Narrating the 'social': the evolving stories of Pakistan's social entrepreneurs

Sammanfattning

Social enterprises are often characterized by the vision and drive of an individual founder. We challenge this by taking inspiration from Alistair R. Anderson's arguments that social entrepreneurship is better understood as enacted within a social context. We move beyond linear conceptualizations to consider a more nuanced, contextually informed picture, where understandings of what it is to be 'social' in one's entrepreneuring are created at the interaction of the individual and their situation. A narrative approach is used to analyse 25 life stories used by social entrepreneurs in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan, an area of social transition. We access how these entrepreneurs give meaning to the 'social' aspects of what they do. Our findings present a multifaceted character, defined by their responses to changing social contexts. This is manifest in entrepreneurial practice, where we have a vacillation between acts of social rebellion and an enterprising organization of benevolence, evolving in a social context which changes with and, in part, because of our social entrepreneurs. We move beyond definitional characteristics and closer to a theory of practice, by considering how social entrepreneurs interact with changing social demands and adapt their activities accordingly.

Nyckelord

social entrepreneurship; narratives; developing economy; Pakistan; context

Publicerad i

Entrepreneurship and Regional Development
2022, volym: 34, nummer: 7-8, sidor: 668-685
Utgivare: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR AND FRANCIS LTD

SLU författare

• Hashim, Hina

  • Institutionen för ekonomi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen (SDG)

SDG8 Anständiga arbetsvillkor och ekonomisk tillväxt

UKÄ forskningsämne

Sociologi (exklusive socialt arbete, socialpsykologi och socialantropologi)

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2022.2077990

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/117404