IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aes/amfeco/v38y2015i17p25.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Pilot Profile of the Social Entrepreneur in the Constantly Changing Romanian Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriela Tigu

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

  • Maria-Cristina Iorgulescu

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

  • Anamaria Sidonia Ravar

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

  • Ramona Lile

    (Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad)

Abstract

Social economy and social entrepreneurship are concepts subject of much debate in the academic environment, as their importance is growing in the present times, when the public sector and business environment alike have demonstrated their incapacity to solve specific social problems, such as conserving local traditions and biodiversity or insertion into the labour market of people from vulnerable groups. This article focuses on social entrepreneurs, by aiming to identify their main motivations in the founding and development of a social enterprise, as well as the main challenges faced in their social entrepreneurial activity in a constantly changing business environment. The paper presents a qualitative research conducted on Romanian social entrepreneurs. The results, interpreted through content analysis, indicate that social entrepreneurs, unlike business entrepreneurs, are not profit-driven, but mission driven, their main objective being to make a difference in the society and have a positive impact in the local communities. Furthermore, the research revealed specific challenges faced by Romanian social entrepreneurs, as well as specific differences between social and business entrepreneurs, who aim strictly achieving economic performance. Considering the limitations and future research directions, the implications of the findings are discussed, the paper outlining a profile of the social entrepreneur that can be useful to the public sector for the development of policies aimed at enhancing this type of entrepreneurship, in a constantly changing social environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriela Tigu & Maria-Cristina Iorgulescu & Anamaria Sidonia Ravar & Ramona Lile, 2015. "A Pilot Profile of the Social Entrepreneur in the Constantly Changing Romanian Economy," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 17(38), pages 1-25, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aes:amfeco:v:38:y:2015:i:17:p:25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/Article_2369.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Seelos, Christian & Mair, Johanna, 2005. "Social entrepreneurship: Creating new business models to serve the poor," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 241-246.
    2. M. Teresa Fernández Fernández & Ana Fernández-Ardavín Martínez & David Berenguer Herrero, 2012. "Promotion of Social Entrepreneurship Through Public Services in the Madrid Region: Succesful Aspects," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(Special N), pages 774-785, November.
    3. Zahra, Shaker A. & Gedajlovic, Eric & Neubaum, Donald O. & Shulman, Joel M., 2009. "A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 519-532, September.
    4. Marieta Olaru & Vasile Dinu & Ghiorghiţa Stoleriu & Diana Şandru & Violeta Dincă, 2010. "Responsible Commercial Activity Of Smes And Specific Values Of Sustainable Development In Terms Of The European Excellence Model," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 12(27), pages 10-26, February.
    5. Johanna Mair & Ernesto Noboa, 2006. "Social Entrepreneurship: How Intentions to Create a Social Venture are Formed," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Johanna Mair & Jeffrey Robinson & Kai Hockerts (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship, chapter 8, pages 121-135, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Vasile Dinu, 2010. "Commercial Activity And The Sustainable Development," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 12(27), pages 5-7, February.
    7. A. Jolibert & P. Jourdan, 2005. "Marketing Research," Post-Print halshs-00095262, HAL.
    8. Francesco Perrini & Clodia Vurro, 2006. "Social Entrepreneurship: Innovation and Social Change Across Theory and Practice," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Johanna Mair & Jeffrey Robinson & Kai Hockerts (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship, chapter 5, pages 57-85, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. Certo, S. Trevis & Miller, Toyah, 2008. "Social entrepreneurship: Key issues and concepts," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 267-271.
    10. Chantal Hartog & Brigitte Hoogendoorn & Sophie Bacq & Jan Lepoutre, 2011. "Social and commercial entrepreneurship: Exploring individual and organizational characteristics," Scales Research Reports H201110, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    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. Catalina Mitra Crisan & Dan-Cristian Dabija & Vasile Dinu, 2015. "Social Entrepreneurship in Romania: Significance and Models," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 11(2), pages 65-77.
    2. Calin S. Vac & Avram Fitiu, 2017. "Building Sustainable Development through Technology Transfer in a Romanian University," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Argatu Ruxandra, 2018. "The role of Romanian social enterprises in the alleviation of poverty and social exclusion," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 13(4), pages 1257-1275, December.
    4. Pompiliu-Nicolae Constantin & Rares Stanescu & Monica Stanescu, 2020. "Social Entrepreneurship and Sport in Romania: How Can Former Athletes Contribute to Sustainable Social Change?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Sorin BLAGA, 2021. "Social Entrepreneurs’ Identity. A Case Study Of Romania," Scientific Bulletin - Economic Sciences, University of Pitesti, vol. 20(2), pages 13-24.
    6. Rüdiger Hein, 2022. "Beyond a Balanced View of Social Entrepreneurship within a Social–Commercial Dichotomy: Towards a Four-Dimensional Typology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.

