Abstract
Social entrepreneurship (third sector) is an increasingly important global economic phenomenon that is squarely under the academic lens. Social entrepreneurship represents an interesting opportunity for policy makers to explore new frontiers of economic growth and implement innovation in a potentially growing services sector with possible job opportunities coming from new job creation in the upcoming decades. Based on evidence from Italy, this paper considers the broader picture of this phenomenon. Addressing the need to better understand the drivers of social entrepreneurship policy, we propose a model for interpreting the impact of the recent Italian reform of the third sector at various levels of the ecosystem, which favors innovation, technology adaptation, and greater employability. The presented results contribute to laying the foundation for the further development of a theory of entrepreneurship policy.
Highlights
Social enterprises have always created economic and social value in under-developed countries and in situations of economic and social hardship
Addressing the need to better understand the drivers of social entrepreneurship policy, we propose a model for interpreting the impact of the recent Italian reform of the third sector at various levels of the ecosystem, which favors innovation, technology adaptation, and greater employability
Without reproducing a comprehensive analysis of the literature on the definition of social entrepreneurship and its attendant terms, social enterprise and social entrepreneur, we propose a review of the major contributors to this endeavor, which evidences both the areas of consensus and the areas where different definitions might coexist
Summary
Social enterprises have always created economic and social value in under-developed countries and in situations of economic and social hardship. Social entrepreneurship represents an interesting opportunity for policy makers to explore new frontiers of economic growth and implement innovation in a segment with great growth potential and possible job opportunities coming from job creation in upcoming decades. For this reason, the authors provide an indepth case study of the Italian reform of the third sector, which was introduced in 2017, to demonstrate how entrepreneurial policies can be implemented to favor the development of a field with tremendous growth potential. The third introduces the results of the study; and the final section presents the contributions to academic literature and further research opportunities
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