IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i7p2440-d341121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Active Aging: Social Entrepreneuring in Local Communities of Five European Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Socci

    (Centre for Socio-Economic Research on Aging, IRCCS INRCA—National Institute of Health and Science on Aging, Via Santa Margherita 5, 60124 Ancona, Italy)

  • David Clarke

    (University Centre Shrewsbury, University of Chester, Shrewsbury SY38HQ Shropshire, England)

  • Andrea Principi

    (Centre for Socio-Economic Research on Aging, IRCCS INRCA—National Institute of Health and Science on Aging, Via Santa Margherita 5, 60124 Ancona, Italy)

Abstract

Building on the active aging framework, the aim of this study, carried out between 2016 and 2018, is to analyze concrete experiences of older individuals acting as key players of social change in six local communities of five European countries (Bulgaria, Denmark, England, France, Spain). The 19 seniors involved in the study, according to social contexts, individual past experiences, knowledge, and motivations, acted as senior social entrepreneurs, trying to build a pathway towards social solutions for unmet social problems they detected in local communities. Data were collected via templates and questionnaires and analyzed using the thematic analysis. The results highlighted that the 16 local initiatives created by seniors concerned social problems such as food waste, social isolation, multicultural integration, etc. The social solutions implemented by seniors seemed to have the potential to produce social value and, to different degrees, encouraging results and impact. Since this “social experiment” provided evidence that senior social entrepreneuring could be a driver to solve societal problems, policy makers should sustain the spread of both social entrepreneurial mindset and practices at the European level, for catalyzing the active potential of older people for the benefit of European local communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Socci & David Clarke & Andrea Principi, 2020. "Active Aging: Social Entrepreneuring in Local Communities of Five European Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-19, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2440-:d:341121
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2440/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2440/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesca Petrella & Nadine Richez-Battesti, 2014. "Social entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise: semantics and controversies," Post-Print halshs-01451372, HAL.
    2. Francesca Petrella & Nadine Richez-Battesti, 2014. "Social entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise: semantics and controversies," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(2), pages 143-156.
    3. Alan Walker, 2002. "A strategy for active ageing," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 121-139.
    4. Johanna Mair & Ignasi Marti, 2006. "Social Entrepreneurship Research: A Source of Explanation, Prediction, and Delight," Post-Print hal-02311880, HAL.
    5. Andrea Principi & Robert Lindley & Jolanta Perek‐Bialas & Konrad Turek, 2012. "Volunteering in older age: an organizational perspective," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(6), pages 685-703, September.
    6. Peredo, Ana María & McLean, Murdith, 2006. "Social entrepreneurship: A critical review of the concept," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 56-65, February.
    7. Mair, Johanna & Martí, Ignasi, 2006. "Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 36-44, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Barbabella & Eralba Cela & Claudia Di Matteo & Marco Socci & Giovanni Lamura & Pietro Checcucci & Andrea Principi, 2020. "New Multilevel Partnerships and Policy Perspectives on Active Ageing in Italy: A National Plan of Action," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Davide Lucantoni & Andrea Principi & Marco Socci & Marina Zannella & Francesco Barbabella, 2022. "Active Ageing in Italy: An Evidence-Based Model to Provide Recommendations for Policy Making and Policy Implementation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-25, February.
