Social Impact, Innovations, and Market Activity of Social Enterprises: Comparison of European Countries

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide an insight into the specifics of social entrepreneurship in different business environments. The article, therefore, examines selected characteristics of social enterprises, namely social value, innovations, and market activities. In addition, differences in the start-up and operational phases of social enterprises were measured. Social enterprises must operate in a specific business context, which essentially hinders or promotes social entrepreneurship. As culture differs between north-western and south-eastern Europe, it is important to examine the differences in social entrepreneurship between these two groups of countries. To analyze the proposed characteristics, we used the latest data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor special report on social entrepreneurship. The results indicate that there exist differences in social impact measurement between observed groups of countries. Additionally, we confirmed differences between the observed groups of countries in terms of innovations and market activity of social enterprises in the operational phase. Our results also suggest that social entrepreneurship is more developed in north-western European countries than in south-eastern ones, with some elements in the north-western countries being more noticeable in the operational phase compared to the start-up phase.

Social Entrepreneurship Research: Intellectual Structures and Future Perspectives

“…Social entrepreneurship is an emerging but rapidly growing field [4,5] involving diverse sectors such as innovation, technology, public policy, community development, social movements, and non-profit organizations [6]. The main objectives of social entrepreneurship are the reduction of poverty and illiteracy, the improvement of collective well-being and the quality of life of the community, the overcoming of social injustice, the conservation of the environment for future generations [7][8][9][10].…”

Business Dynamism and Innovation Capacity, an Entrepreneurship Worldwide Perspective

“…The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) model aims to articulate a coherent view on national standards for generating new opportunities and creating businesses, which can impact local economies [5][6][7].…”

The Role of CSR on Social Entrepreneurship: An International Analysis

“…In recent years, scholars have focused on impact analyses of the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of SE [27][28][29][30][31][32][33], as well as determining the societal values and individual attributes of SE [34][35][36][37][38][39]. Some authors claim to push SE research forward in two directions: understanding the specific contextual framework that promotes the rise of SE and the incorporation of cross-national empirical studies due to qualitative and case study methodologies dominating the research [13,40].…”

“…(a) The few studies on SE from an institutional perspective are focused on formal factors [40,41], which are less difficult to measure than informal factors [42]. This issue is why social capital and entrepreneurship capital are the most commonly studied factors, although they represent only a small part of the global context that impacts SE.…”