Details
Year: 2023
Published in: Journal of the Knowledge Economy
Cited as: Christopoulos, T. P., Verga Matos, P., & Borges, R. D. (2023). An Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation: How the State Integrates Actors for Developing Impact Investing in Portugal. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 1-25.
Subject
An Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation: How the State Integrates Actors for Developing Impact Investing in Portugal
Abstract
In this article, we explore how an important state intervention in cooperation with many civil society actors led to impact investing feld emergence, intending to create favourable conditions for social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted in Portugal, with the main players in the feld, including private sector, government, NGOs, and EU authorities. The ecosystem formed by these actors is analysed under the institutional theory lens and through an inductive method, leading to a process-based model. The results of our case study show a state struggling to involve private sector in providing resources to the feld. On demand side, new entrepreneurs are fnding difculties in meeting legal requirements and answering suppliers’ selection criteria. Intermediaries contribute to reducing complexities, but are fghting to encounter their place in the feld. Our evidences further suggest that social entrepreneurship and social innovation could be implemented as socially embedded actions, in response to local demands.
