Towards Normative Theories of Social Entrepreneurship. A Review of the Top Publications of the Field

Abstract

In this article, we apply deductive content analysis to the 100 most influential publications in the field of social entrepreneurship (SE) to identify the normative assumptions in SE scholarship. Using eight contemporary schools of thought in political philosophy as a template for analysis, we identify the philosophies underlying SE literature and the important consequences of their (often ignored) normative stances, such as: ambiguous concepts, justifications and critiques, and normative contradictions. Our study contributes to the SE literature by proposing that political philosophy can help to identify what counts as the ‘social’ in SE. We are showing some of the field’s inherent normative tensions that could dampen its impact, and propose ways in which a normative awareness would help to establish a basis upon which to evaluate and demonstrate the social, economic, and cultural impact of SE.

Appendices

Appendix A: Description of political philosophies

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is a consequentialist philosophy that claims we should maximize human welfare, or utility. Consequentialism means that the ‘rightness’ of an action is judged by the consequences of this action. The concept of utility is central in utilitarianism and different streams of thought define it in different ways. It can be pleasure (in hedonistic utilitarianism), any mental state that people wish to experience (since we might want to experience something other than pleasure), or the satisfaction of informed preferences. Informed (or rational) preferences are the preferences we would have if we had all information concerning the consequences of my actions, and if my preferences themselves were not restrained by beliefs preventing me from having certain aspirations.

In utilitarianism, human welfare is the aggregation of utilities. Each person’s utility must be given equal weight in the calculation of human welfare. The most important critiques addressed to utilitarianism are that summing utilities does not allow for consideration of the distribution of utilities (inequalities) and that the focus on utility accords no intrinsic value to rights or freedoms.

Liberal egalitarianism

Starting from the critique of the inequality of resource distribution that can arise from utilitarianism, liberal egalitarian theories aim at defining the ‘fair share’ of resources that each person deserves. Rawls defines then two principles about how to distribute resources:

“all social primary goods – liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the bases of self-respect – are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any or all of these goods is to the advantage of the least favoured” (Rawls, 1971, p.303, cited by Kymlicka, 2002).

These principles are justified by reference to our intuitions regarding the ‘veil of ignorance’ thought experiment – that if we did not know what our place in society would be, we would choose such a distribution to compensate for social and natural inequalities.

There are various kinds of egalitarianism rooted in Rawls’ foundational work. For example, Amartya Sen criticizes Rawls, arguing that with the same ‘primary goods’ different people cannot achieve equal outcomes. For example, a disabled person cannot achieve the same thing as an able-bodied person, even if they have the same bundle of primary goods. For this reason, Sen proposes that equality of capabilities, rather than primary goods, should be the basis of an egalitarian theory of justice (Sen, 2001).

Libertarianism

Libertarianism uses various arguments to justify the free market and property rights against egalitarian redistribution. We can distinguish four different arguments justifying absolute property rights. First, the voluntary agreement argument states that if people voluntarily give money to others in exchange for some good, the result must be fair (if not necessarily equal) since the trade was freely chosen. Second, the mutual advantage argument states that rational agents can choose to define moral conventions when they work for their mutual advantage, for example to solve social dilemmas.

Next, the self-ownership argument claims that what is produced with one’s own talents is one’s property. Then, in order to treat people as equals and as ends in themselves, one cannot violate someone else’s exercise of his or her absolute property rights. All property rights acquired through chosen exchanges are thus legitimate. Concerning the appropriation of resources that are not created by humans, unowned resources can be freely appropriated as long as it does not worsen the conditions of others, even if the resulting distribution is not equal. Finally, the argument of liberty establishes liberty as a fundamental value and defines the goal of society as ‘maximizing liberty’ or giving people the most extensive liberty compatible with the same liberty for all.

Marxism

Marxists denounce the exploitation and alienation of workers by capitalists (owners of the means of production), and argue in favour of the socialization of the mean of production as a solution. Marxism gives value to self-realization in work. Labour in the capitalist system is viewed as alienating since the worker loses power over his or her own labour. Technically, exploitation is defined as the capitalist appropriation of the added value produced by the worker.

