Social entrepreneurship: understanding consumer motives for buying The Big Issue

This paper examines consumer response to a particular social entrepreneurship initiative, The Big Issue. Focusing on consumer motivation, the research explores the utilitarian value of the product as compared to the desire to help the homeless as the primary motivation for purchase. The research found that, although the utilitarian value partly motivated purchase, consumers widely perceived there to be a helping dimension to the exchange. Consumers valued the empowerment goals espoused by The Big Issue and found it rewarding to play a part in the empowerment process. The appearance andmanner of The Big Issue vendors influenced consumer reactions to the initiative, indicating a need for careful management of ‘beneficiary portrayal’ in this context. INTRODUCTION Social entrepreneurship can be loosely defined as the use of entrepreneurial behaviour for social ends rather than for profit objectives, or alternatively, that the profits generated are used for the benefit of a specific disadvantaged group (Leadbetter, 1997). As such the concept of ‘social entrepreneurship’ has attracted the recent interest of policy makers, with government departments and agencies declaring their support for this approach as a means of alleviating social disadvantage. Socially entrepreneurial behaviour can be identified in a number of areas, however, broadly speaking, it falls into two categories: the first relates to the provision of public services in new and innovative ways and generally takes place under the auspices of established social services; the second is a broader activity within which individuals set up Sally A. Hibbert Nottingham University Business School, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, UK Tel: 0115 951 5151 e-mail: sally.hibbert@ nottingham.ac.uk