<p> In recent years, the growing impact of social entrepreneurship in the world has caught the attention of governments and other organizations which are interested in fostering innovation. There is tremendous interest in developing programs to promote social entrepreneurship through the identification and training of social entrepreneurs. A core element of these activities is leadership development, which is common in the private business sector but less prevalent in the nonprofit sector due to limited internal resources. For this reason, philanthropic foundations play an important role in empowering social entrepreneurs through external leadership development programs. </p><p> In order for a foundation to achieve its target outcome, it is important to understand the design principles of a leadership development program. Elements of the program design should be aligned with the objectives. To date, there has been scant research about leadership development programs for social entrepreneurs. One of the least understood aspects is the selection process through which social entrepreneurs are identified and evaluated. While implicit leadership theories are widely applied in corporate leadership development, their application to the social entrepreneurship field and the influence which they have on the selection process have not been investigated. Addressing these questions is critical because the selection process reflects a key step in human capital investment by philanthropic foundations.</p><p> In this work, I evaluate the selection process of the Ashoka Fellows program, one of the top leadership development programs for social entrepreneurs in the world. The specific goals of the project are to determine key factors of the selection process, to identify the underlying assumptions behind these factors, and to establish a conceptual framework in order to understand the selection process. By achieving these aims, I seek to create a framework to analyze the mental model which defines the selection process of the Ashoka Fellows program, and to evaluate if this model is consistent with the mission of the program. </p><p> In conclusion, the knowledge gained through this investigation is expected to lead to a broader understanding of the leadership concepts which guide the selection process of the Ashoka Fellows program. The analysis will guide learning designers to improve leadership development programs by providing a conceptual framework to connect participant selection with intended outcomes, and offer a new perspective on talent identification and management in the social entrepreneurship field.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10158606 |
| Date | 16 November 2016 |
| Creators | Cho, Dong-Joon |
| Publisher | University of Pennsylvania |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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