According to the labour theory of value employed by traditional Marxists, the worker is the only agent who produces value. S/he is therefore exploited when capitalists receive some of the value s/he creates. As this theory of value is close to the libertarian view inasmuch as it assigns property rights according to people’s labour, some contemporary Marxists avoid it and instead converge with a liberal egalitarian argument to promote an equal distribution of the means of production.

Communitarianism

Communitarians investigate the role of communities within society. The schools of thought are diverse, but their reflexions centre around a common set of questions that aim at resituating the individual in its social context. Communitarians question the liberal egalitarian paradigm from a perspective of cultural relativism. Certain communities defend particular ways of life and claim the liberty to perpetuate them. Questions raised by this approach include: To what extent can certain ways of life and visions of the common good be promoted? Can some ways of life be promoted against individuals’ rights of self-determination (the rights to choose and revise one’s conception of the good), defended by liberal egalitarianism?

Communitarians also argue that social deliberation is necessary to define a conception of the good and question whether and how the state should intervene to encourage the formation of a pluralist ‘offering’ of cultures. Furthermore, communitarians question the bases of social unity necessary to allow citizens to trust each other, realize solidary and accept democratic decisions. The response of western democracies has been to build a relatively neutral national identity based on a common language and history.

Citizenship theory

While liberal egalitarian theories define citizenship as individual rights and entitlements, citizenship theories shift the focus and try to “identify the virtues and practices needed to promote and maintain the sorts of institutions and policies defended within theories of justice” (Kymlicka, 2002, p. 287). Different theories of justice lead to different visions of citizenship, and citizenship debates concern which kinds of virtues should be promoted and how. The ‘virtues’ of citizens include participation in political institutions and in public debate, but also ‘civility’ in how citizen treat each other. The potential ‘seedbeds’ of civic virtues identified by citizenship theorists have been ‘civil society’ and education through public schools.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism addresses the problem of cultural injustices, whereby a minority group suffers cultural domination, non-recognition or disrespect. It asks if a ‘politics of recognition’ and the attribution of differentiated rights for particular groups can be justified. These groups include, for example, indigenous peoples, national minorities, immigrants, ethnocultural groups, ethnoreligious groups, refugees, etc.

Multiculturalism began as a communitarian critique of liberalism, but liberals tried to integrate it. Within a liberal framework, minorities’ claims can be separated into asking for the right to protect their group against their own members (e.g., those who refuse to follow the community’s rules) or the right to protect their group against external pressures of wider society (Kymlicka, 2002, p. 340). For egalitarians, the first claim is not legitimate because it implies restricting individual rights, while the second is legitimate as it implies realizing or expanding such rights. Minority rights claims are also a response to nation state building processes that tend to impose a particular language and/or culture on minorities.

Feminism

Each political theory is represented within feminism, yet within this diversity feminists share a common core of critiques against mainstream political theories and their incapacity to consider women’s interests (Kymlicka, 2002, p. 377). First, the principle of non-discrimination against the female gender is not sufficient to rule out sexism. The concept of domination introduces the idea that society is defined for men. The more social institutions are designed for men, the fewer arbitrary discriminations are needed to exclude women because they will simply fail to fit positions defined for men (Kymlicka, 2002, pp. 382–383) (e.g. minimal weight requirements to enter the army, the incompatibility of childcare and full-time work, etc.).

Second, classical theories draw a division between the public and private spheres. In this way, they neglect the question of equality within the family. Establishing a family has different consequences for men and women. Women perform most domestic work, must choose between career and family, and often become economically dependent on men who thus gain more decision-making power within the family (Kymlicka, 2002, p. 387). Contemporary feminism additionally argues that ‘feminine’ moral reasoning, through the ethic of care, can be a source of moral insight. While theories of justice focus on moral principles universally applicable and based on concepts such as rights and fairness, the ethic of care focuses on the development of moral dispositions that allow one to identify appropriate responses to particular cases based on concepts of responsibilities and relationships (Kymlicka, 2002, p. 401).

