IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbvent/v24y2009i5p519-532.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Zahra, Shaker A.
  • Gedajlovic, Eric
  • Neubaum, Donald O.
  • Shulman, Joel M.

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship has been the subject of considerable interest in the literature. This stems from its importance in addressing social problems and enriching communities and societies. In this article, we define social entrepreneurship; discuss its contributions to creating social wealth; offer a typology of entrepreneurs' search processes that lead to the discovery of opportunities for creating social ventures; and articulate the major ethical concerns social entrepreneurs might encounter. We conclude by outlining implications for entrepreneurs and advancing an agenda for future research, especially the ethics of social entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:24:y:2009:i:5:p:519-532
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883-9026(08)00052-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexandra Bernasek & James Ronald Stanfield, 1997. "The Grameen Bank as Progressive Institutional Adjustment," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 359-366, June.
    2. Mark M. Pitt & Shahidur R. Khandker, 1998. "The Impact of Group-Based Credit Programs on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 958-996, October.
    3. Silvia Dorado, 2006. "Social Entrepreneurial Ventures: Different Values So Different Process Of Creation, No?," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(04), pages 319-343.
    4. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. David Hulme, 1990. "Can the Grameen Bank be Replicated? Recent experiments in Malaysia, Malawi and Sri Lanka," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 8(3), pages 287-300, September.
    6. Kathleen R. Conner & C. K. Prahalad, 1996. "A Resource-Based Theory of the Firm: Knowledge Versus Opportunism," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(5), pages 477-501, October.
    7. Roger Spear, 2006. "Social entrepreneurship: a different model?," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 33(5/6), pages 339-410, May.
    8. Mair, Johanna & Marti, Ignasi, 2004. "Social entrepreneurship: What are we talking about? A framework for future research," IESE Research Papers D/546, IESE Business School.
    9. Edward L. Glaeser, 2002. "The Governance of Not-For-Profit Firms," NBER Working Papers 8921, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Mair, Johanna & Noboa, Ernesto, 2003. "Social entrepreneurship: How intentions to create a social enterprise get formed," IESE Research Papers D/521, IESE Business School.
    11. John Thompson & Bob Doherty, 2006. "The diverse world of social enterprise: A collection of social enterprise stories," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 33(5/6), pages 361-375, May.
    12. Edward L. Glaeser, 2002. "The Governance of Not-for-Profit Firms," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1954, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    13. Hildy Teegen & Jonathan P Doh & Sushil Vachani, 2004. "The importance of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in global governance and value creation: an international business research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(6), pages 463-483, November.
    14. James Austin & Howard Stevenson & Jane Wei–Skillern, 2006. "Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship: Same, Different, or Both?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(1), pages 1-22, January.
    15. Abu, N. M. Wahid, 1994. "The Grameen Bank and Poverty alleviation in Bangladesh," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 1-15, January.
    16. 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.
    17. Mark Schreiner, 2003. "A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 21, pages 357-382, May.
    18. 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)

    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. João J. Ferreira & Cristina I. Fernandes & Marta Peres-Ortiz & Helena Alves, 2017. "Conceptualizing social entrepreneurship: perspectives from the literature," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 14(1), pages 73-93, March.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Sophie Bacq & Chantal Hartog & Brigitte Hoogendoorn, 2016. "Beyond the Moral Portrayal of Social Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Approach to Who They Are and What Drives Them," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 703-718, February.
    6. 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.
    7. Hoogendoorn, B. & Pennings, H.P.G. & Thurik, A.R., 2010. "What do We Know about Social Entrepreneurship: An Analysis of Empirical Research," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2009-044-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    8. Adélie Ranville & Marcos Barros, 2022. "Towards Normative Theories of Social Entrepreneurship. A Review of the Top Publications of the Field," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 407-438, October.
    9. Elisabet Ferri & David Urbano, 2010. "Environmental Factors and Social Entrepreneurship," Working Papers 1003, Departament Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, revised Sep 2010.
    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.
    11. Pradeep Kumar Hota & Balaji Subramanian & Gopalakrishnan Narayanamurthy, 2020. "Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Social Entrepreneurship Research: A Citation/Co-citation Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 89-114, September.
    12. Jan Lepoutre & Rachida Justo & Siri Terjesen & Niels Bosma, 2013. "Designing a global standardized methodology for measuring social entrepreneurship activity: the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor social entrepreneurship study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 693-714, April.
    13. De Beule, Filip & Klein, Martin & Verwaal, Ernst, 2020. "Institutional quality and inclusive strategies at the base of the pyramid," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(5).
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. Steffen Korsgaard, 2011. "Opportunity formation in social entrepreneurship," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 5(2), pages 265-285, September.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Virginia Simón-Moya & Lorenzo Revuelto-Taboada & Domingo Ribeiro-Soriano, 2012. "Are success and survival factors the same for social and business ventures?," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 6(2), pages 219-242, June.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social entrepreneurship Social wealth Entrepreneurial search process Typologies Ethics;

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Antreprenor in Wikipedia Romanian
    2. Chủ doanh nghiệp in Wikipedia Vietnamese

    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:eee:jbvent:v:24:y:2009:i:5:p:519-532. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusvent .

    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.