Towards an Integrative Definition of Scaling Social Impact in Social Enterprises

Date
2020-06
Authors
Islam, SM
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Abstract

Scaling social impact is a key concept in the social enterprise literature. While central, the wide range of meanings and the lack of conceptual uniformity detract from its usefulness. To tackle this issue, this paper conducts a systematic review to derive an integrative definition of scaling social impact: Scaling social impact is an ongoing process of increasing the magnitude of both quantitative and qualitative positive changes in society by addressing pressing social problems at individual and/or systemic levels through one or more scaling paths. Alongside improving conceptual clarity, the definition offers an operational structure with five underlying elements, setting the basis for new empirical work and theorising in social enterprise research.

Description
Keywords
Scaling social impact; Social value; Definition and concept; Construct clarity; Social enterprise; Social entrepreneurship
Source
Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 13, e00164.
Rights statement
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in (see Citation). Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The definitive version was published in (see Citation). The original publication is available at (see Publisher's Version).