Appendix B: References of the sample

Author	Title	Publication title	Year	Citations
Austin, James; Stevenson, Howard; Wei-Skillern, Jane	Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship: Same, Different, or Both?	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2006	2658
Mair, Johanna; Marti, Ignasi	Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids: A case study from Bangladesh	Journal of Business Venturing	2009	2505
Alvord, Sarah H.; Brown, L. David; Letts, Christine W	Social entrepreneurship and societal transformation: An exploratory study	The journal of applied behavioral science	2004	1984
Peredo, Ana María; McLean, Murdith	Social entrepreneurship: A critical review of the concept	Journal of World Business	2006	1394
Zahra, Shaker A.; Gedajlovic, Eric; Neubaum, Donald O.; Shulman, Joel M	A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges	Journal of Business Venturing	2009	1369
Murphy, Patrick J.; Coombes, Susan M	A Model of Social Entrepreneurial Discovery	Journal of Business Ethics	2009	1182
Thompson, John L	The world of the social entrepreneur	International Journal of Public Sector Management	2002	1044
Weerawardena, Jay; Mort, Gillian Sullivan	Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model	Journal of World Business	2006	1020
Thompson, John; Alvy, Geoff; Lees, Ann	Social entrepreneurship – a new look at the people and the potential	Management Decision	2000	1004
Eikenberry, A. M.; Kluver, J. D	The marketization of the nonprofit sector: Civil society at risk?	Public Administration Review	2004	965
Shaw, Eleanor; Carter, Sara	Social entrepreneurship: Theoretical antecedents and empirical analysis of entrepreneurial processes and outcomes	Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development	2007	867
Seelos, Christian; Mair, Johanna	Social entrepreneurship: Creating new business models to serve the poor	Business Horizons	2005	859
Dacin, Peter A.; Dacin, M. Tina; Matear, Margaret	Social Entrepreneurship: Why We Don't Need a New Theory and How We Move Forward From Here	The Academy of Management Perspectives	2010	847
Short, Jeremy C.; Moss, Todd W.; Lumpkin, G. T	Research in Social Entrepreneurship: Past Contributions and Future Opportunities	Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal	2009	793
Defourny, Jacques; Nyssens, Marthe	Conceptions of Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: Convergences and Divergences	Journal of Social Entrepreneurship	2010	730
Santos, Filipe M	A Positive Theory of Social Entrepreneurship	Journal of Business Ethics	2012	706
Mair, Johanna; Noboa, Ernesto	Social entrepreneurship: How intentions to create a social venture are formed	Social Entrepreneurship	2006	649
Chell, Elizabeth	Social enterprise and entrepreneurship: towards a convergent theory of the entrepreneurial process	International small business journal	2007	622
Zahra, Shaker A.; Rawhouser, Hans N.; Bhawe, Nachiket; Neubaum, Donald O.; Hayton, James C	Globalization of social entrepreneurship opportunities	Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal	2008	610
Dacin, M. Tina; Dacin, Peter A.; Tracey, Paul	Social Entrepreneurship: A Critique and Future Directions	Organization Science	2011	575
Nicholls, Alex	The Legitimacy of Social Entrepreneurship: Reflexive Isomorphism in a Pre-Paradigmatic Field	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2010	569
Sharir, M.; Lerner, M	Gauging the success of social ventures initiated by individual social entrepreneurs	Journal of World Business	2006	553
Di Domenico, MariaLaura; Haugh, Helen; Tracey, Paul	Social Bricolage: Theorizing Social Value Creation in Social Enterprises	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2010	550
Waddock, Sandra A.; Post, James E	Social Entrepreneurs and Catalytic Change	Public Administration Review	1991	529
Fowler, A	NGDOs as a moment in history: beyond aid to social entrepreneurship or civic innovation?	Third World Quarterly	2000	521
Tracey, Paul; Phillips, Nelson; Jarvis, Owen	Bridging Institutional Entrepreneurship and the Creation of New Organizational Forms: A Multilevel Model	Organization Science	2011	508
