Soci(et)al Entrepreneurship and Different Forms of Social Enterprise
For many years there has been discussion about the definitions and issues at stake in entrepreneurship research. Adding a social or societal element does little to clarify matters, even in the emerging field of social or societal entrepreneurship and soci
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Soci(et)al Entrepreneurship and Different Forms of Social Enterprise Malin Gawell
Abstract
For many years there has been discussion about the definitions and issues at stake in entrepreneurship research. Adding a social or societal element does little to clarify matters, even in the emerging field of social or societal entrepreneurship and social enterprises. In this chapter, the use of these conceptualizations in theory as well as practice, is elaborated on primarily in a Swedish setting; however, as we will see, similar expressions are just as relevant in other countries. The aim here is to chart this emerging field with an eye to the critical discussions of tensions and priorities.
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Introduction
For many years there has been an active discussion about definitions, issues, and developments in the field of entrepreneurship research (Sexton and Smilor 1986; Sexton and Landström 2000; Bird Schoonhoven and Romanelli 2001; Carter and Jones-Evans 2000; Gartner 2001; Steyart and Hjorth 2003). It has been debated
M. Gawell (&) Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research Institute, Stockholm, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] M. Gawell Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden M. Gawell Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
A. Lundström et al. (eds.), Social Entrepreneurship, International Studies in Entrepreneurship, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-01396-1_2, Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
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whether it should be structured in similar ways to other academic fields, or whether the theory rather ought to be developed through communities of scholars elaborating on specific sets of problems and issues. Gartner (2001) argued that the various topics in the field of entrepreneurship do not constitute a congruous whole, but contribute to theory development on the specific topics elaborated on. As a consequence, it has been argued that there is a need to ‘try to think of how to live with the consequences of the idea that there is not one entrepreneurship but that there are many entrepreneurships’ to connect and relate to (Steyart and Hjorth 2003, p. 4). In the past decade, we have seen a number of initiatives, both in practical terms and on the academic plane, to promote, understand, and analyse ‘social entrepreneurship’ (Dees 1998; Palmås 2003; Mair et al. 2006; Nicholls 2006; Perrini 2006), or ‘societal entrepreneurship’ (Johannisson 1990a, b; Gawell et al. 2009). We have also seen a number of similar initiatives with reference to ‘social enterprises’ (Borzaga and Defourny 2001; Borzaga et al. 2008). Even though these initiatives partly refer to different concepts, aspects, or practices, they all deal with social engagement combined with entrepreneurial action. These combined conceptualizations increase the ambiguities. The aim of this chapter is to elaborate on the theoretical implications of emerging practices to further our understanding of social entrepreneurship without evading the critical discussions of tensions, priorities, outcomes, and intentions. The point
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