IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mth/bmsmti/v15y2024i1p226-240.html

Rethinking the Boundaries and Definition of Social Entrepreneurship: A Critical Literature Review

Author

Listed:
  • Parisa Mohammadi
  • Khalid Suraid Salim AlHattali
  • Issa Nasser Salim Alghatrifi

Abstract

With a passion for leaving no one behind, social entrepreneurs are driven to find solutions for societal problems that have not yet been addressed by traditional methods. Although potential benefits offered by social entrepreneurship are undeniable, the exact boundaries and definition of this emerging concept remain somewhat nebulous. Without an explicit understanding of what social entrepreneurship entails, it becomes susceptible to different interpretations and undermines its significance in economic and social development. Consequently, this paper aims to rigorously define social entrepreneurship through an extensive review of the literature. To this end, the library method has been used to search electronic academic databases and Internet sources alike. The results of our research revealed that social entrepreneurship can be defined as an entrepreneurial process that employs business techniques to bring innovative yet sustainable solutions for persistent social problems – ultimately leading to improved quality of life and empowering disadvantaged communities. This paper makes a significant contribution to covering the knowledge gap by distinguishing social entrepreneurship from various similar entities and activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Parisa Mohammadi & Khalid Suraid Salim AlHattali & Issa Nasser Salim Alghatrifi, 2024. "Rethinking the Boundaries and Definition of Social Entrepreneurship: A Critical Literature Review," Business Management and Strategy, Macrothink Institute, vol. 15(1), pages 226-240, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:mth:bmsmti:v:15:y:2024:i:1:p:226-240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/bms/article/download/21823/16918
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/bms/article/view/21823
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Certo, S. Trevis & Miller, Toyah, 2008. "Social entrepreneurship: Key issues and concepts," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 267-271.
    3. José Cadima Ribeiro & José Freitas Santos & Susana Bernardino, 2015. "Social Entrepreneurship: Does Institutional Environment Make a Difference?," ERSA conference papers ersa15p175, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Joyce Koe Hwee Nga & Gomathi Shamuganathan, 2010. "The Influence of Personality Traits and Demographic Factors on Social Entrepreneurship Start Up Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 259-282, August.
    5. Filipe Santos, 2012. "A Positive Theory of Social Entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 335-351, December.
    6. J. Dees, 2012. "A Tale of Two Cultures: Charity, Problem Solving, and the Future of Social Entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 321-334, December.
    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Bonfanti, Angelo & De Crescenzo, Veronica & Simeoni, Francesca & Loza Adaui, Cristian R., 2024. "Convergences and divergences in sustainable entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship research: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    4. Elena-Simina Lakatos & Bercea Oana Bianca & Laura Bacali, 2016. "The concept of innovation in social economy. A review and a research agenda," Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research, Pro Global Science Association, vol. 11(1), pages 32-50, June.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Iuliu Marin IVANESCU & Camelia M. GHEORGHE & Gina Gilet SZTRUTEN, 2013. "Social Entrepreneurship In Eu Region," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 8(4.1), pages 416-426, december.
    8. 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.
    9. Lopez-Cozar, C. & Priede, T. & Rodríguez-Lopez, A., 2015. "Evaluating The Legal Environment For Social Entrepreneurship In America And Europe," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 24(1), pages 101-110.
    10. Sophie Bacq & Kimberly A. Eddleston, 2018. "A Resource-Based View of Social Entrepreneurship: How Stewardship Culture Benefits Scale of Social Impact," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 589-611, October.
    11. Siebold, Nicole, 2021. "Reference points for business model innovation in social purpose organizations: A stakeholder perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 710-719.
    12. Estrin, Saul & Mickiewicz, Tomasz & Stephan, Ute, 2016. "Human capital in social and commercial entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 449-467.
    13. Sahasranamam, Sreevas & Nandakumar, M.K., 2020. "Individual capital and social entrepreneurship: Role of formal institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 104-117.
    14. Bojan Leković & Ozren Uzelac & Tibor Fazekaš & Aleksandra Marcikić Horvat & Petar Vrgović, 2021. "Determinants of Social Entrepreneurs in Southeast Europe: GEM Data Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-15, October.
    15. Holger Patzelt & Dean A. Shepherd, 2024. "A fatigue model of social venturing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1065-1088, October.
    16. Longinos Marín & Catalina Nicolás & Alicia Rubio, 2019. "How Gender, Age and Education Influence the Entrepreneur’s Social Orientation: The Moderating Effect of Economic Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-16, August.
    17. 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.
    18. Ronit Yitshaki & Fredric Kropp & Benson Honig, 2022. "The Role of Compassion in Shaping Social Entrepreneurs’ Prosocial Opportunity Recognition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 617-647, August.
    19. Kruse, Daniel J. & Eling, Katrin & Herstatt, Cornelius, 2025. "How social entrepreneurs search for knowledge to solve complex social problems – An empirically based model and typology," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    20. Paola Bernardi & Alberto Bertello & Canio Forliano & Ludovico Bullini Orlandi, 2022. "Beyond the “ivory tower”. Comparing academic and non-academic knowledge on social entrepreneurship," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 999-1032, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    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:mth:bmsmti:v:15:y:2024:i:1:p:226-240. 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: Technical Support Office The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Technical Support Office to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/bms .

    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.