13th Annual International Management Conference Proceeding

ATTITUDES
(Behavioral beliefs x
Outcome evaluations)
SUBJECTIVE NORMS
(Normative beliefs x
Motivation to comply)
PERCEIVED
BEHAVIOURAL
CONTROL
(Control beliefs x influence
of control beliefs)
Adopted from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991)
BEHAVIOURAL
INTENTIONS
The theory above can be used to explain why organizations formed without considering the natural settings
that bring with them the element of social capital (trust, reciprocity, and networking) for purposes of
accessing micro finance funding are failing to realize their objectives in most parts of Uganda. The original
motivation is getting the funds and formation of groups is secondary. Although there is not a perfect
relationship between behavioral intention and actual behaviour, intention can be used as a proximal measure
of behaviour.
The theory assumes that human beings are rational and make systematic use of information available to them
and that people consider the implications of their actions before the decide to engage or not to engage in
certain behaviors. Ajzen (1991) theorized that, intentions are a function of two basic determinants that is
attitude towards behavior and subjective norms of behavior.
There is clearly both scope and need for more social innovation and social entrepreneurship if, on the one
hand, the identifiable requirements of the community are to be met more effectively, and, on the other hand,
new opportunities to create additional benefits are to be found and exploited proactively. To accomplish
this, more social champions need to be found and many of the people involved in existing ventures need to
be encouraged to become more ambitious and more professional – in the context of increased efficiency.
This increased incidence implies increased visibility and new forms of support. The former can be achieved
by widening awareness – one key purpose of this paper and the associated research project – and the latter by
introducing new training and development opportunities for people willing to support the ventures – and
maybe ultimately start a new initiative. Here, the issue of the “right people” is important. Some people who
are willing to volunteer their services and time may be inadequately skilled and qualified, and without
appropriate training will inhibit rather than enhance the initiative.
In terms of efficiencies, because many ventures of this nature can avoid the rigorous monitoring found in the
profit-generating sector, it is important to ensure that the appropriate performance measures are adopted. By
and large the real effectiveness of anything deemed socially entrepreneurial implies “soft” or qualitative
evaluation – but quantitative measures such as the number of clients benefiting, external monies raised, the
number of jobs created and the numbers of volunteers (or honorary professionals) attracted are all ideal for
benchmarking purposes.
In recent years the concept of social capital has been widely used in both economics and sociology.
Increasingly, the significance of social capital for those interested in studying organizations in general and
entrepreneurship in particular has also become apparent (Adler and Kwon, 2002; Anderson and Miller,
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BEHAVIOUR