The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Propensity of Emerging Entrepreneurs to Start Social Enterprises in Romania

ABSTRACT

As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, and hopefully draws to an end, potential entrepreneurs are challenged to reimagine the new normal and develop new models of doing business with a focus on sustainable development, protecting the environment and the public good. Our paper aims to explore if emerging entrepreneurs have been influenced by the pandemic and are considering to conduct business with a social impact, given that values and attitudes about priorities have changed during the pandemic. Based on a questionnaire completed by 286 students at both the bachelor and masters level at the Faculty of Business and Administration of the University of Bucharest in November 2021, we will explore to what extent future entrepreneurs are considering starting a social enterprise. Using descriptive statistics and comparative analysis, we will determine if there has been a change in propensity for social entrepreneurship among students of economics before and since the start of the corona pandemic. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.