Lepoutre, Jan; Justo, Rachida; Terjesen, Siri; Bosma, Niels	Designing a global standardized methodology for measuring social entrepreneurship activity: the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor social entrepreneurship study	Small Business Economics	2013	450
Spear, Roger	Social entrepreneurship: a different model?	International Journal of Social Economics	2006	444
Montgomery, A.; Dacin, Peter; Dacin, M	Collective Social Entrepreneurship: Collaboratively Shaping Social Good	Journal of Business Ethics	2012	373
Haugh, Helen	A research agenda for social entrepreneurship	Social enterprise journal	2005	360
Robinson, Jeffrey	Navigating social and institutional barriers to markets: How social entrepreneurs identify and evaluate opportunities	Social entrepreneurship	2006	357
Bacq, S.; Janssen, F	The multiple faces of social entrepreneurship: A review of definitional issues based on geographical and thematic criteria	Entrepreneurship & Regional Development	2011	356
Nicholls, Alex	'We do good things, don't we?': 'Blended Value Accounting' in social entrepreneurship	Accounting Organizations and Society	2009	355
Perrini, Francesco; Vurro, Clodia	Social entrepreneurship: Innovation and social change across theory and practice	Social entrepreneurship	2006	355
Korosec, Ronnie L.; Berman, Evan M	Municipal support for social entrepreneurship	Public Administration Review	2006	340
Thompson, John; Doherty, Bob	The diverse world of social enterprise: A collection of social enterprise stories	International Journal of Social Economics	2006	340
Dey, Pascal; Steyaert, Chris	The politics of narrating social entrepreneurship	Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy	2010	314
Corner, Patricia Doyle; Ho, Marcus	How Opportunities Develop in Social Entrepreneurship	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2010	312
Tan, Wee-Liang; Williams, John; Tan, Teck-Meng	Defining the ‘Social’ in ‘Social Entrepreneurship’: Altruism and Entrepreneurship	The International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal	2005	307
Cho, Albert Hyunbae	Politics, values and social entrepreneurship: A critical appraisal	Social entrepreneurship	2006	295
Smith, Wendy K.; Besharov, Marya L.; Wessels, Anke K.; Chertok, Michael	A paradoxical leadership model for social entrepreneurs: Challenges, leadership skills, and pedagogical tools for managing social and commercial demands	Academy of Management Learning & Education	2012	281
Hockerts, Kai	Entrepreneurial opportunity in social purpose business ventures	Social entrepreneurship	2006	272
Ansari, Shahzad; Munir, Kamal; Gregg, Tricia	Impact at the 'Bottom of the Pyramid': The Role of Social Capital in Capability Development and Community Empowerment	Journal of Management Studies	2012	250
Anderson, Robert B.; Dana, Leo Paul; Dana, Teresa E	Indigenous land rights, entrepreneurship, and economic development in Canada: "Opting-in" to the global economy	Journal of World Business	2006	247
Smith, Wendy K.; Gonin, Michael; Besharov, Marya L	Managing Social-Business Tensions: A Review and Research Agenda for Social Enterprise	Business Ethics Quarterly	2013	247
Roper, Juliet; Cheney, George	The meanings of social entrepreneurship today	Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society	2005	237
Nga, Joyce Koe Hwee; Shamuganathan, Gomathi	The Influence of Personality Traits and Demographic Factors on Social Entrepreneurship Start Up Intentions	Journal of Business Ethics	2010	236
Choi, Nia; Majumdar, Satyajit	Social entrepreneurship as an essentially contested concept: Opening a new avenue for systematic future research	Journal of Business Venturing	2014	231
Parkinson, Caroline; Howorth, Carole	The language of social entrepreneurs	Entrepreneurship and Regional Development	2008	231
Morris, Michael H.; Webb, Justin W.; Franklin, Rebecca J	Understanding the Manifestation of Entrepreneurial Orientation in the Nonprofit Context	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2011	229
Calic, Goran; Mosakowski, Elaine	Kicking Off Social Entrepreneurship: How A Sustainability Orientation Influences Crowdfunding Success	Journal of Management Studies	2016	227
Littlewood, David; Holt, Diane	Social Entrepreneurship in South Africa: Exploring the Influence of Environment	Business & Society	2018	224
