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Spirituality in social entrepreneurship: an ethical approach to sustainability

Diwakar Singh (School of Business Public Policy and Social Entrepreneurship, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, Delhi, India)
Richa Awasthy (School of Business Public Policy and Social Entrepreneurship, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, Delhi, India)

Social Enterprise Journal

ISSN: 1750-8614

Article publication date: 8 October 2024

101

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to present a sustainability framework that advances the conceptual understanding of the role of spirituality in the context of social entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a systematic literature review of spirituality at both the individual and organisational levels, the triple bottom line framework of sustainability, and business ethics, this study offers a sustainability framework for social entrepreneurship. It explains how spirituality at these levels influences various dimensions of social entrepreneurship and helps achieve social, economic, environmental and ethical outcomes.

Findings

The study proposed that individuals with spiritual practices are more likely to engage in entrepreneurial, social, ethical and environmental orientations, while organisations with spiritual practices are more likely to engage in employee, market and ethical orientations. Spiritual capability can serve as a strategic advantage and contribute to the sustainable development of social enterprises.

Originality/value

This study makes three significant contributions. First, it presents an emergent framework for integrating spirituality (at both individual and organisational levels) and sustainability within the social entrepreneurship literature, offering implications for both social entrepreneurs and social enterprises. Second, this study proposes incorporating ethics as the fourth dimension of sustainability and argues that spirituality can act as a catalyst for achieving sustainability in social entrepreneurship. Third, this study identifies seven critical dimensions of social entrepreneurship: spiritual capabilities, entrepreneurial orientation, social orientation, environmental orientation, market orientation, ethical orientation and employee orientation, all of which contribute to ethical and sustainable development.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the editor, associate editor, and the anonymous reviewers of Social Enterprise Journal for their helpful comments and suggestions in improving the ideas presented in this paper.No funding was received for this research.

Citation

Singh, D. and Awasthy, R. (2024), "Spirituality in social entrepreneurship: an ethical approach to sustainability", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-05-2024-0083

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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