Economic progress is growing rapidly in Indonesia, but on the other hand the poverty rate also increases. This poverty problem must be addressed immediately. The adverse effects of poverty should be prevented. One way to reduce poverty is to increase the number of social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneur is someone who focuses on identifying and solving social problems (Drayton in Irengün & Arkboga, 2013). The goal of social entrepreneurship is to create social value for the people (Widiastuti & Margaretha (2011). Jan (2013); Moses & Olokundum (2014) states that social entrepreneurship is able to reduce poverty. One of the potential resources to become a social entrepreneur is a student. The role of students is needed to reduce social problems. In addition to sharpening his academic ability, many students have been involved with social action activities such as Live In, Community Service, creating social movements such as foster parents and providing free learning to certain groups of people. These activities show the empathy of students in disadvantaged communities. Because of that the possibility of students have the intention of becoming a big social entrepreneur.

This study aims to determine the relationship of empathy with the intention of social entrepreneurship in students in Jakarta. This research is quantitative research. Participants in this study were active students in Jakarta. There are two measuring instruments used in this research, namely (1) Basic Empathy Scale instrument from Jolliffe & Farrington (2006) and instruments of social entrepreneurship intentions from Kow Hwee Nga and Shamuganathan (2010). Basic Empathy Scale consists of 20 items, measuring two aspects ie cognitive aspects (9 items) and affective aspects (11 items). Meanwhile, the social entrepreneurship intention consists of 33 items, which are 8 items of social vision, 6 items of sustainability, 5 items of social network, 8 items of innovation, and 6 items of financial return. The validity test with the internal consistency technique on the basic emphaty scale indicator shows that there are 8 invalid items and 12 valid items with the validity value ranging from 0.390 to 0.567. The reliability value is 0.801. While for social entrepreneurship intention measurement tool, validity test with internal consistency technique shows that all valid items with validity  value ranges from 0.394 to 0.834. The reliability value is 0.962.

Based on data from 121 respondents, the results of data analysis of this study indicate that there is a positive correlation between empathy with social entrepreneurship intention (r=0,84; p=0,044). That is, the higher the empathy of students, the higher the intension of student entrepreneurship social. From the results of additional analysis found that the empathy of male and female students differ significantly (t=2,871; p=0.005). Women have higher empathy scores. Additional research also showed that different test on frequency following social activities showed significant results (t=2,154; p=0.033). Students who more often follow social activities have higher empathy scores.

Based on the above findings, the researcher suggests a structured program for students to engage with social activities. This activity should be integrated with lecturing activities so that all students follow this program. This method is expected to cultivate empathy for students on social issues and able to grow student intention to become social entrepreneur.