**1. Introduction**

Why do most entrepreneurs end up unsuccessful in their businesses? Despite a large number of studies on entrepreneurial opportunities, entrepreneurial characteristics, and determinants of new emergen<sup>t</sup> ventures in specific social and global contexts [1], scholars have argued that it is also crucial to explore the determinants of entrepreneurs' intentions to leave or terminate their ventures [2]. From another perspective, understanding what determines an entrepreneur's exit intention is important to understanding the nature of entrepreneurial success [3]. Moreover, compared to studies conducted on conventional or regular entrepreneurs, much less is known about the exit intentions of social entrepreneurs [4], and even less is known about the psychological antecedents of the exit intentions [2] or about the emotional processes that lead to the exit intentions [5].

Prosocial motivation, the core personality trait of social entrepreneurs, is a psychological antecedent that has been the subject of considerable research [6,7]. It differentiates from conventional or regular entrepreneurs [8] and drives entrepreneurs to have concern for others/the endeavor to help. However, extant studies on the relationship between prosocial motivation and entrepreneurs' exit intentions have reported contentious findings. Some investigators have suggested that social entrepreneurs develop an "attachment to their organizations" as a result of the process of helping others in their work, which, in turn, may emotionally impede their intention to exit [9–11]. However, some studies indicated that prosocial motivation may hinder the venture development of a viable firm or lead to its failure [12,13], thereby increasing a sense of failure and arousing the intention to exit [14]. Consequently, there are substantial gaps in our understanding of the relationship between prosocial motivation and the exit intentions of social entrepreneurs [15]; more in-depth explorations are needed.

**Citation:** Dong, J.; Wang, X.; Cao, X.; Higgins, D. More Prosocial, More Ephemeral? Exploring the Formation of a Social Entrepreneur's Exit Intention via Life Satisfaction. *IJERPH* **2022**, *19*, 6966. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijerph19126966

Academic Editors: V. K. Kumar and Jasmin Tahmaseb-McConatha

Received: 14 March 2022 Accepted: 5 June 2022 Published: 7 June 2022

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According to Bolino and Grant [7], prosocial motivation has been mostly investigated as a personality trait that may trigger behaviors that are both positive (organizational citizenship behaviors) and negative (less engagemen<sup>t</sup> in task performance). However, its capacity to predict exit intentions can be quite limited [16–20]; its direct effects on behavioral outcomes have been questioned [20–22] and there is a need to examine if a mediating mechanism links prosocial motivation and exit intentions [17].

According to Carree and Verheul [23] and Lindblom, Lindblom, and Wechtler [20], entrepreneurship is much more than a 9-to-5 job; it can often be regarded as a 24/7 fulfilling lifestyle that leads to a situation where satisfaction with one's job and other life domains are intertwined [24]. Social entrepreneurs who devote themselves to more than regular entrepreneurial work likely spend much more time and energy helping others [7,25–27] than necessary [7,13,28]. Previous researchers have suggested that life satisfaction is a critical mediator between prosocial motivations and exit intentions among social entrepreneurs [20,29]. Thus, the central question raised by this study is: does life satisfaction mediate the relationship between prosocial motivation and exit intention?

A special report on social entrepreneurship [30] claims that social enterprises are more likely to be established by men, but longitudinally, the gender gap is not as significant as it was in the early stages. This implies that male entrepreneurs are more likely to quit social entrepreneurship than their female peers. However, research as to why more women entrepreneurs persist as social entrepreneurs is rare [31,32]. Based on the view of gender stereotypes [33,34], we explore the relevant effects of social entrepreneurs and gender.

This study contributes to the literature in three ways: First, responding to Tina, Foss, and Stefan [6], who suggested exploring the potential negative effects of prosocial motivation, especially regarding the entrepreneur's intention to sustain, this study can help address the debate on the relationship between a social entrepreneur's prosocial motivation and exit intention by examining if life satisfaction mediates this relationship [9,10,13]. Second, this study extends the discussion on gender differences in social entrepreneurship [35], especially how it moderates the effects of prosocial motivation on life satisfaction, facilitating the exit intentions of social entrepreneurs. Third, drawing on empirical data from a relatively large sample, we contribute to the scarce quantitative literature on social entrepreneurship [36,37].

#### **2. Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development**

A hierarchical approach to personality assumes that personality traits (1) determine how we respond in various contexts, and (2) shape our behaviors [21,22]. A key assumption is that personality is hierarchically arranged [21,22]. At the top of the hierarchy are basic personality traits, which serve as the building blocks, shaping most of our behaviors [38]. At the bottom of the hierarchy are surface traits, which are more specific and have significant behavioral consequences. The basic personality traits, compared to the surface traits, are enduring dispositions that determine behaviors in a wider range of situations. Surface traits are context-specific and result in behaviors from interactions between basic traits and contextual elements [38–40]. Researchers, including Licata et al. [41], Brown et al. [42], and Prentice and King [43], argue that traits function hierarchically: basic personality traits serve at a deeper level, and provide a foundation for surface traits that function as mediators and relate more closely to individual behaviors.

Following the hierarchical approach to personality [21,22], prosocial motivation is regarded as a basic personality trait and it represents "a person's 'affective lens' (remains constant over the time) on the world" [7,44,45], determining a person's responses in various contexts [21,22]; in contrast, life satisfaction is viewed as a surface trait that connects prosocial motivation and exit intentions [20].

#### *2.1. Prosocial Motivation and Exit Intention*

Frequent heroic characterizations of social entrepreneurs have limited the foci of those who have fewer positive stories to tell [46–49]. Normally, social entrepreneurs and their ventures encounter a range of unique challenges [50], uncertainties, and problems [51], resulting in entrepreneurial exits [6]. Lindblom, Lindblom, and Wechtler [20] and Pollack et al. [52] defined exit intention as "an entrepreneur's desire or goal, at some point in the future, to leave his or her venture." According to Renko [13], entrepreneurs with strong prosocial motivations are less likely to succeed in sustaining their businesses, compared with entrepreneurs who are mainly motivated by financial goals. This is because social entrepreneurs are characterized by pursuing a dual mission of economic and social value creation [53], inducing conflicting and competing logic [54–56]. Largely, social entrepreneurs need to combine their prosocial motivations with regular practices regarding for-profit firms [57–59] and foster inconsistent goals, norms, and values that may lead to contradictory prescriptions for actions [60]. This can cause tension [60], resulting in stronger exit intentions [6,61]. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated such underlying mechanisms. Responding to the calls for systemically exploring the "dark side" of prosocial motivation [7], this research investigates how prosocial motivation affects a social entrepreneur's intention to exit.
