Risking more than money? Entrepreneurial orientation in the social context

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) exhibit entrepreneurial behavior that assists them in creating social value. Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has served as a valuable framework to measure the entrepreneurial proclivity of for-profit firms; scholars suggest however that current EO scales be adapted to take into account the specific antecedents and outcomes unique to the social context. Using multiple case studies of socially entrepreneurial NPOs in Australia and the United Kingdom, this paper investigates the manifestation of risk taking in the social context. The findings reveal a multidimensional manifestation of risk that incorporates both pecuniary and non-pecuniary dimensions, as well as various mitigation tactics employed by entrepreneurial NPOs to maintain legitimacy and satisfy multiple stakeholders.