Culture and social entrepreneurship: the role of value-practice misalignment

Abstract

Scholars tend to evaluate the effects of cultural factors on social entrepreneurial activity based on either cultural values or cultural practices. However, societal inconsistencies between values and practices have the potential to create uncertainty in expected entrepreneurial behaviors. In this paper, we operationalize cultural dissonance as the gap between cultural values and cultural practices and draw on role congruity theory to theorize and test how cultural dissonance influences engagement in social entrepreneurship. Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness, and the World Bank datasets (N = 23,828), we show that cultural dissonance can either impede or encourage social entrepreneurial activity and that female entrepreneurs are less sensitive to these effects than male entrepreneurs. What a society values offers direction for prospective entrepreneurs. Traditionally, values and practices are measured interchangeably; i.e., individuals will act in a manner consistent with their values. However, inconsistencies between the two have important implications for prospective entrepreneurs. As a result, it is vital to understand how dissonance between values and practices might impact the decision to start a new venture. We find support for our perspective that values and practices do not always align and that this dissonance impacts entrepreneurial decision making, effects which are stronger for men than for women.