Project Topic:
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (A STUDY OF SELECTED NON-GOVRENMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOS) IN NIGERIA)
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
National development refers to the ability of a county or countries to enhance the social welfare of the populace by providing social amenities such as quality education, employment opportunities, potable water, transportation infrastructure and medical care (Fosu, 2010). From this view perspective, a nation achieves national development when the adverse effects of social challenges are effectively tackled by sustaining an effective social system. In Nigeria according to the National Bureau for Statistics (2017), unemployment level rose from 16.2% to 18.8% in 2017. Similarly, Statistics shows that 57 million people in the country do not have access to safe water and lack of access to adequate health services was identified as accounting for 90% of the cause of deaths in Nigeria (Premium Times, 2017). This suggests that for national development to be achieved in the nation, social challenges must be effectively tackled particularly because unfavourable conditions, situations or circumstances in an economy that are consequences of absence of effective social systems or failure of the existing ones are evidences of an under developed nation (WESS, 2013). On e way to enhance national is through social entrepreneurship. Economists and academics support the notion that entrepreneurship is becoming a crucial factor in the development and well-being of societies. Whether the entrepreneurial activities are practiced in factor-driven, efficiency-driven, or innovation-driven economies (Porter et al., 2012), the ultimate results continue to exhibit: i) lower unemployment rates; ii) increased tendency to adopt innovation; and iii) accelerated structural changes-in the economy., Entrepreneurship offers new competition, and as such promotes improved productivity and healthy economic competitiveness (UNCTAD, 2014).
Social entrepreneurship is the field in which entrepreneurs tailor their activities to be directly tied with the ultimate goal of creating social value. In doing so, they often act with little or no intention to gain personal profit. A social entrepreneur “combines the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and determination commonly associated with, for instance, the high-tech pioneers of Silicon Valley” (Dees, 2013).
The importance of adhering to selection process is vital for organizational competitiveness and a failure to approach this function effectively will result to selection of wrong and underperforming employees which will in turn lead to low level of productivity.
Social entrepreneurship has received a lot of attention at both theoretical and practical levels, it has no standard definition, but rather a multitude of definitions (Acs, Boardman & McNeely, 2013; Trexler, 2009). Most definitions of social entrepreneurship are practical (Mair & Marti, 2006; Santos, 2012). For instance, Mort, Weerawardena and Carnegie (2002) wrote that social entrepreneurship is multidimensional and covers business activities (entrepreneurship) in achieving social mission. Their emphasis lies on the achievement of a social mission, which is accompanied by a balance between objectives and immoral actions. Social entrepreneurship is described as individuals’ action for change using principles and entrepreneurial models to meet social needs, to address social problems, and to maintain social values. This can be done through the use of innovation to create products, services and new economic markets (Dees & Anderson, 2006; Dees, 1998).
A more prevalent definition is provided by Seelos and Mair (2005), who defined creating social values as the ultimate goal of social entrepreneurship. The economic values obtained through social entrepreneurship is only an additional goal (by-product) undertaken to ensure the sustainability and self-sufficiency of social entrepreneurship organizations. Products and services which are produced by social entrepreneur are directly related to basic needs that cannot be fulfilled by the social and economic institutions that exist in society (Seelos & Mair, 2005: 244).