Weerawardena, Jay; McDonald, Robert E.; Mort, Gillian Sullivan	Sustainability of nonprofit organizations: An empirical investigation	Journal of World Business	2010	219
Renko, Maija	Early Challenges of Nascent Social Entrepreneurs	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2013	218
Townsend, David M.; Hart, Timothy A	Perceived institutional ambiguity and the choice of organizational form in social entrepreneurial ventures	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2008	218
Estrin, Saul; Mickiewicz, Tomasz; Stephan, Ute	Entrepreneurship, Social Capital, and Institutions: Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship Across Nations	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2013	214
Jones, Robert; Latham, James; Betta, Michela	Narrative construction of the social entrepreneurial identity	International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research	2008	213
Stephan, Ute; Uhlaner, Lorraine M.; Stride, Christopher	Institutions and social entrepreneurship: The role of institutional voids, institutional support, and institutional configurations	Journal of International Business Studies	2015	213
Hockerts, Kai	Determinants of social entrepreneurial intentions	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2017	212
Rivera-Santos, Miguel; Holt, Diane; Littlewood, David; Kolk, Ans	Social entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa	Academy of Management Perspectives	2015	212
Estrin, Saul; Mickiewicz, Tomasz; Stephan, Ute	Human capital in social and commercial entrepreneurship	Journal of Business Venturing	2016	197
Kraus, Sascha; Filser, Matthias; O’Dwyer, Michele; Shaw, Eleanor	Social Entrepreneurship: An exploratory citation analysis	Review of Managerial Science	2014	196
Mair, Johanna; Schoen, Oliver	Successful social entrepreneurial business models in the context of developing economies: An explorative study	International Journal of Emerging Markets	2007	194
Zahra, Shaker A.; Newey, Lance R.; Li, Yong	On the frontiers: The implications of social entrepreneurship for international entrepreneurship	Entrepreneurship theory and practice	2014	194
Miller, Toyah L.; Grimes, Matthew G.; McMullen, Jeffery S.; Vogus, Timothy J	Venturing for Others with Heart and Head: How Compassion Encourages Social Entrepreneurship	Academy of Management Review	2012	193
Hall, Jeremy; Matos, Stelvia; Sheehan, Lorn; Silvestre, Bruno	Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid: A Recipe for Inclusive Growth or Social Exclusion?	Journal of Management Studies	2012	192
Wilson, Fiona; Post, James E	Business models for people, planet (& profits): exploring the phenomena of social business, a market-based approach to social value creation	Small Business Economics	2013	192
Seelos, Christian; Mair, Johanna; Battilana, Julie; Dacin, M. Tina	The embeddedness of social entrepreneurship: Understanding variation across local communities	Communities and organizations	2011	190
Sud, Mukesh; VanSandt, Craig V.; Baugous, Amanda M	Social Entrepreneurship: The Role of Institutions	Journal of Business Ethics	2009	189
Felício, J. Augusto; Martins Gonçalves, Helena; da Conceição Gonçalves, Vítor	Social value and organizational performance in non-profit social organizations: Social entrepreneurship, leadership, and socioeconomic context effects	Journal of Business Research	2013	188
Mair, J.; Marti, I	Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight	Journal of World Business	2006	187
Meyskens, Moriah; Robb-Post, Colleen; Stamp, Jeffrey A.; Carsrud, Alan L.; Reynolds, Paul D	Social Ventures from a Resource-Based Perspective: An Exploratory Study Assessing Global Ashoka Fellows	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2010	187
Phillips, Wendy; Lee, Hazel; Ghobadian, Abby; O’Regan, Nicholas; James, Peter	Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Review	Group & Organization Management	2015	185
Saebi, Tina; Foss, Nicolai J; Linder, Stefan	Social Entrepreneurship Research: Past Achievements and Future Promises	Journal of Management	2019	185
Mair, Johanna; Battilana, Julie; Cardenas, Julian	Organizing for Society: A Typology of Social Entrepreneuring Models	Journal of Business Ethics	2012	184
Datta, Punita Bhatt; Gailey, Robert	Empowering Women Through Social Entrepreneurship: Case Study of a Women's Cooperative in India	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2012	183
