Abstract

Employing critical review and reflection on the key literature in the area of entrepreneurship and management studies in social entrepreneurship field, this paper aims to outline the current challenges this field is facing, while introducing related explanations and suggesting required changes. The current field of social entrepreneurship research is at its nascent stage, which is determined by ongoing definitional debates and low legitimacy in the scholarship, leading to limited theory development. The key challenge lies in the lack of consistent theory and resulting limited research infrastructure. Both do not allow for outlining the scope of the phenomenon and embarking on comparative studies. What lies behind these challenges is the complexity and diversity of the social entrepreneurship phenomenon and academic discourses. There are significant institutional and economic differences between individual countries and regions, which in the end lead to an endless definitional debate. The debate itself generates challenges in developing the research infrastructure, which pushes for more functionalist approach in research. At the same time, there is a strong need to employ the contribution of other, affiliated and further disciplines, not limited to entrepreneurship and management, feeding on sociology, anthropology, political science, economics. Their conceptual framework, research methods, particularly from sociology, serve as a useful framework for the field development. In the end, this may generate scholarly interest in moving towards other research paradigms, employing subjectivist approaches, or assuming radical change in the society. Moving beyond the dominant functionalist paradigm may give voice to so far marginalized initiatives and ventures in social entrepreneurship. This, in result, could develop social entrepreneurship research field.

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