The social as the heart of social innovation and social entrepreneurship: An emerging area or an old crossroads?

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the conceptual debate on the connection between social innovation and social entrepreneurship, considering the role of the ‘social’ within this connection. Supported by a systematic literature review (SLR) with an in-depth analysis of 34 articles from Scopus-indexed and Web of Science databases journals, this paper identifies, analyzes and describes the difficulties and opportunities in the social innovation and social entrepreneurship literature. Little is known about the link between both concepts and the influence of the ‘social’ in their development and implementation. This SLR was conducted to identify and describe definitions and patterns. Results show that the connection between social innovation and social entrepreneurship is in its take-off phase, but it still is a fragmented field with a huge lack of consensus. Thus, it will be important to see where the field will head, as this paper aims to be a first step in the understanding of social innovation and social entrepreneurship through a collective and integrated perspective, providing an elucidation of the different perspectives of the literature.