Interpersonal Feedback Seeking in Social Ventures

Research Paper Title:

“Navigating interpersonal feedback seeking in social venturing: The roles of psychological distance and sensemaking”

Authors:

Andreana Drencheva (University of Sheffield)
Ute Stephan (King’s College London)
Malcom G. Patterson (University of Sheffield)
Anna Topakas (University of Sheffield)

Background:
”Seek feedback!” is a mantra for social entrepreneurs. Yet, with this research the authors show the challenges with seeking feedback: exposing vulnerabilities, managing power dynamics, identifying the right people, finding time. Importantly, there is diversity in why social entrepreneurs seek feedback and how they navigate these challenges. This diversity stems from how social entrepreneurs define themselves (i.e., their identities): as community members addressing a community need; as emerging entrepreneurs addressing personal trauma; as professionals addressing a social issue affecting others. These identities relate to different motivations to seek feedback: to co-create with community members; to improve one’s entrepreneurial practice; and to develop a public image that emphasizes prosociality. To navigate the challenges, social entrepreneurs experiment with how, when, and from whom they seek feedback in ways consistent with their identities.

Methodology:

Sample: Nascent social entrepreneurs in the UK
Sample Size: 36 with 82 interviews
Analytical Approach: Inductive theory-development of qualitative data

Results:

1. For social entrepreneurs, seeking feedback can serve three different purposes: to co-create with community members; to improve their entrepreneurial practice; and to develop a public image that emphasizes prosociality.

2. How social entrepreneurs define themselves (i.e., their identities) and how psychologically close they are to the social issues they target shape the purpose for their feedback seeking, the challenges they pay attention to, and how they make sense of these challenges.

3. Social entrepreneurs who see themselves as community members and started their ventures in service of the community seek feedback to co-create. They see challenges in seeking feedback as threats to their community identity. To address this identity threat, they experiment with the process of seeking feedback to make it easier and safer for community members to provide feedback.

4. Social entrepreneurs who see themselves as emerging entrepreneurs addressing a social issue that had been personally traumatic seek feedback to improve their practice. They see challenges in feedback seeking as threats to their emerging entrepreneur identity. To address this identity threat, they experiment with whom they ask for feedback and on what topics to make it safer for themselves.

5. Social entrepreneurs who see themselves as professionals or serial entrepreneurs and address a social issue they had not personally seek feedback to create an image that emphasizes prosociality. They see challenges in feedback seeking as threats to their image. They experiment with the timing of feedback requests through rules of thumb for when to seek feedback, how frequently to request feedback and when to refrain from seeking feedback.

Conclusion:

1. This research challenges the implicit assumption that feedback is readily available to social entrepreneurs by uncovering the difficulties they face. Social entrepreneurs struggle to access feedback because they may not have the time to ask in safe ways. They may not have access to the right networks. Those approached may not respond to feedback requests (for many reasons). They struggle to access meaningful feedback due to power dynamics or different perceptions of what entrepreneurship is for (addressing social issues vs maximizing profits).

2. The authors’ research shows that how social entrepreneurs define themselves shapes why and how they seek feedback and even how they refrain from seeking feedback. This highlights the importance of self-awareness. Reflecting on who one is and what their purpose is for seeking feedback can help identify blind spots when seeking feedback: Am I seeking feedback only from some individuals? Am I seeking feedback in ways that protect how I see myself? Or in ways that protect how others see me?

3. The authors’ research uncovers the role of psychological distance in social entrepreneurship. Psychological distance from the targeted social issue provides a critical bridge to understand how the reality of social issues manifests in the experience of social entrepreneurs and may guide their actions and choices about the venture.