Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 3 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 3 (2022)

Understanding the image as a social representation (Moscovici, 1981) allows us to develop an adequate methodology for studying the formation and dynamics of its properties, which are the result of long-term influence and significant transformations. This set of characteristics is, on the one hand, very stable, but on the other hand, it is constantly reinforced and changed in the process of social interactions, adapting to the requirements of a particular situation.

The image of the social entrepreneur is a multidimensional phenomenon. We can describe it through the prism of at least two dimensions: social contribution (the ability to solve social problems) and entrepreneurial potential — financial stability of his/her enterprise, his/her professionalism as a leader, his/her competitiveness, his/her contribution to the economic development. Another possible dimension is the dependence on external resources — the need for support from the government and other sources. The next important aspect is innovation, as this is one of the most significant qualities in the vocabulary of social entrepreneurship. Does this property fit the image of the social entrepreneur in the realities of life? It is important to note that the image of a social entrepreneur should not be complicated and overloaded with different properties or parameters. It should be easy to understand, based on the prevailing views of the population.

This study aims to identify key properties of the social entrepreneur’s image in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, and to determine the differences between them in each of these countries.

To conduct a comparative analysis of images, we use the psychosemantic approach. Psychosemantic methods are effective in studying people’s perceptions of an object. In particular, for recreating the framework of categories that define the public perception of social entrepreneurs. Multidimensional assessment methods developed within the framework of psychosemantics enable us to differentiate between the perception of a social entrepreneur in his/her home country and in other countries. The respondents are asked to rate the social entrepreneur’s image by key factors reflecting a range of the most important properties, such as social effect, financial stability, motivational properties, dependence on external resources, and others.

This approach has long been used in political psychology research (in particular, to describe images of political leaders, countries, gender researchers and many others). It is also actively used in ethnic psychology, social communication psychology, and arts psychology (Petrenko, Mitina & Berdnikov, 2002; Petrenko & Mitina, 2000; Petrenko, 2005).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Experimental psychosemantics is a relatively new field of Russian psychology. This approach uses the methodology of constructing subjective semantic spaces as operational models of categorial structures of individual and social perception and is intended to recreate the image of the world in different areas of human life. The task of psychosemantics involves reconstructing the individual system of meanings through which the subject perceives the world, other people, himself, genesis, as well as the systemic functioning of all these objects.

The experimental paradigm of psychosemantics derives from C. Osgood’s method of constructing semantic spaces (Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H., 1957) (semantic differential) and G. Kelly’s theory of personal constructs (repertory grid technique) (Kelly, G., 1955). It includes multidimensional statistical methods for revealing the categorial structure of the subject’s perception. Russian psychosemantics is based on the methodology employed by the schools of L. Vygotsky, A. Leontiev, A. Luria, S. Rubinstein, and is related to the problem of the formation of everyday social perception. While being a psychological discipline, psychosemantics nevertheless has a clear interdisciplinary character, connected with philosophy and sociology.