Rey-Martí, Andrea; Ribeiro-Soriano, Domingo; Palacios-Marqués, Daniel	A bibliometric analysis of social entrepreneurship	Journal of Business Research	2016	181
Chell, Elizabeth; Nicolopoulou, Katerina; Karataş-Özkan, Mine	Social entrepreneurship and enterprise: International and innovation perspectives	Entrepreneurship & Regional Development	2010	164
Desa, Geoffrey	Resource Mobilization in International Social Entrepreneurship: Bricolage as a Mechanism of Institutional Transformation	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2012	159
Bull, Michael	Challenging tensions: critical, theoretical and empirical perspectives on social enterprise	International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research	2008	158
Smith, Brett R.; Stevens, Christopher E	Different types of social entrepreneurship: The role of geography and embeddedness on the measurement and scaling of social value	Entrepreneurship & Regional Development	2010	157
Kistruck, Geoffrey M.; Beamish, Paul W	The Interplay of Form, Structure, and Embeddedness in Social Intrapreneurship	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2010	153
Lehner, Othmar M	Crowdfunding social ventures: a model and research agenda	Venture Capital	2013	151
Mort, Gillian Sullivan; Weerawardena, Jay; Carnegie, Kashonia	Social entrepreneurship: towards conceptualisation	International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing	2003	150
Bradley, Steven W.; McMullen, Jeffery S.; Artz, Kendall; Simiyu, Edward M	Capital Is Not Enough: Innovation in Developing Economies	Journal of Management Studies	2012	142
Lumpkin, G. T.; Moss, Todd W.; Gras, David M.; Kato, Shoko; Amezcua, Alejandro S	Entrepreneurial processes in social contexts: how are they different, if at all?	Small Business Economics	2013	138
Austin, James E	Three avenues for social entrepreneurship research	Social entrepreneurship	2006	137
Shaw, Eleanor; de Bruin, Anne	Reconsidering capitalism: the promise of social innovation and social entrepreneurship?	International Small Business Journal	2013	137
Perrini, Francesco; Vurro, Clodia; Costanzo, Laura A	A process-based view of social entrepreneurship: From opportunity identification to scaling-up social change in the case of San Patrignano	Entrepreneurship & Regional Development	2010	135
Moore, Michele-Lee; Westley, Frances	Surmountable Chasms: Networks and Social Innovation for Resilient Systems	Ecology and Society	2011	134
Desa, Geoffrey; Basu, Sandip	Optimization or Bricolage? Overcoming Resource Constraints in Global Social Entrepreneurship	Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal	2013	132
Nicholls, Alex	Institutionalizing social entrepreneurship in regulatory space: Reporting and disclosure by community interest companies	Accounting Organizations and Society	2010	130
Dempsey, Sarah E.; Sanders, Matthew L	Meaningful work? Nonprofit marketization and work/life imbalance in popular autobiographies of social entrepreneurship	Organization	2010	128
Dees, J	A Tale of Two Cultures: Charity, Problem Solving, and the Future of Social Entrepreneurship	Journal of Business Ethics	2012	124
Ruebottom, Trish	The microstructures of rhetorical strategy in social entrepreneurship: Building legitimacy through heroes and villains	Journal of Business Venturing	2013	124
Hayhurst, Lyndsay M. C	The ‘Girl Effect’ and martial arts: social entrepreneurship and sport, gender and development in Uganda	Gender, Place & Culture	2014	120
Germak, Andrew J.; Robinson, Jeffrey A	Exploring the Motivation of Nascent Social Entrepreneurs	Journal of Social Entrepreneurship	2014	119
Hill, T. L.; Kothari, Tanvi H.; Shea, Matthew	Patterns of Meaning in the Social Entrepreneurship Literature: A Research Platform	Journal of Social Entrepreneurship	2010	111
Dorado, Silvia; Ventresca, Marc J	Crescive entrepreneurship in complex social problems: Institutional conditions for entrepreneurial engagement	Journal of Business Venturing	2013	109
Stevens, Robin; Moray, Nathalie; Bruneel, Johan	The Social and Economic Mission of Social Enterprises: Dimensions, Measurement, Validation, and Relation	Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice	2015	106

