THE CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FROM A BIBLIOMETRIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The concept of social entrepreneurship arouses a legitimate interest in both the economic literature and in the social sciences literature. The consideration of the concept of social entrepreneurship results in the identification of some notions from the conceptual area confined to it, such as sustainability, social responsibility, mission, value and social impact. But the definition and understanding of social entrepreneurship necessarily implies the term "social", and, once recognized as defining, this term implies the establishment of the role and contribution of social entrepreneurship in the society, suggesting the solving of several issues in this segment of social practice, such as the issues associated with vulnerable and marginalized groups. Since in the last years, the volume of scientific research in the economic field that addresses the topic of social entrepreneurship has increased dramatically and it is increasingly difficult for researchers to follow the relevant literature in their field, we have used quantitative bibliometric methods that can manage data and filter important works by estimating their impact and discovering the underlying structure of a research field. The purpose was to obtain a representation of the structure of the research area, by dividing the elements (authors of documents, articles, words) into different groups and to revise a certain line of research by using bibliometric methods that allow a quantitative approach for description, evaluation and monitoring of published research.