There is a research gap concerning the understanding of the challenges that social entrepreneurs face in emerging economies of Latin America. The entrepreneurial landscape in this region entails difficulties in terms of institutional voids, which is why it is interesting to comprehend how these actors in the economy deal with social, economic and environmental tensions.
1.4 Conceptual Perspective
To better understand the challenges that social entrepreneurs face in Latin America, Bourdieu’s (1986) theory related to career capitals will be used as a conceptual reference for the analysis of this study. Based on his definition, this study seeks to figure out which are the career capitals that social entrepreneurs show on their …show more content…
1.6 Research Method
This study will work with qualitative secondary data containing ten narrative face-to-face interviews conducted to successful social entrepreneurs in Latin America from five different countries. Qualitative secondary data involves the use of already produced data to create new social scientific and/or methodological understandings (Irwin, 2013).
2. Literature Review
2.1 Social Entrepreneurship
Even though there are different opinions and views on what entrepreneurship is, many notions of the concept transcend purely economic transactions, and at the most fundamental level it manifests in the capability of the entrepreneur to spot opportunities, and to bring those ideas to the market in an innovative way which creates value in the process (Dacin, Dacin, & Matear, …show more content…
Entrepreneurs are expected to work in a socially responsible way, creating social and financial value, and not simply pursuing self-enrichment. This perspective, moves towards differentiating social entrepreneurship from commercial entrepreneurship by stating that the latter is an “Old Era” that is extinguishing.
Even with the diverse characterizations of the concept, the common denominator across the spectrum of definitions of social entrepreneurship is that its essential element is to create social value instead of personal and shareholder wealth (Zadek & Thake, 1997). The main driver of social entrepreneurship remains the social issue that it tries to impact in a positive way, and the specific organizational structure that the social enterprise adopts, based on the necessity of mobilizing resources in the most effective way.
Given this reality, social ventures can be found in the form of non-profit, business or even governmental sectors. Thus, the definition that will be used in this study understands social entrepreneurship as an innovative activity that creates social value and that can be developed within the non-profit, business, or government sector (Austin, Stevenson, & Wei-Skillern,