Social Entrepreneurship from a Chronological Approach: A Path for Change

Proceedings of ‏The 3rd International Academic Conference on Management and Economics

Year: 2021

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/3rd.conferenceme.2021.06.246

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Social Entrepreneurship from a Chronological Approach: A Path for Change

Virginia Simón-Moya, María Rodríguez-García

ABSTRACT: 

Social entrepreneurship represents a shift in paradigm, from an economic perspective focused on profit gains, to a broader meaning of value creation, including social welfare in its mission. In this line, social entrepreneurs are supposed to be the actors of change towards a more equally distributed society, in the fostering of social equilibrium. This research shows a how a typology of social entrepreneurship previously highlighted by academia can be understood through the exemplification of a real-life case. Through the case study of a Spanish scientist, social entrepreneurship phenomenon is seen as process consisting of three stages, bricoleur, constructionist and engineer. Thus, instead of understanding social entrepreneurship as a phenomenon that can be classified in different categories, it can be viewed as a chronology of three different phases. These phases are associated to different points of the professional career of the entrepreneur. Therefore, the unit of analysis is the individual, namely, Dr. Mateo. The first stage -social bricolage- is characterized by the scarcity of resources. Contrarily, a greater dimension and influence of the social change represents the main feature of the latest stages. Future research avenues should incorporate other units of analysis, complementary to the one presented in this study, in order to get a wider understanding of the reality.

Keywords: social entrepreneurship, social bricolage, social constructionism, social engineer.