사회적 기업가의 흡수능력 형성요인: 경험과 사회적 네트워크를 중심으로

This paper analyzes social entrepreneur’s absorptive capacity development process from experience learning perspectives. The paper draws evidence from the case study of a social entrepreneur starting up social venture, Delight. The results of this study are as follows. Social entrepreneur’s experience plays an important role in developing absorptive capacity for social entrepreneurship. The social entrepreneur expands knowledge bases through start-up, small business experience and conceptual learning in a community of practice. An entrepreneurial start-up experience facilitates the development of entrepreneurial knowledge by stimulating reflective thinking in the process of overcoming challenges and problems. And business and start-up experience enhance the level of effort to exploit the social opportunities by reinforcing entrepreneurial intention. Other-oriented activity experience influences positively the sense of social mission by inducing pro-social value and triggering empathic concern on others. And the absorptive capacity gained from prior experience has a significant impact on next experience. Social network influences the development of absorptive capacity by facilitating experience process. Finally, theoretical and practical implications, research limitations and directions of future research are discussed.