Career Pathways toward Third-age Social Entrepreneurship

Third-age entrepreneurship, that is to say entrepreneurs aged 50+, has become a focus of public (e.g. PRIME) and academic debate (e.g. Gielnik, Zacher & Frese, 2012). As individuals live longer, third-age entrepreneurship has become more prevalent, representing an attractive option for some, and a necessity for others. Faced with the prospect of financial uncertainty in retirement, workplace age discrimination, and structural labour market changes, Hart et al. (2014) found that the proportion of 50-64 year-olds engaged in entrepreneurial activity has steadily increased to 7.1% (similar to the rate of the 18-29 year-olds). With older people attributing more importance to the intrinsic rewards of work, social aspects of work, and feeling valued and involved (see Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004), there are strong arguments about why those over 50 may find social entrepreneurship attractive. Consequently, third-age individuals
may find a natural home in social ventures. The involvement of third-age individuals in social ventures is significant with 7% of social start-ups led by individuals over 65 (Social Enterprise UK, 2013) and almost a third of social enterprises having a leadership team member over 65 (Social Enterprise UK, 2015).

This project aims to investigate the career pathways of third-age social entrepreneurs and the challenges, learning needs, learning practices, and desired support associated with different career pathways. Despite the growth in third-age social entrepreneurship, there is not a clear picture of how individuals’ careers shape the decision to become a social entrepreneur and the journey after the decision. Indeed beyond demographic data and research into why individuals become either third-age or social entrepreneurs (e.g. Kautonen, 2013; Yitshaki & Kropp, 2015), little is known about the heterogeneity of third-age social entrepreneurs (e.g. as a form of early
retirement or a desire to remain active after retirement, necessity due to long-term unemployment related to age discrimination in traditional organisations, etc.). Additionally, engagement in third-age social entrepreneurship is not an either/or decision, but can be a part time pursuit before or after early retirement or part of a portfolio career in later life. Yet different career pathways toward third-age social entrepreneurship can bring different types of human and social capital, while also introducing different challenges, learning needs, learning practices, and desired support. Given that social entrepreneurship is a complex and uncertain process (Battilana & Lee, 2014), whereby social ventures are less likely to become operational compared to commercial ventures (Renko, 2013), understanding individuals’ pathways toward third-age social entrepreneurship is essential to provide them with tailored and effective support. It can also contribute to the inclusive entrepreneurship agenda to break down barriers for under-represented groups, such as older individuals, to engage in entrepreneurship.

Both inductive and deductive research designs can be used to address the aims of this research project.