Social Entrepreneurship on Its Way to Significance: The Case of Germany

Karina Cagarman,Jan Kratzer,Michaela Jacqueline Gieseke,Kristina Fajga,Laura Helen Von Arnim

doi:10.3390/su12218954

Karina Cagarman, Jan Kratzer + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su12218954

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Oct 28, 2020
Citations: 18	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Technische Universität Berlin

Abstract

The environmental context plays a very important role in the success of entrepreneurial behaviour. Governments used this opportunity by introducing specific programmes, but do social entrepreneurs have a comparable chance of getting governmental support as commercial entrepreneurs do in these programmes? We analyze the EXIST Start-up Grant in terms of likelihood for entrepreneurs following economic and social sustainable development goals (SDGs). Our results indicate that there is a decreased probability to get the EXIST Start-up Grant when following social SDGs. We argue that it is about time to introduce specific programmes for social innovation and/or reassess existing programmes in terms of their openness to social entrepreneurs.

Highlights

In contrast to commercial entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurs pursue the goal of creating societal or social added value [1,2,3] or finding solutions to social challenges [4,5]
The environmental context plays a very important role in the success of entrepreneurial behaviour. Governments used this opportunity by introducing specific programmes, but do social entrepreneurs have a comparable chance of getting governmental support as commercial entrepreneurs do in these programmes? We analyze the EXIST Start-up Grant in terms of likelihood for entrepreneurs following economic and social sustainable development goals (SDGs)
We argue that it is about time to introduce specific programmes for social innovation and/or reassess existing programmes in terms of their openness to social entrepreneurs

Summary

Introduction

In contrast to commercial entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurs pursue the goal of creating societal or social added value [1,2,3] or finding solutions to social challenges [4,5]. Mair and Marti argue that social entrepreneurship is accompanied by economic outcomes alongside its social mission by defining social entrepreneurship as “a process involving the innovative use and combination of resources to pursue opportunities to catalyze social change and/or address social needs” [4] (p.37). The element of social entrepreneurs acting as a catalyst for social change is pointed out by other researchers [6,7]. Social entrepreneurs have a two-sided model since they follow their business activities besides pursuing their social mission [9], which means that they have to satisfy more stakeholders than commercial entrepreneurs. According to the Deutscher Social Entreprenership Monitor [10] 96.7% of social start-ups declare that the social impact is at least equivalent with financial return but in most cases is even more important

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