An Elusive Concept: The Problem of Defining Social Entrepreneurship
Interest in social entrepreneurship has been growing over the last two decades among both practitioners and academics. However, despite the numerous studies and a large body of literature on social entrepreneurship, the concept remains fuzzy and open to different interpretations. One of the reasons...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Research Centre of Industrial Problems of Development of NAS of Ukraine
2019-11-01
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| Series: | Bìznes Inform |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.business-inform.net/export_pdf/business-inform-2019-11_0-pages-128_139.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818316591277801472 |
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| author | Nashchekina Olga M. Tymoshenkov Ihor V. Nwafor Franklin Nnemeka |
| author_facet | Nashchekina Olga M. Tymoshenkov Ihor V. Nwafor Franklin Nnemeka |
| author_sort | Nashchekina Olga M. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Interest in social entrepreneurship has been growing over the last two decades among both practitioners and academics. However, despite the numerous studies and a large body of literature on social entrepreneurship, the concept remains fuzzy and open to different interpretations. One of the reasons why the concept eludes the grasp is that social entrepreneurship is a multidimensional phenomenon, which can take a great variety of forms. The purpose of this paper is to review the approaches to defining social entrepreneurship, to show the major challenges in drawing the boundaries between social and commercial entrepreneurship as well as between social entrepreneurship and other types of social activities, to identify relevant dimensions for differentiation. Having analyzed different definitions of social entrepreneurship, we have identified eight dimensions of this phenomenon. We have shown that within most of those dimensions the characteristics of social entrepreneurial activities can change along a continuum. The points of contention among researchers of social entrepreneurship are related to the boundaries within which these characteristics can be varied without compromising the social entrepreneurial status of an activity. The proposed dimensions might provide additional insight into the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship, help identify different forms of social entrepreneurship and systemize the results of empirical studies. The list of dimensions is not exhaustive, and as empirical evidence accumulates and new types of social entrepreneurship appear, new dimensions can be added. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T09:23:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-52f7fb261d374afab1bdf6f83da803ca |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2222-4459 2311-116X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T09:23:52Z |
| publishDate | 2019-11-01 |
| publisher | Research Centre of Industrial Problems of Development of NAS of Ukraine |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Bìznes Inform |
| spelling | doaj.art-52f7fb261d374afab1bdf6f83da803ca2022-12-21T23:52:40ZengResearch Centre of Industrial Problems of Development of NAS of UkraineBìznes Inform2222-44592311-116X2019-11-011150212813910.32983/2222-4459-2019-11-128-139An Elusive Concept: The Problem of Defining Social EntrepreneurshipNashchekina Olga M.0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2578-1109Tymoshenkov Ihor V.1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9241-9842Nwafor Franklin Nnemeka2National Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute»V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National UniversityNational Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute»Interest in social entrepreneurship has been growing over the last two decades among both practitioners and academics. However, despite the numerous studies and a large body of literature on social entrepreneurship, the concept remains fuzzy and open to different interpretations. One of the reasons why the concept eludes the grasp is that social entrepreneurship is a multidimensional phenomenon, which can take a great variety of forms. The purpose of this paper is to review the approaches to defining social entrepreneurship, to show the major challenges in drawing the boundaries between social and commercial entrepreneurship as well as between social entrepreneurship and other types of social activities, to identify relevant dimensions for differentiation. Having analyzed different definitions of social entrepreneurship, we have identified eight dimensions of this phenomenon. We have shown that within most of those dimensions the characteristics of social entrepreneurial activities can change along a continuum. The points of contention among researchers of social entrepreneurship are related to the boundaries within which these characteristics can be varied without compromising the social entrepreneurial status of an activity. The proposed dimensions might provide additional insight into the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship, help identify different forms of social entrepreneurship and systemize the results of empirical studies. The list of dimensions is not exhaustive, and as empirical evidence accumulates and new types of social entrepreneurship appear, new dimensions can be added.https://www.business-inform.net/export_pdf/business-inform-2019-11_0-pages-128_139.pdfentrepreneurshipsocial entrepreneurshipsocial entrepreneursocial enterprisesocial valuesustainability |
| spellingShingle | Nashchekina Olga M. Tymoshenkov Ihor V. Nwafor Franklin Nnemeka An Elusive Concept: The Problem of Defining Social Entrepreneurship Bìznes Inform entrepreneurship social entrepreneurship social entrepreneur social enterprise social value sustainability |
| title | An Elusive Concept: The Problem of Defining Social Entrepreneurship |
| title_full | An Elusive Concept: The Problem of Defining Social Entrepreneurship |
| title_fullStr | An Elusive Concept: The Problem of Defining Social Entrepreneurship |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Elusive Concept: The Problem of Defining Social Entrepreneurship |
| title_short | An Elusive Concept: The Problem of Defining Social Entrepreneurship |
| title_sort | elusive concept the problem of defining social entrepreneurship |
| topic | entrepreneurship social entrepreneurship social entrepreneur social enterprise social value sustainability |
| url | https://www.business-inform.net/export_pdf/business-inform-2019-11_0-pages-128_139.pdf |
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