    3. Marcel Pikhart & Blanka Klimova, 2020. "Maintaining and Supporting Seniors’ Wellbeing through Foreign Language Learning: Psycholinguistics of Second Language Acquisition in Older Age," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Cristina Gagliardi & Giovanni Lamura, 2021. "Special Issue on “Advances in Socio-Economic Research on Ageing”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-6, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Inmaculada Buendía-Martínez & Inmaculada Carrasco Monteagudo, 2020. "The Role of CSR on Social Entrepreneurship: An International Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Aydin Kayabasi & Ceren Karavelioglu & N. Derya Ergun Ozler, 2021. "The Effect of Institutional Environment, General SelfEfficacy and Desirability On Social Entrepreneurship Intentions in Turkey," Istanbul Business Research, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 50(2), pages 411-434, November.
    3. Régis Y. Chenavaz & Alexandra Couston & Stéphanie Heichelbech & Isabelle Pignatel & Stanko Dimitrov, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurial Ventures: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-30, May.
    4. Nadina Helen BAKOS, 2021. "How independent science can contribute to the field of social entrepreneurship in Scandinavia," Access Journal, Access Press Publishing House, vol. 2(2), pages 192-202, May.
    5. Shah Muhammad Kamran & Mahvish Kanwal Khaskhely & Abdelmohsen A. Nassani & Mohamed Haffar & Muhammad Moinuddin Qazi Abro, 2022. "Social Entrepreneurship Opportunities via Distant Socialization and Social Value Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-25, March.
    6. Canestrino, Rossella & Ćwiklicki, Marek & Magliocca, Pierpaolo & Pawełek, Barbara, 2020. "Understanding social entrepreneurship: A cultural perspective in business research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 132-143.
    7. Päivi Jokela & Maria Elo, 2015. "Developing Innovative Business Models in Social Ventures," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 11(1), pages 103-118.
    8. Barbara Bradač Hojnik & Katja Crnogaj, 2020. "Social Impact, Innovations, and Market Activity of Social Enterprises: Comparison of European Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, March.
    9. Robin Stevens & Nathalie Moray & Johan Bruneel, 2015. "The Social and Economic Mission of Social Enterprises: Dimensions, Measurement, Validation, and Relation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(5), pages 1051-1082, September.
    10. Geoffrey M. Kistruck & Paul W. Beamish, 2010. "The Interplay of Form, Structure, and Embeddedness in Social Intrapreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(4), pages 735-761, July.
    11. Shubhabrata Basu & Anita Sharma, 2014. "Exploring Stewardship as an Antecedent Behavioural Trait of Social Entrepreneurs," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 23(1), pages 19-33, March.
    12. Sebastian-Ion Ceptureanu & Eduard-Gabriel Ceptureanu & Mihai Cristian Orzan & Irinel Marin, 2017. "Toward a Romanian NPOs Sustainability Model: Determinants of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-26, June.
    13. Shr-Wei Kao & Pin Luarn, 2020. "Topic Modeling Analysis of Social Enterprises: Twitter Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-20, April.
    14. Iza Gigauri & Nino Damenia, 2020. "Cooperation between Social Entrepreneurs and Government to Develop Solutions to Social Problems," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(3), pages 116-136, September.
    15. Irene L. Bahena-Álvarez & Eulogio Cordón-Pozo & Alejandro Delgado-Cruz, 2019. "Social Entrepreneurship in the Conduct of Responsible Innovation: Analysis Cluster in Mexican SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-21, July.
    16. Gift Dafuleya, 2014. "Social Value Creation and Institution-Entrepreneurial Dynamics in a Three Sector Economy," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 6(10), pages 795-809.
    17. Artur A Steinerowski & Izabella Steinerowska-Streb, 2012. "Can social enterprise contribute to creating sustainable rural communities? Using the lens of structuration theory to analyse the emergence of rural social enterprise," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(2), pages 167-182, March.
    18. Aditya Simha & Michael R. Carey, 2012. "The Encyclical Letter (Caritas in Veritate)—A Shout-out to Social Entrepreneurship?," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 21(1), pages 1-23, March.
    19. Bhattarai, Charan Raj & Kwong, Caleb C.Y. & Tasavori, Misagh, 2019. "Market orientation, market disruptiveness capability and social enterprise performance: An empirical study from the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 47-60.
    20. Angulo-Ruiz, Fernando & Pergelova, Albena & Dana, Leo Paul, 2020. "The internationalization of social hybrid firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 266-278.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2440-:d:341121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.