank the participants at these conferences for their helpful feedback.
Keywords
- Identity
- Image
- Interpersonal feedback seeking
- Psychological distance
- Social entrepreneurship