HOW DO BAM ENTREPRENEURS DECIDE TO START BUSINESSES iii

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Businesses as Mission (BAM) entrepreneurs seem to have characteristics of both for-profit and social entrepreneurs. For-profit entrepreneurship literature has transitioned from focusing on who the entrepreneur is, to what they do as a function of their cognitive processes. Social entrepreneurship research areas have trended toward the formation of personality and motives of the socially-minded entrepreneur. Regardless of type, each entrepreneur must recognize opportunity, evaluate it, and then decide to take action or not. There were few peer-reviewed articles in the literature with regard to the study of BAM organizations or the entrepreneurs that start them. Since the BAM entrepreneur is a new entrepreneurial construct with attributes of both for-profit and social entrepreneurs plus an objective for spiritual growth among stakeholders, one might conclude that study of the BAM entrepreneur decision process could yield valuable insight. This research aimed to identify theory on how BAM entrepreneurs decide to go into business. To accomplish this, grounded theory research protocols were used. Theory building proceeded from expert interviews and the literature through constant comparative analysis. The results are documented in this manuscript in the form of a BAM Entrepreneur Infrastructure Model and entrepreneurial decision making that positions practitioners, educators, and supporters to identify, train, and maximize the capabilities of BAM entrepreneurs