Social Entrepreneurship-Committing Theory to Practice

ABSTRACT

Social entrepreneurship is often presented in the literature as the key to solving many of this world’s persistent social problems. The role of the social entrepreneur is described as fundamental in any social entrepreneurial venture. However, there are few natural-born social entrepreneurs and a lack of knowledge concerning the process of developing a social entrepreneurial venture. Recent studies question the all-important role of the social entrepreneur and instead recognize a collective process of innovation. This study developed a first attempt at a social entrepreneurial management tool which can reproduce the processual thinking of the social entrepreneur. In applying empirical data from social entrepreneurship case studies to a modified version of the analytical planning tool known as the Problem and Objective tree, this study addressed the lack of knowledge concerning the social entrepreneurial development process. The results suggest that the tool can assist social entrepreneurial networks, meaning a collective effort by stakeholders within any given community, develop social entrepreneurial ventures in environments without a ‘natural born’ social entrepreneur.

KEYWORDS:

• Social entrepreneurship
• modified problem and objective tree
• management
• analytical tool
• social ventures
• participatory research¹

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr Kalliopi Fouseki, University College London; Dr Lorenzo Di Lucia, Imperial College London; and Lecturer Fredrik Björk, University of Malmo for their invaluable and expert advice. I would furthermore like to give thanks to The Augustinus Fonden of Denmark for economic support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. From the project management (PM) and participatory research literature.

2. Criteria (i): 17 cases, (ii): 2 cases, (iii): 7 cases, (iv): 8 cases, and (v): 1 case.