Research Interests
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Social Venture Creation
- Entrepreneurial Opportunities
- Creativity and Innovation
Teaching Interests
- Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- New Venture Creation
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Marketing
Published Research
- Gras, D., & Mendoza-Abarca, K.I. Risky Business? The Survival Implications of Exploiting Commercial Opportunities by Nonprofits. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(3), 392-404.
- Mendoza-Abarca, K. I., & Anokhin, S. (2012). Symbiosis or Competition? The Inter-Population Dynamics between Social and Commercial Ventures. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research.
- Mendoza-Abarca, K.I., & Mellema, H.N. (2015). Aligning Economic and Social Value Creation through Pay-What-You-Want Pricing. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship.
- Mendoza-Abarca, K.I., Anokhin, S., & Zamudio, C. (2015). Uncovering the Influence of Social Venture Creation on Commercial Venture Creation: A Population Ecology Perspective. Journal of Business Venturing.
- Elmes, M.B., Mendoza-Abarca, K.I., & Hersh, R. (2015). Food Banking, Ethical Sensemaking, and Social Innovation in an Era of Growing Hunger in the United States. Journal of Management Inquiry.
Conference Presentations
- “The Performance of Social Ventures Pursuing Multiple Opportunities: Uncovering the Moderating Effect of Organizational Task Environments,” with David Gras, presented at the 2015 Babson Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Natick, MA.
- “From ‘Pounds Delivered‘ to ’Shortening the Line‘: Food Bank Leaders in the US as Ethical Sensemakers and Social Innovators,” with Mike B. Elmes and Robert Hersh, presented at the 2015 Sustainability, Ethics, and Entrepreneurship Conference, Denver, CO.
- “Holding paradox as a mechanism of social innovation in networked organizations: Changing the food security system in Central Massachusetts,” with Mike B. Elmes, presented at the 2014 Annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference, Boston, MA.
- “Social venture beneficiaries: A typology and research implications,” with Adrienne Hall-Phillips, Hillary N. Mellema, and Joohyung Park, presented at the 2014 Global Research Symposium in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Santa Cruz, CA.
- “Assessing Social Value Creation from the Consumer Perspective,” with Adrienne Hall-Phillips and Hillary N. Mellema, presented at the 2014 AMA Summer Educators Conference, San Francisco, CA.
- “Social venture simplicity versus complexity: the implications of exploiting multiple opportunities by newly founded charity organizations,” with David Gras, presented at the 2014 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Ontario, Canada.
- “Business models for social ventures: Creating value through pricing,” with Hillary N. Mellema, and Rebecca Dingus, presented at the 2014 USASBE Conference, Fort Worth, TX.
- “The influence of familiness on the decision to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities,” presented at the 2014 USASBE Conference, Fort Worth, TX.
- “Born-diversified social ventures: An analysis of newly founded Canadian charities,” with David Gras, presented at the 2013 NYU-Stern Social Entrepreneurship Conference, New York City, NY.
- “Picking up the Slack: Social Venture Creation under Market Failure Conditions,” with Sergey Anokhin, presented at the 2013 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Lyon, France.
- “Symbiosis or Competition? The Inter-Population Dynamics between Social and Commercial Ventures,” with Sergey Anokhin, presented at the 2012 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Fort Worth, TX.
- “The Influence of Environmental Factors on Social Venture Creation,” with Sergey Anokhin, presented at the 2012 USASBE Conference, New Orleans, LA. [full text PDF]
- “Hostile Environments or Fertile Ground? Environmental Factors and Social Venture Creation,” with Sergey Anokhin, presented at the 2011 NYU-Stern Social Entrepreneurship Conference, New York City, NY.
- “Entrepreneurial Opportunities and the Filtering Role of Human Agency: Resolving the Objective-Subjective-Realized Conundrum,” with Sergey Anokhin, presented at the 2011 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Syracuse, NY.