Another definition of social entrepreneurship is as a philanthropic activity that aims to achieve social objectives (Dacin, Dacin, & Matear, 2010; Dees, 2001). In such a view, social entrepreneurs are social investors who utilize the resources and capital at their disposal to manage business activities which the aim of helping the poor through constructive methods. Such philanthropic activities are an important part of non-profit organizations which emphasize the importance of achieving social impact by using business principles of venture capital, strategic thinking, and management principles; these people are defined as venture philanthropists (Robinson, 2006). Dees (1998: 4-6) proposed a more ideal definition of social entrepreneurship where he defined social entrepreneurs contribute to the living standard improvement not only achieving private values, but also adopting a mission to create and sustain social value, always finding new opportunities to achieve mission, striving to find innovation, adaptation, and learning as well as acting consistently without being hampered by limited resources. From the foregoing therefore, the study is determined to examine the relationship between social entrepreneurship and national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
It is regrettably, many small business in Nigeria ignore standard selection programmes, this makes selection of personnel inundated with myriad of unethical practices; bias, discrimination and favoritism. The causes of poverty are very diverse. According to Mensah and Benedict (2010), poverty occurs because of a lack of access to adequate resources, resulting in difficulty for the poor to emerge from poverty. Sen, (1985) explained that poverty occurs due to the inability of individuals to achieve the minimum capacity needed to gain fundamental freedoms of life. These freedoms include the freedom to engage in politics and the freedom to obtain economic and social networking facilities. If individuals retain the fundamental freedoms of life, they can have a quality of life which allows them to be free from the poverty line and escape from deprivations. This discussion indicates that the causes of poverty can be grouped into two categories: (1) poverty that occurs due to the limited ownership of the resources, thus hindering economic activity; and (2) poverty due to the failure to obtain the fundamental freedoms of life. By considering these causes, efforts to reduce poverty can address both categories. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the important role of social entrepreneurship, and several scholars have examined its contributions in the economy. They include Santos, (2012) and Mulgan and Landry (1995), who find that social entrepreneurship serves as a second invisible hand in the economy that arises from the concern and moral commitment of individuals and their sense of shared (mutual responsibility). It is obvious that hiring someone who does not fit into a particular business or who does not suit the culture of the firm may bring about disciplinary problems, disputes, absenteeism, high labour turnover, fraud, poor service delivery to customers, suppressed creativity, innovations and learning, inability to cope with new challenges or changes, non-competitiveness, poor quality production, waste of firms money, time and other valuable resources. All these may culminate to low level of organizational productivity. It is against the backdrop of the above vexing problems, that this study was designed to examine the relationship between social entrepreneurship and national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between social entrepreneurship and national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State. The specific objectives are:
1. To determine if creativity will lead to national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State.
2. To determine if to opportunity seeking leads to national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State.
3. To determine how innovation bring about national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State.
1.4 Research Questions
To realize the objectives of this study, the following research questions were asked;
1. To what extent does creativity leads national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State?
2. To what extent does opportunity seeking leads to national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State?
3. To what extent does innovation leads to national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
H01: There is no significant relationship between creativity and national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State.
H02: There is no significant relationship between opportunity seeking and national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State.
H03: There is no significant relationship between innovation and national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State.
1.6 Significance of the Study
This study would benefit the following:
This study tries to examine social entrepreneurship and national development of selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Rivers State. The study shall give an insight on how entrepreneurs create job opportunities for themselves and how poverty rate can be drastically reduced in the country.
In addition, it will enhance government and general public participation in addressing the problems faced by entrepreneur in the society.
The study would also be relevant to future researchers as it will serve as a guide and reference material for further studies.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The study is delimited under the following headings; content scope, geographical scope and unit of analysis.
Content Scope: The content of this study involves on investigation to ascertain the relationship between social entrepreneurship and national development.
Geographical Scope: This study is delimited to selected (NGOs) in Rivers State in Port Harcourt, Rivers State which includes World Changers Coalition and Abaj Global.
Unit of Analysis: The unit of analysis involved the staff at the terms of carrying this study.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
The limitation of this study was inability of management to divulge certain information which they consider sensitive and fear of publication which might be- detrimental to their operation.
Another limitation to the study is time constraint. The period within which the study is conducted is short for a thorough research work, hence gathering adequate information becomes very difficult.
Also, Finance is one of the limitations to study. The researcher is facing financial constraint to meet all the needed educational requirements including this research study.
Finally, lack of materials on the topic; therefore, the researcher resolved to seek friendly approach in order to obtain the needed materials or information from the organizations under study through the administration of questionnaire.
1.9 Definition of the Study
For this research, the following definitions have been adopted:
Creativity: Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed.
Efficiency: Is the ability to perform a given task according to a required standard.
Innovation: Innovation can be defined simply as a “new idea, device or method/innovation can also be said to be something new or different introduced: numerous innovations in the high-school curriculum
Organization: This refers to a group of employee that forms as business club etc to render to achieve a particular aim; this means the act of making arrangement or preparation for something
Opportunity seeking: This refers to the quality that enables the entrepreneur to see and ^ct upon new business opportunities even in situations where other people see nothing but problems/hopelessness only.
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