Do no harm? Prosocial entrepreneurs and breaking the rules.

Entrepreneurs are frequently defined as autonomous, risk-taking innovators that do not conform to norms and that often break rules. Academic research predominantly supports this idea, but are “prosocial” entrepreneurs different? Entrepreneurs that pursue societal good should do good and be good. Deontologically, being good requires following rules. How does a prosocial entrepreneur innovate, actually “be entrepreneurial,” without breaking rules?Entrepreneurial ethics is widely researched, but the phenomenon of rule-breaking has only recently been examined in more detail. Rule-breaking action by prosocial entrepreneurs, however, is distinctly lacking in the literature. This mixed-methods study examines rule-breaking attitudes and actions of entrepreneurs in the health and wellness industry where both financial, and societal outcomes such as patient and community well-being, are expected. First, a quantitative study of 1,109 survey participants, based upon the model and measurement tool of Constructive Rule Beliefs (CRB) developed by Zhang et al (2023a, 2023b), looks at the differences in cognitive drivers and decision-making within rule-breaking contexts between prosocial entrepreneurs and their standard and non-entrepreneur counterparts. This study provides confirmation, as well as additional insights and new questions, to the explanatory power of the CRB construct. In response to those questions, Study One is enriched by a qualitative study using in-depth, partially-guided interviews of prosocial entrepreneurs. Borrowing from the Hippocratic Oath’s sentiment of non nocere, or “do no harm,” emancipatory entrepreneurship (Rindoval et al, 2009), and employing partially-grounded theory, this research adds to the existing literature on entrepreneurial ethics and rule-breaking by proposing a novel model of emancipatory rule-breaking intent, describing rule-breaking as an emergent response to disharmony with the hegemonic system where the prosocial entrepreneur either negotiates the systemic strictures, shows dissent toward the limitations of the hegemonic structure, or attempts to transform the system with their rule-breaking actions.