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Abstract
Many studies have used the Theory of Planned Behavior to explain social entrepreneurial intention; however, limited empirical research has focused on the effects that socio-political activism, theory of social movements, and social movement impact theory have had on social entrepreneurship and the motivation of experienced entrepreneurs to become social entrepreneurs. More interestingly, the extant literature has infrequently explored Latin America's role and how Latin American entrepreneurs who have social entrepreneurial interests create social ventures. I examined factors leading to increased social entrepreneurial intention using social movement impact theory as a basis for identifying antecedents; I used social roles theory to explain the role that gender plays in this movement. Utilizing socio-political activism and entrepreneurial passion as independent variables, I explored the moderating effects of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and gender to explain the variance within social entrepreneurial intention. My study focused on experienced Latin American entrepreneurs (n = 305), one of few studies to do so. Hypotheses were tested utilizing hierarchical multiple regression. The research suggests significant associations that predict social entrepreneurial intentions, including socio-political activity and entrepreneurial passion. My research makes multiple contributions to the literature. I incorporated three major entrepreneurial fields: entrepreneurial passion, entrepreneurial opportunity, and entrepreneurial intention. I also explored the moderating effects of gender and integrated multiple gender categories into a conceptual model. Utilizing hierarchical multiple regression, the model explained 33% (R² .33) of the variance of social entrepreneurial intention. Over 100 antecedents have been tested. Few extant studies have considered social entrepreneurial intention, by way of social theory, to understand what motivates social entrepreneurs. By incorporating social movement impact theory, social roles theory, and multiple entrepreneurial fields, researchers can better understand social entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurial intention.