TY - JOUR
T1 - How Social Entrepreneurship Can Contribute to Upscale Social Innovation Practices
AU - cunha, Jorge
AU - benneworth, Paul
AU - Stolk, Floor
AU - Welamedage, Lalith
AU - Araujo, Madalena
N1 - Copyright: © 2022 IGI Global
PY - 2022/7/1
Y1 - 2022/7/1
N2 - In this paper, we address the research question of to what extent is it possible to discern theories of change being built into the business practices of nascent social enterprises in ways that lay foundations for the subsequent upscaling of their social innovations? We argue that social enterprises that are ‘ready-to-upscale’ are those that clearly produce a solution to an underlying problem, and where their activities are clearly derived from the underlying problem, and also those activities clearly connect forward to deliver consistent solutions. We apply a Theories of Change approach to the concept of social entrepreneurship as a means of setting a criterion for ‘ready-to-upscale’, studying six Sri Lankan micro-social enterprises in which we can trace stories of impact. This provides a means to develop a model of the ways that social entrepreneurship creates the foundations for structural changes that reduce systematic inequalities, and offers social enterprise funders a framework to better stimulate emergence of social enterprises ready-to-upscale and deliver social innovation.
AB - In this paper, we address the research question of to what extent is it possible to discern theories of change being built into the business practices of nascent social enterprises in ways that lay foundations for the subsequent upscaling of their social innovations? We argue that social enterprises that are ‘ready-to-upscale’ are those that clearly produce a solution to an underlying problem, and where their activities are clearly derived from the underlying problem, and also those activities clearly connect forward to deliver consistent solutions. We apply a Theories of Change approach to the concept of social entrepreneurship as a means of setting a criterion for ‘ready-to-upscale’, studying six Sri Lankan micro-social enterprises in which we can trace stories of impact. This provides a means to develop a model of the ways that social entrepreneurship creates the foundations for structural changes that reduce systematic inequalities, and offers social enterprise funders a framework to better stimulate emergence of social enterprises ready-to-upscale and deliver social innovation.
U2 - 10.4018/IJSESD.290323
DO - 10.4018/IJSESD.290323
M3 - Article
SN - 1947-8402
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 18
JO - International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development (IJSESD)
JF - International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development (IJSESD)
IS - 4
ER -