Applying resource-based theory to social value creation: A conceptual model of contributive advantage

Evaluating social impact and social performance offers an ongoing challenge for entrepreneurs due to the substantial complexity involved in analyzing and responding to nonpecuniary firm-, market-, and industry-level factors in the venture creation process. These difficulties are amplified by a lack of clear, reliable, and accessible social performance referents, and are particularly salient for new ventures attempting to solve issues stemming from market, government, or contract failures. Drawing from the foundational tenets of resource-based theory, we explore how ventures currently assess social impact and integrate research on competitive advantage to develop a conceptual model of social value creation strategy. We introduce two concepts to the literature—contributive advantage, defined as the ability of a firm to create more social value than the average performance of the referent competitor, and social rent, which we define as potential returns to a social factor in excess of opportunity costs—and explore the implications for research and practice.