Mission Beyond Profit: A Methodological Framework Combining Picture-Fuzzy Weighting and Necessary-Configuration Analysis for Social Entrepreneurial Founding Motives
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Some individuals set out to build ventures whose first purpose is social rather than financial, and the motives behind this choice are only partly understood. Research on social entrepreneurial intention points to a prosocial core of empathy, moral obligation and social self-efficacy, alongside an ambivalent commercial motive, since configurations associated with intention can include either high or low profit motivation. Additive regression and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), widely used in the field, estimate average associations and do not directly test whether a motive is necessary. We therefore propose a methodological framework that asks which motives and motive combinations must be present for a high intention to be attainable. First, reliability-weighted picture-fuzzy scoring weights eight systematically selected motivational and contextual antecedents while recording the hesitation in each expert judgement and its reliability. Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) then establishes how much of each motive a given intention level requires, and a weight-guided adaptation of Necessary Configuration Analysis (NConfA), proved to return an inclusion-maximal bundle passing the consistency threshold, extends the question to combinations. Rather than a new survey, we position the framework as a protocol for reanalysing existing datasets. In an illustrative application to ten profiles, the four prosocial motives form the largest jointly necessary bundle and profit motivation is never necessary, demonstrating the method ahead of real-data tests. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first use of NConfA for social entrepreneurial motivation. Testing the protocol on existing datasets is the necessary next stage.
Authors: Doğan Şengül, Mahmut Emin Sarıkaya
Institution: İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim Üniversitesi
Language: Turkish
Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7223673413