IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v133y2016i4d10.1007_s10551-014-2439-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics: Does Social Equal Ethical?

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth Chell

    (Kingston University)

  • Laura J. Spence

    (Royal Holloway University of London)

  • Francesco Perrini

    (Bocconi University)

  • Jared D. Harris

    (University of Virginia)

Abstract

This editorial to the special issue addresses the often overlooked question of the ethical nature of social enterprises. The emerging social entrepreneurship literature has previously been dominated by enthusiasts who fail to critique the social enterprise, focusing instead on its distinction from economic entrepreneurship and potential in solving social problems. In this respect, we have found through the work presented herein that the relation between social entrepreneurship and ethics needs to be problematized. Further, we find that a range of conceptual lenses and methodological approaches is valuable as the social entrepreneurship field matures.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Chell & Laura J. Spence & Francesco Perrini & Jared D. Harris, 2016. "Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics: Does Social Equal Ethical?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 619-625, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:133:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-014-2439-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2439-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-014-2439-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2439-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. ., 2013. "Introduction: It is the Only One We Have," Chapters, in: Earth Economics, chapter 1, pages 1-8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Andy Lockett & Jeremy Moon & Wayne Visser, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Management Research: Focus, Nature, Salience and Sources of Influence," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 115-136, January.
    3. Merja Lähdesmäki & Timo Suutari, 2012. "Keeping at Arm’s Length or Searching for Social Proximity? Corporate Social Responsibility as a Reciprocal Process Between Small Businesses and the Local Community," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(4), pages 481-493, July.
    4. Weerawardena, Jay & Mort, Gillian Sullivan, 2006. "Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 21-35, February.
    5. Jill Kickul & Siri Terjesen & Rachida Justo, 2013. "SBE special issue introduction," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 687-691, April.
    6. Harris, Jared D. & Sapienza, Harry J. & Bowie, Norman E., 2009. "Ethics and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 407-418, September.
    7. ., 2013. "Introducing government failure," Chapters, in: Government Failure, chapter 1, pages 1-5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. 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.
    9. Nicola Pless, 2012. "Social Entrepreneurship in Theory and Practice—An Introduction," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 317-320, December.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Nelarine Cornelius & Mathew Todres & Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj & Adrian Woods & James Wallace, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Social Enterprise," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(2), pages 355-370, August.
    13. Unknown, 2013. "Editorial Introduction," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 8(3), pages 1-2, September.
    14. 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.
    15. M. Tina Dacin & Peter A. Dacin & Paul Tracey, 2011. "Social Entrepreneurship: A Critique and Future Directions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1203-1213, October.
    16. Geoff Moore & Laura Spence, 2006. "Editorial: Responsibility and Small Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 219-226, September.
    17. Jack, Sarah L. & Anderson, Alistair R., 2002. "The effects of embeddedness on the entrepreneurial process," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 467-487, September.
    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. 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.
    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. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Rohit Bhardwaj & Saurabh Srivastava & Sunali Bindra & Sumit Sangwan, 2023. "An ecosystem view of social entrepreneurship through the perspective of systems thinking," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 250-265, January.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Etayankara Muralidharan & Saurav Pathak, 2018. "Sustainability, Transformational Leadership, and Social Entrepreneurship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
    14. 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.
    15. 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).
    16. Filipa Lancastre & Carmen Lages & Filipe Santos, 2024. "Social Entrepreneurship as a Family Resemblance Concept with Distinct Ethical Views," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(3), pages 611-632, May.
    17. Sarah Tiba & Frank J. van Rijnsoever & Marko P. Hekkert, 2019. "Firms with benefits: A systematic review of responsible entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility literature," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 265-284, March.
    18. Gali, Nazha & Niemand, Thomas & Shaw, Eleanor & Hughes, Mathew & Kraus, Sascha & Brem, Alexander, 2020. "Social entrepreneurship orientation and company success: The mediating role of social performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    19. Marine Wulleman & Marek Hudon, 2015. "Models of social entrepreneurship: empirical evidence from Mexico," Working Papers CEB 15-024, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    20. 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.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:133:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-014-2439-6. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.