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A Review of Social Entrepreneurship Research

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Social Entrepreneurship

Part of the book series: International Studies in Entrepreneurship ((volume 29))

Abstract

To enhance the understanding of social entrepreneurship, researchers have to reach a consensus on the construct of definitions and, in doing so, acknowledge the diversity of research interests involved in the study of social entrepreneurship. The purpose of the chapter is to present a state-of-the-art review and a bibliographical analysis of the field of social entrepreneurship. We highlight and analyse the extent to which research has devoted significant attention to social entrepreneurship, what individual researchers have published about social entrepreneurship topics, and how they have engaged in areas of discussion and made contributions. In a response to the lack of published research and incremental knowledge-building, the chapter further maps the prominent issues discussed in the social entrepreneurship literature and outlines some possible emergent research dialogues. One presumption in our study is that the discussions in the most cited articles have had a major impact on the direction of the contemporary social entrepreneurship discourse. In this vein, the study highlights key contributors and contributions to the multidisciplinary field of social entrepreneurship, and the relationships between individual contributions and the broader discussion in the literature.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mid University, Östersund, Sweden

    Anne Pierre & Yvonne von Friedrichs

  2. University of Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland

    Joakim Wincent

  3. Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden

    Joakim Wincent

Authors
  1. Anne Pierre
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  2. Yvonne von Friedrichs
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  3. Joakim Wincent
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yvonne von Friedrichs .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MidSweden University, Östersund, Sweden

    Anders Lundström

  2. MidSweden University, Shenyang, Beijing, People's Republic of China

    Chunyan Zhou

  3. MidSweden University, Östersund, Sweden

    Yvonne von Friedrichs

  4. Linköpings University, Linköping, Sweden

    Elisabeth Sundin

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Pierre, A., von Friedrichs, Y., Wincent, J. (2014). A Review of Social Entrepreneurship Research. In: Lundström, A., Zhou, C., von Friedrichs, Y., Sundin, E. (eds) Social Entrepreneurship. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 29. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01396-1_3

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