Social Impact in Social Entrepreneurship: Conceptualization, Manifestation, and Measurement

This doctoral dissertation comprises a set of three interrelated scientific articles that collectively advance theoretical understanding of social impact within the context of social entrepreneurship. The first article, a systematic integrative review, clarifies the concept of social impact, delineating its theoretical underpinnings and proposing a theoretical framework towards a programmatic theory of social impact. The second article, a comparative qualitative study, develops an outcome-based typology of social enterprises, highlighting the varied ways in which these ventures create social impact. The third article, a quantitative study, empirically examines the drivers of social impact measurement practices in nascent social enterprises, illuminating imprinted organizational characteristics that influence the adoption of these practices.