高齡產業社會企業創業家轉化學習歷程之研究

A Study on the Elderly Industry Social Entrepreneurs' Transformative Learning Process

社會企業的經營並不容易，特別是這類企業的創業者往往承受巨大的壓力，而這類壓力也不同於一般創業者。因此，本研究著眼於高齡產業社會企業家的創業歷程，試圖了解高齡產業社會企業創業家在創造或在改造社會企業時，如何歷經轉化學習歷程而培養專業能力。因此，本研究的研究問題如下：1.高齡產業社會企業家之創業歷程的困境與因應策略為何？2.高齡產業社會企業家創業歷程轉化學習的內涵為何？本研究以半結構式訪談法蒐集資料，採取立意取樣的方式，選取五位高齡產業社會企業創業家，研究發現，高齡產業社會企業家在創業期間所面臨的最大困難就是一切從零開始，他們一方面承擔企業成敗，一方面實踐社會使命，因此，必積極尋找資源來因應財務、人力、專業等困難；必須多方尋找管道以解決財務困境，持續溝通以糾合人力資源在共同的理想上奮鬥，並且不斷學習以培養專業。轉化學習包括三個歷程，遭遇歷程、反思與轉變歷程、行動歷程，三個歷程所發生的時間順序並不必然是一個歷程結束之後下個歷程才會到來，甚至兩個歷程間可能是重疊、停頓，或者是反覆的。社會企業創業家也可能未經困境，而產生轉化學習。因為某些事件引起深刻的共鳴，使社會企業創業家產生自我反思的歷程，從而促使態度、觀念或行為的轉變，這類情形似乎也有助於強化其原先的社會企業信念的初衷。

It is not easy to run a social enterprise, because a social entrepreneur is always facing enormous pressure. The experience of transformative learning derived from social entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial process should be very different from general entrepreneurs' experience. So, the focus of this study is on social entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial process in the elderly industry. The researchers try to understand how the social entrepreneurs experience transformative learning process to develop their expertise. Two research questions are as follows: A) What difficulties may the social entrepreneurs face, and how do they cope with these problems during their entrepreneurial process? B) What are the trajectories of their transformative learning? The semi-structured interview method was employed, while the purposed sampling method was adopted. The researchers recruited 5 social entrepreneurs in the elderly industry to understand their transformative learning process. The biggest difficulty for the social entrepreneurs to run their business is that everything starts from zero. In order to maintain the operation, they have to search for resources to cope with difficulties derived from finance, human resource and professional development. Not only do they need to take responsibility for business performance, but they also want to implement particular social responsibility. So, they keep searching for multichannel to sort out financial difficulties, persuading colleagues to strive for shared visions and engaging in professional learning to develop expertise. Three courses have been revealed within the process of transformative learning: The course of encountering, the course of reflecting and transforming, and the course of implementing. The three courses are not necessarily chronological series. The next course will not necessarily come after the end of the previous one. Some courses may be even overlapped, paused, or repeated. Social entrepreneurs may sometimes be moved by particular stimuli without facing any dilemma to trigger their transformative learning. This kind of learning usually can bring about important changes in attitude, notion and behavior and may strengthen the social entrepreneurs' original faith in mind.