Appendix C: Initial political philosophy keywords

Our initial analysis also included a template of moral philosophy keywords based on Reidenbach and Robin’s normative philosophy scale (Reidenbach and Robin, 1988, 1990). We found however that ethical philosophies themes were quite well covered by our political philosophy template. For example, ethical concern of justice matches egalitarianism, relativist questions are discussed within communitarianism and multiculturalism, deontology may appear through notions of contracts, utilitarianism is both a political and moral philosophy, and egoism/altruism is addressed through ethics of care.

Reidenbach, R. E., & Robin, D. P., (1988). Some initial steps toward improving the measurement of ethical evaluations of marketing activities. Journal of Business Ethics, 7(11), 871–879.

Reidenbach, R. E., & Robin, D. P., (1990). Toward the development of a multidimensional scale for improving evaluations of business ethics. Journal of business ethics, 9(8), 639–653.

Philosophy	Key ideas	Keywords
Utilitarianism	Maximization of welfare	welfare, utility, maximization, preferences, interests, value
Liberal egalitarianism	Primary goods	primary goods, liberty, opportunity, income, wealth, self-respect, power, equal rights, basic rights, equality of opportunity, civil rights, political rights, basic liberties, fair share, basic income, equal freedom
	Least favoured	least favoured, disadvantaged, disabled
Libertarianism	Absolute property rights	property, property rights, property ownership, absolute property, material welfare, self-ownership
	Mutual advantage and chosen exchanges	mutual advantage, contract, convention, social contract, rational choice, bargaining power, cooperation, freeriding
	Liberty	liberty, freedom
Marxism	Alienation and exploitation of workers	alienation, exploitation, socialization of the means of production, class conflict, oppression, revolution
Communitarianism	Culture and group identity	culture, tradition, common good, communitarian, shared practices, shared experiences, shared culture, shared identity, shared goal, solidarity, identity, way of life
Citizenship theory	Virtue and citizens behaviour	civic, civic virtue, citizenship, voice, empowerment, responsibility, public debate, deliberation, deliberative democracy, civility, civil society, republican
Multiculturalism	Minority cultures	diversity, cultural diversity, cultural pluralism, recognition, exclusion, excluded, marginalization, marginalized, assimilation, integration, minority group, minorities, stigmatization, stigmatized, indigenous peoples, national minorities, immigrants, ethnocultural groups, ethnoreligious groups, refugees
Feminism	Gender equality	male biased, sexual discrimination, sexual inequalities, gender-biased, sex discrimination, sexual discrimination, sex equality, domination, dominance, women’s subordination, sexist, sexism, oppression, family, private sphere, domestic, women
	Feminist ethic	ethic of care, care theory, feminine ethic, feminist ethic, caregiver, empathy

Appendix D: Final political philosophy keywords*

Philosophy	Theme	Keywords
Utilitarianism	Social welfare	public welfare | total welfare | global welfare | total utilit* | public utilit* | global utilit* | wellbeing | well-being | life satisfaction | preferences satisfaction
	Maximization	maximiz* | maximis*
	Efficiency	efficient |inefficient |cost*benefit* | avoid* cost*
Liberal Equality	Basic rights	primary good* |basic right* |basic good* |equal* right* | equal* opportunity | political right* | civil right* |basic libert* | fair share | basic income |equal* freedom | basic need* | capability approach | capabilities | empower*
	Least favoured	least favour*|least favor*| disadvantag* | disab*
Libertarianism	Mutual advantage	win–win | mutual advantage| bargaining power | social contract
	Maximize freedom	|maximi* libert* | maximi* freedom
	Property rights	private property | private ownership |property right*
Marixsm	Marxism	alienat* | exploit* worker | exploit* employee*| socializ* mean production | class* conflict* | oppress* | revolution | marxi* | bourgeois
Communitarianism	Communitarianism	common good | communitarian | share* practice* | share* experience* | share* culture | share* identity | share* goal* | common practice* | common experience* | common culture | common identit*| common goal* | collective practice* | collective experience* | collective culture | collective identit* | collective goal* |solidarity | way of life
Citizenship Theory	Civic	civic | civic virtue | citizenship | civility | civil society | engagement | commitment | involvment
	Democracy	| deliberati* | deliberative democracy | public debate | democra* | participatory | participation
Multiculturalism	Cultural Groups	indigenous | indigenous peoples | national minorities | immigrant* | migrant* | ethnocultural group* | ethnoreligious group* | refugee* | ethnic* minorit*
	Cultural Diversity	cultural diversity | cultural pluralism | cultural recognition | cultural* exlus* | cultural* marginaliz* | cultural assimilation | cultural integration | minority group* | minorities | cultural* stigmatiz*| cultural* stigmatis* | multicultural*
Feminism	Feminism	feminis*
	Ethics of Care	ethic* care | care theor* | feminine ethic* | feminist ethic
	Empathy	empat*
	Gender equality	male bias* | male dominat* | men dominat* | sex* discrimination* | sex**equalit* | gender-bias* | gender *equalit* | gender discrimination* | gender dominat* | gender oppression | wom*n* subordination | wom*n* right* | wom*n* discrimination | wom*n* oppression | sexis* | gender

* The pipe ‘|’ represents the Boolean operator OR and the wild card ‘*’ represents multiple missing characters.