Social Impact, Innovations, and Market Activity of Social Enterprises: Comparison of European Countries

Barbara Bradač Hojnik and Katja Crnogaj
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Barbara Bradač Hojnik: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Katja Crnogaj: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to provide an insight into the specifics of social entrepreneurship in different business environments. The article, therefore, examines selected characteristics of social enterprises, namely social value, innovations, and market activities. In addition, differences in the start-up and operational phases of social enterprises were measured. Social enterprises must operate in a specific business context, which essentially hinders or promotes social entrepreneurship. As culture differs between north-western and south-eastern Europe, it is important to examine the differences in social entrepreneurship between these two groups of countries. To analyze the proposed characteristics, we used the latest data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor special report on social entrepreneurship. The results indicate that there exist differences in social impact measurement between observed groups of countries. Additionally, we confirmed differences between the observed groups of countries in terms of innovations and market activity of social enterprises in the operational phase. Our results also suggest that social entrepreneurship is more developed in north-western European countries than in south-eastern ones, with some elements in the north-western countries being more noticeable in the operational phase compared to the start-up phase.

Keywords: social entrepreneurship; social value creation; innovations; market activity; Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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