In this study, we examine the socio-cultural antecedents that either facilitate or inhibit the commercialization movement of nonprofit organizations. While social entrepreneurship has become a widely accepted and successful model for organizations that purpose social welfare goals, many continue to resist such ideas and practices. We build on the Durkheimian concept of sacred/profane dichotomy about collective consciousness to propose meso- and macro-mechanisms that differs from the means-end rationality which prevails in the justification for adopting commercial practices at nonprofits. In particular, we take a multi-level approach to identify factors that yield varying degrees to which nonprofits emphasize the purity of purpose. We test our theoretical predictions in the context of the emerging civil sector in China, and find supportive results. Our study contributes to filling the undertheorized lacuna for the cultural-structural antecedents for the important global trend of social entrepreneurship.