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The purpose of this paper is to examine US public relations professionals' perceptions of the benefits and challenges associated with the concept of moral entrepreneurship, defined as the purposeful process of changing or creating new institutionalized ethical norms. This study argues that the concept of moral entrepreneurship provides organizations with a potentially valuable framework to actively recognize societal pressures and problems and act accordingly to better the environment in which the organization resides and operates.

This exploratory study uses purposive in-depth interviews with 25 diverse public relations professionals, who represented communication firms, in-house public relations departments, higher education, nonprofits and government.

Respondents assigned a high value to the concept of moral entrepreneurship: In addition to its being viewed as the right thing to do, they recognized its practice as a way to help organizations recruit and retain employee talent and improve stakeholder trust. However, based on the interviews, organizational leadership is the primary initiator of ethical changes; therefore, without a seat at the management table, practitioners lack the influence to initiate such new organizational directions and take on the role of moral entrepreneurs only when directed to do so by their superiors. Barriers to adopting a moral entrepreneurship approach included a limited budget and shortage of staff, employees' resistance to change, fear of failure, poor leadership and a politically polarized workplace.

Practice implications include considerations for furthering moral entrepreneurship in organizations.

This study is the first to explore the applicability of the concept of moral entrepreneurship in public relations. The paper underscores the need for further discussion around novel approaches to ethics in public relations that go beyond simple compliance with professional codes and industry standards and that help organizations lead societal change.

Although karmic beliefs have been found to be positively correlated with pro-social behaviors, the role of karmic beliefs in social entrepreneurship remains relatively unknown. Drawing on the morally extended theory of planned behavior, this paper aims to explore the karmic aspect of social venturing, wherein individuals’ social entrepreneurial intentions and their moral antecedents are activated by karmic beliefs.

The study was performed on a sample of 401 university students in Vietnam. Cronbach’s alpha, confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analyses were then used to test the reliability, validity of scales and developed hypotheses.

The findings illustrate that karmic beliefs are strongly and positively correlated with empathy, moral obligation, social entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived social support. Moreover, individuals’ social entrepreneurial intentions are not only significantly and directly stimulated by karmic beliefs but also receive the indirect effects of karmic beliefs through three mediators: empathy, moral obligation and social entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

The study added fresh perspectives on the role of karmic beliefs in social entrepreneurship literature. Additionally, this study shed a new light on entrepreneurial literature by morally extending theory of planned behavior to explore underlying mechanisms of moral and empathetic components on transferring the effects of karmic beliefs on social entrepreneurial intentions.

This paper aims at shedding light on the entrepreneurs' perception towards crowdfunding as a new mean for raising capital, and their willingness to send appropriate signals to the potential fund providers/backers.

The research strategy is based on three methodological approaches: desk research on online sources, a map of the crowdfunding phenomenon, and a quantitative approach with a survey performed between June and December 2020. The survey covers a sample of 147 Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups, in addition to semi-structured interviews with 10 entrepreneurs.

The study reveals that between losing their work and losing part of their firms' equity, entrepreneurs are keen on sending positive signals to backers. Moreover, they are willing to adopt a new way of thinking, as their primary goal is to save their firms, their jobs, and their source of income. The research highlights the concern of entrepreneurs of losing reputation, losing intellectual property, losing control, and of becoming only shareholders in their enterprises.

The main limitation in this paper is that no single study in Lebanon adequately covers the topic and thus extensive research has been carried out on crowdfunding across the world and analyzed in the Lebanese context.

Overcoming funding challenges can reduce brain drain, promote a culture of entrepreneurship, serve the economy, combat poverty, achieve more equitable society, increase the levels of expectations, and turn the flywheel. Moreover, the paper presents clear implications for the field of policy-making both in developing and developed countries.

Considering the serious financial disintermediation and liquidity shortage Lebanon faces, the findings of this study show how important changing entrepreneurial culture and behavior is, and the crucial role crowdfunding could play in providing funds for the SMEs that form 95% of the total business sector in Lebanon.

While entrepreneurship has long been heralded for its positive contributions, there is a growing recognition of its “dark side,” characterized by unproductive, unethical and destructive actions. This exploratory literature review aims to illuminate the underexplored dark side of entrepreneurship, thereby enriching the discourse on entrepreneurship’s dual nature.

This study employs a robust mixed-method approach, integrating phenomenologically detailed co-citation bibliographic coupling with detailed thematic data and code-weaving. Science mapping tools like R-Bibliometrix and VOSviewer enhance the credibility of the findings by providing a sophisticated and reproducible methodological framework.

This review defines dark entrepreneurship, its characteristics, and its complexities. We introduced the “Dark Entrepreneurship Trinity”: Ethical Complexity, Institutional Navigation and Conflict Entrepreneurialship, with Institutional Navigation as the apex theme. It elucidates how this theme influences ethical dilemmas and operational strategies in conflict zones, illustrated through a diagram depicting their complex interrelations and dynamics.

