Exploring Typologies Of Social Entrepreneurship And Further Pathways Toward Sustainability

The social economy has an important role within the worldwide societies as it promotes sustainable growth and it places upfront people and communities instead of profits. It has a significant contribution in the generation not just of meaningful employment, but also it supports social cohesion, and provides solutions to unmet needs of the society. Within social economy, social enterprises have developed as key actors, addressing various social and environmental challenges, integrated in entrepreneurial strategies driven by social missions. The present paper focuses on understanding typologies of social entrepreneurship and aims to address the research question of how models of sustainable social entrepreneurship within the social economy can be identified, conceptualized and classified. The analysis exposes the need to understand the differences that exists between typologies of social entrepreneurship in order to better integrate them in various local context, and further develop public policies aiming to support sustainable development in various geographic contexts. Furthermore, the paper underlines the need to prioritize the economic, social and environmental dimensions of social economy to favor models of sustainable social entrepreneurship.