Social entrepreneurship is using business principles and practices to create social value. Scholars and practitioners adopt either a business-oriented perspective or a socially-focused narrative to discuss social entrepreneurship, depending on the preferences and interests of their audience. This collected papers’ dissertation sought to investigate how social entrepreneurship initiatives maintain legitimacy and accountability among stakeholders to identify how adult education and human resource development (HRD) can help advance the practice. Included are two studies: study one- a structured literature review, and study two - a multiple case study.
Study one, a structured literature review, examined scholarly literature to identify: (1) in what ways social entrepreneurship is characterized in scholarly articles and (2) what can human resource development do to affect change in social entrepreneurship. This study found that social entrepreneurship lacks cognitive legitimacy and is framed as (a) pragmatically legitimate; (b) both an individual and organizational practice; and (c) as a virtuous practice. HRD emphasizes the ethical relationship between organizations and society, making it an ideal field for advancing social entrepreneurship. However, research on social entrepreneurship in HRD is rare. The central contribution of this paper is an explication of how HRD can impact the advancement of social entrepreneurship.
Study two, a multiple case study, examined how social entrepreneurship organizations use annual reports to demonstrate accountability to their stakeholders. It also explored the trends and issues related to organizational accountability. This study identified a trend of organizations practicing social entrepreneurship shifting focus from one stakeholder (e.g., donors) to multiple stakeholders (e.g., staff and donors). There was also a trend of organizations moving from one accountability practice (e.g., functional accountability - focus on short-term objectives) to a blend of accountability practices (e.g., strategic-functional accounts – balancing short and long-term objectives). One major issue experienced by organizations practicing social entrepreneurship reviewed in this study is an oscillation between a surplus of revenues and a net loss, raising awareness that stakeholder support and organizational performance may depend on accountability practices.
This dissertation will help inform policy and practices of adult education and HRD in advancing social entrepreneurship. These findings may also prompt further research on social entrepreneurship from adult education and human resource development researchers.