Technological propensity, financial constraints, and entrepreneurial limits in young entrepreneurs’ social business enterprises: The tunisian experience

•Social business is an opportunity for young entrepreneurship, especially in emerging economies.•Technological propensity has positive influence on young entrepreneurs towards social business.•Financial constraints and entrepreneurial limits have instead negative influence. As a practical challenge mainly in developing economies such as Tunisia, entrepreneurship for young people has raised concerns among several entities, primarily policymakers, especially regarding newer forms of entrepreneurship such as social business enterprises. In this exploratory study, factors that can stimulate (technological propensity) or impede (financial constraints and entrepreneurial limits) the new social business ventures of young entrepreneurs were investigated through five operational variables tested using a questionnaire administered to 120 young graduate entrepreneurs in Tunisia. Analysis of the results revealed that business creators’ (e.g., young entrepreneurs’) potential decision to launch social business ventures is positively influenced by technological propensity but also constrained mainly by four eminent factors (lack of investment capital, scarce access to finance, lack of entrepreneurial skills, and aversion to risk). This research offers several implications at the scientific and managerial levels, inferring that although conceived to overcome possible public inefficiency in both emerging and established economies, social business entrepreneurship most likely still requires public support for operational sustainability.