What Does It Take to Be a Social Entrepreneur?

Abstract

Contemporary society is characterized by the prevalence of wicked problems to which the efforts and actions of some entrepreneurs have negatively contributed to social problems. Corporate social responsibility emerged as an early response to multi-factor problems that are difficult to conceptualize or structure, but it has had limited success in engendering significant structural societal change. Social entrepreneurship is a contested construct that typically includes the social entrepreneur. A definition of social entrepreneurs is provided drawing on the literature. Social entrepreneurs offer leadership for social innovation outcomes as an antidote to prevailing social issues. This contributes to the literature on social entrepreneurs by examining how social entrepreneurs lead in the digital era. Importantly, this chapter considers the role that authentic leader behaviors (awareness, sincerity, balanced processing, positive moral perspectives, and informal influence) has in enabling social entrepreneurs to create and innovate.