Abstract
In this paper, we propose that unreflective use of the term social entrepreneurship may perpetuate the idea that “entrepreneurship” is largely a financial and private reality and that this view of entrepreneurship will eventually trivialize or perhaps undermine the important benefits and the real intentions behind the social entrepreneurship movement. We believe that Catholic Social Teaching can shed important light on this dilemma by emphasizing three specific strategies inherent to entrepreneurship when assessing the moral contribution of the firm. As a result, we argue for the principles of good goods, good work and good wealth as an alternative framework for all good entrepreneurial venture.
Highlights
Despite a lack of consensus over its precise definition (Kannampuzha and Hockerts2019; Short et al 2009; Peredo and McLean 2006), it has been widely observed that the term social entrepreneurship has experienced a significant growth in its influence over that last decade (Rey-Martí et al 2016; Bloom and Smith 2010; Bornstein 2004; Harding and Cowling2006)
We further propose that the widespread problem in defining social entrepreneurship is a symptom of a failure to take seriously the central normative core of “entrepreneurship”: that entrepreneurship should have a human end and that this end should be the common good
From the perspective of Catholic Social Teaching [CST] the Common Good [CG] is not an extrinsic principle imposed upon business, rather it is an intrinsic principle that describes the good which business does, and how this good is related to the development of the people who carry out the work therein
Summary
Despite a lack of consensus over its precise definition (Kannampuzha and Hockerts. 2019; Short et al 2009; Peredo and McLean 2006), it has been widely observed that the term social entrepreneurship has experienced a significant growth in its influence over that last decade A wide range of indicators confirm this expansion in entrepreneurial impact beyond the traditional for-profit world: the rate of new non-profit formation has outstripped that of traditional business formation (Austin et al 2006a); non-profits contributed an estimated $1.1 trillion to the US economy in 2016, comprising 5.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (Bureau of Economic Analysis 2020); best-selling books lists include numerous accounts of entrepreneurial successes in the social sector (Counts 2019; Harrison 2018; Patrick 2019; Sud et al 2009) Alongside these broad phenomena, there has been notable growth in the academic study of social entrepreneurship (Hota et al.2019; McQuilten 2017; Zahra et al 2014; Short et al 2009). Good Wealth: creating sustainable wealth and distributing it justly (see Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development 2018)
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