Abstract

We complement emerging theory-building in social entrepreneurship by adopting a new perspective. We start with the assumption that the existence of opposing interests is the main reason that things that should have been done to improve social welfare have not been done. We then draw on economic concepts and logical reasoning to build a typology of problems relevant to the goal of improving social welfare. Determining the solutions to those problem types identifies which forces are likely to oppose their implementation. From that basis, we describe which characteristics would be helpful, and which wouldn’t, for providing the solutions while also mitigating the likely opposition. That analysis provides the basis to argue, that for specific problems, social entrepreneurs are likely to embody a relatively better set of characteristics (versus, for example, a local governmental agency). We then discuss the implications for research, management and policy.

摘要

我们通过采用新的视角来补充社会企业家精神中新兴的理论构建。我们首先假设利益对立的存在是改善社会福利应该做的事情没有做的主要原因。然后，我们利用经济概念和逻辑推理来构建与改善社会福利目标相关的问题类型。确定这些问题类型的解决方案可以确定哪些力量可能会反对它们的实施。在此基础上，我们描述了哪些特征对提供解决方案有帮助，哪些没有帮助，同时也减轻了可能的反对意见。该分析提供了论证的基础，即对于特定问题，社会企业家可能体现出一组相对更好的特征（相对于，例如，地方政府机构）。然后我们讨论对研究、管理和政策的影响。