Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers

Abstract

The process of creating new value is central to the field of entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship has led to an emerging stream of research that is of interest to researchers and academics in management, strategic management, and entrepreneurship. To understand theories on social entrepreneurship, two internally consistent theories are presented describing how entrepreneurial opportunities are formed, and the discovery theory and creation theory are described. The implications of these theories are listed, along with a discussion of some of their broader theoretical implications for the fields of entrepreneurship and strategic management. Within the field of social entrepreneurship an emerging area of investigation can be found in the entrepreneurship and not-for-profit marketing literatures. A review of the literature in a number of domains reveals that it is fragmented and that there is no coherent theoretical framework. In particular, current conceptualizations of social entrepreneurship fail to adequately consider the unique characteristics of social entrepreneurs and the context within which they must operate. This paper addresses the implications for social entrepreneurship theory and management practice, and discusses policy directions.