Social entrepreneurship as a transversal competency: construction and validation of an assessment instrument in the university context

Abstract

The education of future human capital within higher education highlights the need to train change agents, with a series of competencies that allow them to identify problems, propose and execute sustainable solutions and under ethical principles. In this context, social entrepreneurship stands out as a strategic competence that educational institutions are beginning to incorporate into their curriculum. The objective of this study was to validate the construction of an instrument to assess the competence of social entrepreneurship based on the review of literature, expert judgment, and factor analysis. The process that was followed corresponds to a literature review regarding the operationalization of the variable and related measurement instruments, validation of content by the judgment of eight experts, and validation by factor analysis and internal consistency of the instrument, through empirical testing with students from various disciplines at the higher level (n=98) within a private university in Mexico. The validation process indicated the operationalization of the competence in five dimensions, with adequate internal consistency and a good fit in the confirmatory factor analysis model. Generating an instrument applicable in university contexts and in the training of social entrepreneurs.