Skip to main content
Log in

Defining the ‘Social’ in ‘Social Entrepreneurship’: Altruism and Entrepreneurship

  • Published:
The International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

What is social entrepreneurship? In, particular, what’s so social about it? Understanding what social entrepreneurship is enables researchers to study the phenomenon and policy-makers to design measures to encourage it. However, such an understanding is lacking partly because there is no universally accepted definition of entrepreneurship as yet. In this paper, we suggest a definition of social entrepreneurship that intuitively accords with what is generally accepted as entrepreneurship and that captures the way in which entrepreneurship may be altruistic. Based on this we provide a taxonomy of social entrepreneurship and identify a number of real cases from Asia illustrating the different forms it could take.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alvord, S.H., Brown, L.D. & Letts, C.W. 2002. Social entrepreneurship and social transformation: An exploratory study. Harvard, MA: Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations Working Paper No. 15, Kennedy School of Government.

  • Cunningham, J.B. 1996. Getting started and responding to crisis. In A.M. Low & W.L Tan (Eds.), Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship and enterprising culture. Singapore: Addison-Wesley.

  • Dees, J.G. 1998. Enterprising nonprofits: What do you do when traditional sources of funding fall short? Harvard Business Review, 76: 55–67.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, P. 1985. Innovation and entrepreneurship. New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emerson, J. & Twersky, F. 1996. New social entrepreneurs: The success, challenge and lessons of non-profit enterprise creation. A Progress Report on the Planning and Start-up of Non-Profit Businesses. San Francisco, CA: Roberts Foundation Homeless Economic Development Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsythe, F. 1982. The dogs of war. London: Bantam Books Reissue.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goh, D. & McCoy, P. 2001. Recycling works—with incentives. The Straits Times, 25 March 2001.

  • Honig, B. & Christie, M. 2003. Strategic issues of social entrepreneurship: international perspectives. Journal of World Business, special issue.

  • Kao, R. 1993. Defining entrepreneurship, past and present. Creativity and Innovation Management, 2.

  • Kao, R. 1995. Entrepreneurship: A wealth creation and value-adding process. Singapore: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight, F. 1921. Risk, uncertainty and profit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krishna, A. 2002. Active social capital: tracing the roots of development and democracy. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leadbeater, C. 1997. The rise of the social entrepreneur. London: Demos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, W.A. 1996. Why entrepreneurship? In A.M. Low & W.L Tan (Eds.), Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship and enterprising culture: 1–11. Singapore: Addison-Wesley.

  • Low, A.M. & Tan, W.L. (Eds.) 1996. Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship and enterprising culture. Singapore: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R.D. 1995. Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6(1): 65–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, D. & Woods, C. 2005. Changing the world on a shoestring: The concept of social entrepreneurship. University of Auckland Business Review, 45–51.

  • Schumpeter, J. 1934. The theory of economic development. Boston: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seelos, C. & Mair, J. 2004. Social entrepreneurship: The contribution of individual entrepreneurs to sustainable development. IESE Business Working Paper No. 553, Barcelona.

  • Shane, S. & S. Venkataraman. 2000. The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25: 217–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soh-Wee, C. 1996. Start-up and early business development challenges confronting young entrepreneurs in Singapore. In A.M. Low & W.L Tan (Eds.), Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship and enterprising culture. Singapore: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, N., Hobbs, R. Nilsson, F., O’Halloran, K. & Preisser, C. 2000. The rise of the term social entrepreneur in print publications. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research.

  • Teo, S.K. 1996. Women entrepreneurs of Singapore. In A.M. Low & W.L Tan (Eds.), Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship and Enterprising Culture. Singapore: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Mises, L. 1996. Human action: A treatise on economics. San Francisco: Bettina Bien Greaves.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, S.L. 1999. Social entrepreneurship: The role of social purpose enterprises in facilitating community economic development. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 4: 153–175.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wee-Liang Tan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tan, WL., Williams, J. & Tan, TM. Defining the ‘Social’ in ‘Social Entrepreneurship’: Altruism and Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Mgt. 1, 353–365 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-005-2600-x

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-005-2600-x

Keywords

Navigation