Building on insights from motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) theory, we explore the antecedents and conditions through which entrepreneurs within small and medium enterprises (SMEs) adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Seeing how current research is almost exclusively dominated by investigating the activities of multinational or large organizations, we shift the attention to the social responsibility initiatives of the individual entrepreneur, seen as a moral, social and environmental champion. This study contributes to marketing and international business literature by advancing knowledge of the determinants of responsible entrepreneurship across different research settings. We highlight the importance of personal entrepreneurial values and moral ideologies and their impact on CSR engagement. From this perspective, we first applied an exploratory/qualitative research method to focus on the CSR initiatives of entrepreneurs in the UK by conducting series of interviews to identify various individual, firm and external level determinants that influence the implementation of responsible entrepreneurship practices. Second, we completed a large scale survey among 224 UK entrepreneurs. Preliminary results demonstrate that others-centered values, entrepreneurial alertness, competence, availability of resources and stakeholders influence, are important antecedents of both intentional and actual engagement in CSR practices, which in turn leads to improved performance.

• Cezara Alina Nicoara(University of Leeds, UK)
• Vita Kadile(University of Leeds, UK)