Meaningful difficulties in the mapping of social enterprises

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight conceptual and technical difficulties in mapping “social enterprise” and “social purpose business” organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reflects on the design and administration of a social enterprise population survey in Ontario, Canada.FindingsNumerous approaches used to frame social enterprise organizations were seriously flawed and fundamentally problematic, and criteria to distinguish social enterprise from other organizations were seemingly arbitrary, unstable, or unworkable.Originality/valueThis paper both contributes to those attempting to empirically research social enterprise organizations, and to the broader discussion concerning whether social enterprise is usefully approached as a distinctive organizational form.