Abstract: Existing literature often frames corporate social value and economic value as an irreconcilable antinomy, neglecting their potential synergies and resulting in fragmented research on the drivers of business model innovation (BMI) in new ventures. To solve this issue, based on the Optimal Distinctiveness Theory, this study collects two-stage survey data from 305 new ventures in China and uses the PLS-SEM method (SmartPLS4.0) to explore the relationship between social entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) and new ventures’ BMI, as well as the mediating roles of bricolage and organizational legitimacy and the moderating role of digital technology adoption. The findings show that SEO has a significant positive effect on new ventures’ BMI; bricolage fully mediates the impact of SEO on both novelty-centered and efficiency-centered BMI, while organizational legitimacy only partially mediates the link between SEO and efficiency-centered BMI. Moreover, digital technology adoption positively moderates the mediating effect of bricolage on BMI, but negatively moderates the mediating effect of organizational legitimacy on efficiency-centered BMI. This study enriches the theoretical systems of SEO and BMI research, clarifies the “black box” of SEO’s influence on new ventures’ BMI, and provides actionable implications for new ventures to balance social responsibility and economic benefits, and accelerate BMI through the rational application of digital technology.

Key words: social entrepreneurship orientation, business model innovation, new ventures, optimal discrimination theory