IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i18p7764-d416297.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Entrepreneurship: Dissection of a Phenomenon through a German Lens

Author

Listed:
  • Karina Cagarman

    (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

  • Jan Kratzer

    (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

  • Katharina Osbelt

    (Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland e. V. c/o Bundesverband Deutsche Startups e. V. im Haus der Bundespressekonferenz, 10117 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

The occurrence and scientific investigation of the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship are rather new. The term is very popular among politicians and is reflected in a lot of the political demands and willingness that they express. However, a review of the literature about it shows that there is no common ground or frame, and the historical developments are different in different countries and economies. Based on a study of the literature, a two-phase survey following the ‘Policy Delphi’ approach was conducted in Germany in order to enlighten this frameless picture of social entrepreneurship. Our results indicate five dimensions that extend the core term: ‘social’, namely ‘Societal–Visionary’, ‘Ecological’, ‘Societal–Entrepreneurial’, ‘Economic’, and ‘Innovative–Entrepreneurial’. The degree of intercorrelation among the five dimensions shows that four factors, namely ‘Societal–Visionary’, ‘Societal–Entrepreneurial’, ‘Economic’, and ‘Innovative–Entrepreneurial’, have low to medium-high correlations. The fifth factor, ‘Ecological’, has the weakest correlation with all other factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Karina Cagarman & Jan Kratzer & Katharina Osbelt, 2020. "Social Entrepreneurship: Dissection of a Phenomenon through a German Lens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7764-:d:416297
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/18/7764/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/18/7764/
    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. Gartner, William B., 1990. "What are we talking about when we talk about entrepreneurship?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 15-28, January.
    3. Bertrand Moingeon & Muhammad Yunus & Laurence Lehmann-Ortega, 2010. "Building Social Business Models: Lessons from the Grameen Experience," Post-Print hal-00528385, HAL.
    4. 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.
    5. Certo, S. Trevis & Miller, Toyah, 2008. "Social entrepreneurship: Key issues and concepts," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 267-271.
    6. Grace Li Ann Yong & Kong Weng Ho, 2006. "Innovation, Imitation And Entrepreneurship," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 51(02), pages 147-173.
    7. Seelos, Christian & Mair, Johanna, 2005. "Social entrepreneurship: Creating new business models to serve the poor," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 241-246.
    8. Jacques Defourny & Marthe Nyssens, 2010. "Conceptions of Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: Convergences and Divergences," Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 32-53, March.
    9. Robert Hébert & Albert Link, 2006. "The Entrepreneur as Innovator," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 31(5), pages 589-597, September.
    10. Anja Rohwer & Anja Hülsewig, 2008. "Bismarck versus Beveridge: Ein Vergleich von Sozialversicherungssystemen in Europa," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 61(21), pages 26-29, November.
    11. Johanna Mair & Ignasi Marti, 2006. "Social Entrepreneurship Research: A Source of Explanation, Prediction, and Delight," Post-Print hal-02311880, HAL.
    12. S. Bacq & F. Janssen, 2011. "The multiple faces of social entrepreneurship: A review of definitional issues based on geographical and thematic criteria," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5-6), pages 373-403, June.
    13. Christiana Weber & Jan Kratzer, 2013. "Social entrepreneurship, social networks and social value creation: a quantitative analysis among social entrepreneurs," International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(3), pages 217-239.
    14. Katarzyna Cieslik, 2018. "The quandaries of social entrepreneurship studies – a discursive review of the discipline," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 352-376, July.
    15. 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.
    16. Kolmar, Martin, 2007. "Beveridge versus Bismarck public-pension systems in integrated markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 649-669, November.
    17. Wayne Long, 1983. "The Meaning of Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 8(2), pages 47-59, October.
    18. Weerawardena, Jay & Mort, Gillian Sullivan, 2006. "Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 21-35, February.
    19. 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.
    20. 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)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karina Cagarman & Jan Kratzer & Laura Helen von Arnim & Kristina Fajga & Michaela Jacqueline Gieseke, 2020. "Social Entrepreneurship on Its Way to Significance: The Case of Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-13, October.
    2. Korapin Jirapong & Karina Cagarman & Laura von Arnim, 2021. "Road to Sustainability: University–Start-Up Collaboration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    3. Jan Kratzer & Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß & Gunter Festel, 2021. "Glancing through Two Decades of Research on the Human Side of Sustainable Innovation : The Past, the Present, and Directions for Future Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-11, June.
    4. Anamaria Bucaciuc & Gabriela Prelipcean, 2022. "ESF Funding for the Development of Romanian Social Enterprises – Regional Distribution," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(1), pages 32-37, September.
    5. Liliya Nedkova Nedevа, 2021. "Social Capital Management In Municipality Enterprises," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 15(1), pages 364-373.

    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. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Pradeep Kumar Hota, 2023. "Tracing the Intellectual Evolution of Social Entrepreneurship Research: Past Advances, Current Trends, and Future Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 637-659, January.
    5. Leitão, Maria Eugénia & Amaral, Miguel & Carvalho, Ana, 2024. "Reconceptualizing socio-tech entrepreneurship: A systematic literature review and research agenda," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    6. 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.
    7. S. Chinju Chandran & S. Rajitha Kumar, 2024. "Industrial cooperatives: A sustainable business model for promoting social entrepreneurship," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. 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.
    9. 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).
    10. 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.
    11. Amir Forouharfar & Seyed Aligholi Rowshan & Habibollah Salarzehi, 2018. "An epistemological critique of social entrepreneurship definitions," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 8(1), pages 1-40, December.
    12. Laura Rodrigo & Isabel Ortiz-Marcos & Miguel Palacios, 2024. "A typology of social innovation: A comparative study of clustering methodologies," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 3283-3322, December.
    13. Sauermann, Miklas Pascal, 2023. "Social Entrepreneurship as a Tool to Promoting Sustainable Development in Low-Income Communities: An Empirical Analysis," MPRA Paper 116929, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Xiangping Jia & Geoffrey Desa, 2020. "Social entrepreneurship and impact investment in rural–urban transformation: An orientation to systemic social innovation and symposium findings," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(4), pages 1217-1239, December.
    15. Elvin OMAROV, 2020. "Social entrepreneurship and what does it mean for management of consumer behavior," Access Journal, Access Press Publishing House, vol. 1(2), pages 86-102, September.
    16. Giuseppina Maria Cardella & Brizeida Raquel Hernández-Sánchez & Alcides Almeida Monteiro & José Carlos Sánchez-García, 2021. "Social Entrepreneurship Research: Intellectual Structures and Future Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    17. Douglas, Evan & Prentice, Catherine, 2019. "Innovation and profit motivations for social entrepreneurship: A fuzzy-set analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 69-79.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    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.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7764-:d:416297. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.