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How do individuals evaluate their capacity to contribute topositive social change when choosing careers? Drawing onconstrual level and prosocial motivation theories, we examinehow contact with social issues and potential beneficiariesshapes individuals’ self-evaluations, and how these selfevaluationsinfluence their social entrepreneurial and otherimpact career intentions. Through a longitudinal study of 189university students experiencing either firsthand or secondhandcontact with social issues, we find that, compared to secondhandcontact, firsthand contact more strongly enhances positiveand reduces negative self-evaluations through perceivedpositive impact. In turn, changes in positive self-evaluationsenhance social entrepreneurial and other impact career intentions.We contribute to social entrepreneurship and impactcareers literature by developing the concept of self-evaluationsfor positive social change. Our findings suggest that creatingmeaningful opportunities for contact with social issues andpotential beneficiaries during formative career stages can cultivateyoung professionals’ sense of possibility to become socialentrepreneurs.
Alt et al. (Fri,) studied this question.