This study advances understanding of interpersonal feedback seeking as a relational micro-foundational process whereby social entrepreneurs proactively involve others in venturing and engage in sensemaking when this fails. Our inductive analysis of 82 interviews with 36 social entrepreneurs reveals the agency in and the plurality and precariousness of feedback seeking by identifying three distinct feedback-seeking trajectories. Feedback seeking is an identity-driven process whereby how and why social entrepreneurs seek feedback depends on their psychological closeness to the targeted social issue. Our study elucidates the relationship between identity and feedback processes and uncovers psychological distance from the social issue as a new construct in social venturing.

这项研究提高了对人际反馈的理解，这种人际反馈是一种关系的微观基础过程，社会企业家可以借此主动地使他人参与冒险活动，并在失败的情况下进行有意义的决策。我们对36位社会企业家进行的82次访谈的归纳分析通过确定三种不同的寻求反馈的轨迹，揭示了代理的作用以及寻求反馈的多样性和不确定性。反馈寻求是一种身份驱动的过程，社会企业家如何以及为什么寻求反馈取决于他们对目标社会问题的心理亲和力。我们的研究阐明了身份与反馈过程之间的关系，并揭示了与社会问题的心理距离，将其作为社会冒险中的一种新结构。