The originality of this literature review lies in its comprehensive synthesis of the dark side of entrepreneurship. This review significantly contributes to the academic discourse by delineating a clearer picture of the destructive potentials of entrepreneurship. It compiles existing research, critically addresses the gaps and suggests future pathways for empirical studies.

The paper examined the impact of corporate communication about eco-friendly products on social media (CSM) and conventional media (CCM) on individuals/buyers’ intent for co-creating environmental values (ICEV) post-Coronavirus pandemic in Indonesia.

Data were gathered from 561 individuals/buyers, via cross-sectional sampling in Bandung city, Indonesia. Next, this study used structural equation modelling to assess the theoretical model and hypothetical relationships.

Both factors, i.e. CCM and CSM, positively and significantly affect ICEV.

The paper is an original attempt to assess the impact of corporate communication about eco-friendly products on media toward ICEV in Indonesia’s post-Coronavirus pandemic. Besides, it is an initial effort to create the notions of success expectancy and self-efficacy and analyse whether these two concepts can become factors that mediate the effects of corporate CCM and CSM on buyers’ ICEV. This paper also develops ICEV to expand social cognitive theory from the perspective of co-creating environmental values.

This study aims to expand antecedent roles on social entrepreneurial behavioural intention by integrating both the Three Pillars of Institutions and the Mair Noboa model. The literature lacks in investigating both institutional- and individual-level antecedents to determine social entrepreneurial behavioural intention. This proposed integrated model was developed in which the Mair Noboa's model antecedents mediates the positive relationship between the antecedents of Three Pillars of Institutions and social entrepreneurial intention.

This study uses quantitative research methodologies to answer the research question of the extent that institutional-level antecedents in turn influence individual antecedents and thus determine social entrepreneurial intention. To explore this, a Web-based survey distributed across Bangladesh (n = 412). The confirmation of hypotheses involved using covariance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) for data analysis. The resulting measurement and structural models successfully met all criteria for reliability, model fit, convergent validity and discriminant validity. The hypotheses were subsequently assessed by examining both direct relationships and mediating effects.

The findings demonstrated a significant relationship between the antecedents of the Three Pillars of Institutions and the Mair Noboa model. The results suggest that the Mair Noboa model antecedents can mediate the relationship between the Three Pillars of Institutions and social entrepreneurial intention.

This paper advances the existing knowledge of social entrepreneurial intention, through the novel lens of combined institutional and individual antecedents. This paper fills an important knowledge gap by exploring both institutional- and individual-level antecedents to determine social entrepreneurial intention. This study findings yield fresh theoretical and practical insights into how institutional and individual antecedents jointly influence social entrepreneurial intention.

There is a paucity of studies on factors influencing social entrepreneurial behaviours or actions. Against this background, this study aims to explore factors and challenges affecting Enactus members’ social entrepreneurial actions in Nigeria.

This study adopted a qualitative approach, and data were gathered through three focus group discussions involving 25 people (18 Enactus members, 4 faculty advisors and 3 business advisory board members). The study adopted a content analysis technique for data analysis.

The findings reveal that social mission orientation, desire to create social impact and social problems influence Enactus members’ social entrepreneurial actions. Other influencing factors include social entrepreneurial passion, moral obligation, social empathy and social support. In addition, the study finds that financial and time constraints affect Enactus members’ social entrepreneurial actions.

The findings have implications for social entrepreneurs/enterprises, governments/policymakers and Enactus members.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first qualitative study that provides insights into the factors influencing a group of people towards social entrepreneurial actions.

The bread and butter of marginal communities primarily rely on their artisanal work, to which the communities’ women have notable contributions despite facing numerous challenges. This study aims to unveil the challenges along with latent opportunities of different marginal women entrepreneurs in the rural areas of Bangladesh.

This study used narrative inquiry to explore the real-life business phenomena of 15 marginal women entrepreneurs with more than 5 years of business experience living in 4 districts of Bangladesh. This approach was used to document participants’ responses through the storytelling of their daily business experiences.

The findings of this paper indicate that vulnerable living conditions, social negligence, availability of substitutes, frequent sickness, increasing price of raw materials, lack of entrepreneurial skills and lack of managerial skills are the major challenges of marginal women entrepreneurs. In contrast, minimum capital requirement, home-based business, traditional profession, retaining cultural heritage and lack of accountability are the main opportunities that motivate marginal women to continue their entrepreneurial activities.

The insight of this research can promote and sustain marginal women entrepreneurship and aid researchers, policymakers and businesses in improving the various entrepreneurial aspects of informal community entrepreneurs in developing countries. However, the study was limited to five marginal community entrepreneurs (Rishi, Kumor, Jele, Cobbler and Kamar) in Bangladesh. Therefore, conducting future research encompassing all marginalized communities is recommended, and empirical studies on this domain are highly encouraged.

The insight of this research can promote and sustain marginal women entrepreneurship and aid researchers, policymakers and businesses in improving the various entrepreneurial aspects of informal community entrepreneurs in developing countries.

In the authors’ knowledge, this is unique research on marginal women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.