Towards developing a comprehensive model for describing the phenomenon of community engagement in social enterprises

Purpose - There has been a substantial realization of the importance of community engagement (CE) for social enterprise (SE) missions. However, the emerging literature on CE in social enterprises is riddled with theoretical inconsistencies and there is universal lack of studies in this direction. For the sake of advancing the field, the purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the elements of CE in SEs. Further, a comprehensive preliminary model is developed integrating the five fundamental dimensions of CE in SE setting. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on the critical analysis of the extant literature across disciplines to identify the relevant themes that can affect the CE in SEs. Findings - The paper develops a preliminary social enterprise community engagement model (SE-CEM), which results from a broad literature analysis. The proposed model attempts to offer a comprehensive perspective outlining the institutional, organizational, individual, community and process dimensions likely to predict engagement success in SE context. Originality/value - This paper pioneers in presenting a holistic approach to understanding the dimensions that constitute CE in SEs. The SE-CEM incorporates the determinants of CE in social entrepreneurship (S-ENT) context to direct a future research agenda. The preliminary model can further be developed and empirically tested by researchers. Moreover, practitioners can also gain benefits from the model and promote S-ENT.