    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. repec:sgm:resrep:y:2013:v:2013:i:1:p:43-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Choi, Nia & Majumdar, Satyajit, 2014. "Social entrepreneurship as an essentially contested concept: Opening a new avenue for systematic future research," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 363-376.
    3. Kaushik, Vineet & Tewari, Shobha & Sahasranamam, Sreevas & Hota, Pradeep Kumar, 2023. "Towards a precise understanding of social entrepreneurship: An integrated bibliometric–machine learning based review and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    4. Amir Forouharfar & Seyed Aligholi Rowshan & Habibollah Salarzehi, 2018. "An epistemological critique of social entrepreneurship definitions," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 8(1), pages 1-40, December.
    5. Fatih Ozturk, 2013. "Understanding Social Entrepreneurship and Features of It," Research Reports, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(16), pages 43-55.
    6. Ignas Bruder, 2021. "A Social Mission is Not Enough: Reflecting the Normative Foundations of Social Entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 487-505, December.
    7. Susana Bernardino & J. Freitas Santos, 2015. "Financing social ventures by crowdfunding: the influence of entrepreneurs’ personality traits," NIPE Working Papers 12/2015, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    8. 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.
    9. Rocío Aliaga-Isla & Benjamin Huybrechts, 2018. "From “Push Out” to “Pull In” Together : An Analysis of Social Entrepreneurship Definitions in the Academic Field," Post-Print hal-02312230, HAL.
    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. Chatterjee, Ira & Cornelissen, Joep & Wincent, Joakim, 2021. "Social entrepreneurship and values work: The role of practices in shaping values and negotiating change," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    12. Gupta, Parul & Chauhan, Sumedha & Paul, Justin & Jaiswal, M.P., 2020. "Social entrepreneurship research: A review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 209-229.
    13. Johanna Mair & Julie Battilana & Julian Cardenas, 2012. "Organizing for Society: A Typology of Social Entrepreneuring Models," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 353-373, December.
    14. Karina Cagarman & Jan Kratzer & Katharina Osbelt, 2020. "Social Entrepreneurship: Dissection of a Phenomenon through a German Lens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    15. Filipa Lancastre & Carmen Lages & Filipe Santos, 2024. "Social Entrepreneurship as a Family Resemblance Concept with Distinct Ethical Views," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(3), pages 611-632, May.
    16. 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.
    17. Yeamduan Narangajavana & Tomas Gonzalez-Cruz & Fernando J. Garrigos-Simon & Sonia Cruz-Ros, 2016. "Measuring social entrepreneurship and social value with leakage. Definition, analysis and policies for the hospitality industry," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 911-934, September.
    18. Rohit Bhardwaj & Saurabh Srivastava & Sunali Bindra & Sumit Sangwan, 2023. "An ecosystem view of social entrepreneurship through the perspective of systems thinking," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 250-265, January.
    19. Toyah L. Miller & Curtis L. Wesley II, 2010. "Assessing Mission and Resources for Social Change: An Organizational Identity Perspective on Social Venture Capitalists‘ Decision Criteria," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(4), pages 705-733, July.
    20. Othmar M. Lehner & Juha Kansikas, 2012. "Opportunity Recognition in Social Entrepreneurship," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 21(1), pages 25-58, March.
    21. Pompiliu-Nicolae Constantin & Rares Stanescu & Monica Stanescu, 2020. "Social Entrepreneurship and Sport in Romania: How Can Former Athletes Contribute to Sustainable Social Change?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social economy; dynamic business environment; changing social environment; social entrepreneur; business entrepreneur; motivation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:aes:amfeco:v:38:y:2015:i:17:p:25. 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: Valentin Dumitru (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aseeero.html .

    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.