Abstract: Based on social cognitive theory, the study aims to explore the effect of poverty experience in childhood on social entrepreneurial orientation of entrepreneurs and thus proposes a moderated mediation model to explain the mediating effect of moral attentiveness and the moderating effect of moral identification. Data is collected through questionnaire survey. The final sample includes 367 entrepreneurs from main cities in China. Hypotheses are tested by using multiple regression and bootstrap analysis. Results indicate that poverty experience associated with more social entrepreneurial orientation and moral attentiveness mediates the relationship between poverty experience and social entrepreneurial orientation. Meanwhile, a high level of moral identification strengthens the positive association of poverty experience with moral attentiveness and further moderates the indirect effect of poverty experience in childhood on social entrepreneurial orientation of entrepreneurs. From the perspective of moral cognition, this study clarifies the complex and diverse internal mechanism between poverty experience and social entrepreneurship orientation, and also provides a theoretical basis for decision-making departments to guide entrepreneurs to participate in social entrepreneurship.

Key words: poverty experience, moral attentiveness, moral identification, social entrepreneurial orientation