Influence of Entrepreneurial Narrative Engagement on Social Entrepreneurship Resource Acquisition
Social entrepreneurship(SE)provides innovative solutions to social problems through commercialization.It has become the"fourth driving force"to promote social development.However,there are"liability of newness"barrier faced by the social enterprises in China,which are difficult to obtain necessary entrepreneurial resources.Cultural entrepreneurship theory suggests that the construction of organizational legitimacy and further acquisition of entrepreneurial resources by new ventures rely on entrepreneurial narratives engagement(ENE).However,existing literature predominantly focuses on how commercial entrepreneurship obtains organizational legitimacy and resources through entrepreneurial narratives,yet the mechanism of how entrepreneurial narratives play a role in resource acquisition for social entrepreneurship remains unclear.Based on this research gap,it established a theoretical framework of ENE influencing SE's resource acquisition,including cognitive legitimacy as a mediator and empathy as a moderator.It adopted questionnaire survey and scenario experiment to examine the mechanism of ENE on SE's resource acquisition.The results show that ENE has a positive impact on SE's resource acquisition;cognitive legitimacy mediates the relationship between ENE and SE's resource acquisition;empathy positively moderates the mediation effect of cognitive legitimacy on the relationship between ENE and resource acquisition for SE.The conclusion enriches the related studies in the field of social entrepreneurship,highlights the key role of narrative engagement in building legitimacy and acquiring resources in social entrepreneurship,and provides practical guidance for social entrepreneurs to use entrepreneurial narratives to obtain resources.