Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Social Entrepreneurship: An exploratory citation analysis

  • Review Paper
  • Published:
Review of Managerial Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Research on Social Entrepreneurship became a growing field of interest during the past decades. However, as the heterogeneity of investigated topics is rather large the purpose of this contribution is to provide an overview of the current state of research on Social Entrepreneurship. In doing so previous research is structured to identify major contributions and thereby key discussion lines within this field. Based on a bibliometric citation analysis of 129 core papers and 5,228 cited references, five topic clusters are identified within the field of Social Entrepreneurship: 1) Definitions and conceptual approaches, 2) Impetus, 3) Personality, 4) Impact and performance, and 5) Future research agenda. By reflecting the literature of each discussion line, a framework for the advancement of Social Entrepreneurship research is provided.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alvord SH, Brown LD, Letts CW (2004) Social Entrepreneurship and societal transformation. J Appl Behav Sci 40(3):260–282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Austin J, Stevenson H, Wei-Skillern J (2006) Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship: same, different, or both? Entrep Theory Pract 30(1):1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bornstein D (2004) How to change the world: social entrepreneurs and the power of new ideas. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Boschee J (1995) Social Entrepreneurship. Across Board 32(3):20–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Brew A, Lucas L (2009) Academic research and researchers. Open University Press, Berkshire

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen C, Carr L (1999) Trailblazing the literature of hypertext: author co-citation analysis (1989–1998). In: Proceedings of the 10th ACM conference on hypertext and hypermedia. ACM, New York, pp 51–60

  • Cukier W, Trenholm S, Carl D, Gekas G (2011) Social Entrepreneurship: a content analysis. J Strateg Innov Sustain 7(1):99–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Danko A, Brunner C (2010) Social Entrepreneurship—Zum State-of-the-Art der aktuellen Forschung. Z KMU Entrep 58(2):157–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danko A, Brunner C, Kraus S (2011) Social Entrepreneurship—an overview of the current state of research. Eur J Manag 11(1):82–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Dart R (2004) The legitimacy of social enterprise. Nonprofit Manag Leadersh 14(4):411–424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dees JG (1998) Enterprising nonprofits. Harv Bus Rev 76(1):54–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Dees JG (2001) The Meaning of “Social Entrepreneurship”. Duke University, Durham. http://www.caseatduke.org/documents/dees_sedef.pdf. Accessed Oct 2012

  • Dees JG, Emerson J, Economy P (2001) Enterprising nonprofits: a toolkit for social entrepreneurs. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dos Santos BL, Holsapple CW, Ye Q (2011) The intellectual influence of entrepreneurship journals: a network analysis. Entrep Theory Pract 35(4):735–754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drucker PF (1985) Innovation and entrepreneurship. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Forno AD, Merlone U (2009) Social Entrepreneurship effects on the emergence of cooperation in networks. Emerg Complex Organ 11(4):48–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Garfield E (1979) Is citation analysis a legitimate evaluation tool? Scientometrics 1(4):359–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregoire DA, Noel MX, Dery R, Bechard J-P (2006) Is there conceptual convergence in entrepreneurship research? A co-citation analysis of Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 1981–2004. Entrep Theory Pract 30(3):333–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gundolf K, Filser M (2013) Management research and religion: a citation analysis. J Bus Ethics 112(1):177–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korosec RL, Berman EM (2006) Municipal support for Social Entrepreneurship. Public Adm Rev 66(3):448–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraus S, Filser M, Götzen T, Harms R (2011) Familienunternehmen—Zum State-of-the-Art der betriebswirtschaftlichen Forschung. Betrieb Forsch Praxis 6:587–605

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraus S, Filser M, Eggers F, Hills GE, Hultman CM (2012) The entrepreneurial marketing domain: a citation and co-citation analysis. J Res Market Entrep 14(1):6–26

    Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Leonidou LC, Katsikeas CS, Coudounaris DN (2010) Five decades of business research into exporting: a bibliographic analysis. J Int Manag 16(1):78–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Litzky BE, Godshalk VM, Walton-Bongers C (2010) Social Entrepreneurship and community leadership. J Manag Educ 34(1):142–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mair J, Marti I (2006) Social Entrepreneurship research: a source of explanation, prediction, and delight. J World Bus 41(1):36–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin RL, Osberg S (2007) Social Entrepreneurship: the case for definition. Stanf Soc Innov Rev Spring, 29–39

  • Nicholls A (2006) Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls A (2009) We do good things, don’t we?: ‘Blended Value Accounting’ in Social Entrepreneurship. Acc Organ Soc 34(6–7):755–769

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peredo AM, McLean M (2006) Social Entrepreneurship: a critical review of the concept. J World Bus 41(1):56–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prévot F, Branchet B, Boissin J-P, Castagnos J-C, Guieu G (2010) The intellectual structure of the competence-based management: A bibliometric analysis. In: Sanchez R, Heene A, Zimmermann TE (eds) Research in competence-based management—a focused issue on identifying, building, and linking competences. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp 231–258

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Reader D, Watkins D (2006) The social and collaborative nature of entrepreneurship scholarship: a co-citation and perceptual analysis. Entrep Theory Pract 30(3):417–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sassmannshausen SP, Volkmann CK (2013) A bibliometric based review on Social Entrepreneurship and its establishment as a field of research. Schumpeter Discussion Papers, University of Wuppertal

  • Say JB (1803) Traité d’Economie Politique. Crapelet, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Schildt HA, Zahra SA, Sillanpää A (2006) Scholarly communities in entrepreneurship research: a co-citation analysis. Entrep Theory Pract 30(3):399–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter JA (1934) The theory of economic development. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Shane S, Venkataraman S (2000) The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Acad Manag Rev 25(1):217–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw E, Gordon J, Harvey C, Maclean M (2011) Exploring contemporary entrepreneurial philanthropy. Int Small Bus J (forthcoming)

  • Small HG (1978) Co-citation context analysis and the structure of paradigms. J Doc 36(3):183–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spear R (2006) Social Entrepreneurship: a different model? Int J Soc Econ 33(5–6):399–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan Mort G, Weerawardena J, Carnegie K (2003) Social Entrepreneurship: towards conceptualisation. Int J Nonprofit Volunt Sect Mark 8(1):76–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson J (2002) The world of the social entrepreneur. Int J Public Sect Manag 15(5):412–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson J, Alvy G, Lees A (2000) Social Entrepreneurship—a new look at the people and the potential. Manag Decis 38(5–6):328–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waddock SA, Post JE (1991) Social entrepreneurs and catalytic change. Public Adm Rev 51(5):393–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weerawardena J, Sullivan Mort G (2006) Investigating Social Entrepreneurship: a multidimensional model. J World Bus 41(1):21–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahra SA, Gedajlovic E, Neubaum DO, Shulman JM (2009) A typology of social entrepreneurs: motives, search processes and ethical challenges. J Bus Ventur 24(5):519–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liechtenstein, Fürst-Franz-Josef-Strasse, 9490, Vaduz, Liechtenstein

    Sascha Kraus

  2. University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Matthias Filser

  3. Utrecht University School of Economics, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Matthias Filser

  4. University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Michele O’Dwyer

  5. University of Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow, UK

    Eleanor Shaw

Authors
  1. Sascha Kraus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthias Filser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Michele O’Dwyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Eleanor Shaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sascha Kraus.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kraus, S., Filser, M., O’Dwyer, M. et al. Social Entrepreneurship: An exploratory citation analysis. Rev Manag Sci 8, 275–292 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-013-0104-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-013-0104-6

Keywords

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation