Social Entrepreneurship: Changing the Way Social Workers Do Business

An examination of certain antecedents of social entrepreneurial intentions among Mexico residentes

“…The examination of social entrepreneurship has increased significantly over recent years (Svensson, 2014) as an alternative to alleviate many existing social problems. We adopt a broad definition that includes individuals or organizations involved in entrepreneurial activities to solve economic, social or/and environmental problems (Germak & Singh, 2010;Short, Moss, & Lumpkin, 2009;Zahra, Gedajlovic, Neubaum, & Shulman, 2009). Essentially, social entrepreneurship is a benevolent attitude towards sharing with others (Guzmán & Trujillo, 2008), highlighting the prevalence of a social mission, innovation and the role of an earned income (Lepoutre, Justo, Terjesen, & Bosma, 2013).…”

Examining the motivations for social entrepreneurship using Max Weber’s typology of rationality

“…Both Gopi and Inir worked with NGOs in the early parts of their careers, following which social enterprise was a natural progression as they attempted to address social issues in a financially independent manner. This progression from social worker to social entrepreneur has been recognized and actively called for by Germak and Singh (2010), who suggested: "schools of social work should take a beacon role in educating social work students regarding the practice of advanced management techniques" (p. 91). Thus, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 allowing them to recruit the most talented employees that they may never be able to attract with money (Austin et al, 2006).…”

Social Workers as Social Change Agents: Social Innovation, Social Intrapreneurship, and Social Entrepreneurship

“…Without adequate research, little can be said about the relationship between opportunities, innovation, and strategies needed to discover and utilize growing opportunities (Companys & McMullen, 2007). Germak and Singh (2010) and Nandan and Scott (2013) make a sound case to explore and teach these concepts to social work students. Social workers are realizing that "business as usual" is not creating financially sustainable social change.…”

“…Though days of relying on philanthropy and grants alone are gone (Germak & Singh, 2010;Linton, 2013;Nandan & Scott, 2013), funding challenges can be opportunities for innovation. Social innovation includes any new processes, products and services that address social issues and improve the quality of human life at micro and/or macro levels (Pol & Ville, 2009).…”

“…The social work imprint in these practices has been limited; though there is more discussion and writing today on these topics (e.g., blog http:// socialworksynergy.org; Gray, Healy & Croft, 2003;Germak & Singh, 2010;Nandan & Scott, 2013) than probably 10 years ago when Bent-Goodley (2002) authored a pioneering piece on social entrepreneurship and social work. Even though social workers are natural community catalysts for institutional and social change, social innovation, intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship is not automatically affiliated with social work (Zadek & Thake, 1997).…”