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This paper aims to investigate the issue of performance measurement of social enterprises with main particular focus on economic performance approach reflecting local aspect, since the local aspect plays a significant role in social entrepreneurship concept. Thus, comparison of two instruments that consider local aspects: local multiplier 3 (LM3) and Input-Output analysis is examined. Input-Output analysis is empirically used to calculate social enterprises’ impact on the Czech economy and to confirm the assumption to be more suitable instrument for economic performance measurement of social enterprises in comparison to local multiplier 3 method.

The research adopted two-phase approach. At first a qualitative approach was used to compare the two selected instruments (LM3 and Input-Output analysis). Consequently, a quantitative research was applied to determine the impact of social enterprises’ activities on the economies of individual regions. The research was carried out on a sample of social enterprises (143 subjects) in the Czech Republic covering the year 2015. For this approach, Symmetric Input-Output tables and multipliers were calculated and revenue data from each observed social enterprise were used.

The findings of the research indicate effects of social enterprises’ activities on the economy in individual regions of the Czech Republic. The results clearly show that the impact of social enterprises on the Czech economy is not negligible. Calculated impacts differ in sectors as well as in regions. Besides, of these findings, the assumption that the Input-Output analysis is more appropriate instrument for economic performance measurement of social enterprises, especially in situation of a larger sample of social enterprises in different regions, in comparison to LM3 method, was confirmed.

The limitations of this study is the dependence on the Symmetric Input-Output tables, which are usually published by local statistical offices and it takes some time to construct them. A more significant limitation and future research direction relates to the lack of generally accepted measurement framework in the sector of social enterprises and lack of the data, especially quantitative, in the Czech Republic.

The findings of the research represent a significant contribution to the process chain of understanding the role of social enterprises in (local) economy. The lack of proven impact of social enterprises to economy is considered as important limit of this sector development, not only from the perspective of investors and donors but also from the perspective of policymakers and even social enterprises themselves. The Input-Output analysis can be applied for any region of any country and can contribute to reduce scepticism about economic performance of social enterprises, thus to support putting social and environmental goals of social enterprises into practice.

This research has been carried out on the so far largest identified sample of social enterprises in the Czech Republic and provides data for discourse among stakeholders about social enterprises’ impact; thus, it enables to understand their impact and make capable to enlarge their support network and development.

This research is a pioneering attempt to provide data about economic impact of social enterprises using Input-Output analysis in the Czech Republic. No previous research identifies such a large sample of Czech social enterprises and collects quantitative data about them, as well as considers Input-Output analysis as an option instead of LM3 method. The effort of this research has been to react on a research gap in studies related to the impact of social enterprises (reflecting local aspect). This paper could be understood as beneficial not only from the perspective of the Czech Republic but also worldwide.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the current state of education in the field of social enterprise in Slovakia and its support, share the experience of social entrepreneurship education providers and formulate recommendations for the development of human resources in the context of supporting social enterprise.

This paper is presented as a case study. It is based on the initial experience of education providers in the field of social entrepreneurship in Slovakia, as the concept of integrating social entrepreneurship into education in Slovak conditions is currently in the phase of gradual establishment.

One of the biggest barriers of the development of education is insufficient awareness and overall promotion of social enterprise in Slovakia. The general public lacks awareness on the topic of social enterprise and a general platform on social enterprise, which would provide information on the possibilities of formal and non-formal education, is missing.

The findings of this paper are based on the limited experience of social entrepreneurship education providers, as the systematic concept of integrating social entrepreneurship into education in Slovak conditions is currently in the phase of gradual establishment.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study, which provides an overview of the present situation of education in the field of social enterprise from the perspective of the experience of the addressed organizations, their opinions and perception.

To study some of the difficulties involved in defining the nature of social enterprises and the environments in which they operate in order to provide a framework to show how and where social enterprises fit in the overall social economy.

The complexity of organizations involved in the spectrum of the social economy is discussed in terms of the literature to show how many social enterprises in the UK and worldwide can be categorized as small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Discusses the ambiguity prevalent in the social economy concerning the terms and concepts of “not for profit”, “non‐profit”, social enterprise and social entrepreneur and illustrates the successes, failures and difficulties of the social enterprise sector.

The four key issues which the definitional debate needs to address, comprise: voluntary participation; independence from the state; the concept of profit (profit making, appropriateness of profit making from certain activities, profit maximization, profit distribution); and ownership and corporate governance. Illustrates the points made in the article with particular reference to three case studies involving: Edinburgh Lothian Council On Alcohol (ELCA) (company limited by guarantee with charitable status); First Scottish University Credit Union Ltd (FSUCUL) (credit union); and Forth Sector (social firm).

Sorts out some of the difficulties and complexities in the definition and classification of social enterprises.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the socio-economic background and development of social enterprises in Korea and identify representative social enterprise models.

The typology used in this study focuses on the interaction between civil society, the state and the market in their efforts to solve social problems. As a result, the typology is mainly related with social goals, although the organizational form is also taken into consideration when selecting representative social enterprises in each type so as to present a broad array of developmental histories.

This paper identified four types of social enterprises: work integration social enterprises; social service provision social enterprises; regional regeneration social enterprises; and alter-economy social enterprises. These types are not immutable; another form of social enterprise might emerge to address a new social issue and lead to a new strand of similar social enterprises.

This study found that the goals of social enterprises in Korea share common characteristics with those of social enterprises in European countries. Another outstanding feature of Korean social enterprises is that most social enterprises other than work integration social enterprises also regard work integration or job creation for the disadvantaged people as one of their important social missions.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical institutional context of Spain in the past 40 years and to analyze the influence of institutional factors in the current model of social enterprise existing in the country.

This study draws on the theory of historical institutionalism, national-level empirical data and Kerlin conceptual framework (2013) that informs models of social enterprise.

This paper describe some traits of Spain’s social enterprise that can be explained by the evolution of its institutional context in the past 40 years. It helps to validate, from a historical institutionalistic perspective, aspects of the Kerlin framework for social enterprise models. It also begins to show that the analysis of regional differences in the context should be taken into consideration when examining a country’s social enterprise space.

This discussion paper encourages academics to analyze regional differences in the emergence of social enterprise within a country. The main limitation of the paper is the lack of an “official” definition of social enterprise in Spain.

This paper applies a valuable framework to a country with a unique political and economic history in the past 40 years. It contributes to enrich the research on the emergence and development of social enterprises in a variety of contexts and advances understanding of how regional differences inside a country influence the development of social enterprises.

This paper aims to explain the development of the social economy by analyzing when, why and how the community interest company (CIC) legal structure was established in the UK. The CIC legal structure was designed for social enterprise to ensure that company assets are committed to public benefit in perpetuity.

This research paper uses archival data and semistructured interviews to analyze the historical development of the social economy, emergence of social enterprise and the establishment of the CIC legal structure.

The historical analysis describes why and how the idea for the CIC emerged from practitioners and explains how collaboration between practitioners, lawyers, civil servants and politicians established the CIC as a new legal structure for social enterprise.

The analysis explains how practitioners influenced policy development and demonstrates how practitioner influence can be usefully incorporated into policy development.

The CIC legal structure advanced the social economy by creating an institutionally recognized brand identity for social enterprise that locks assets to public benefit in perpetuity.

The paper presents a detailed empirical account of the establishment of a new legal structure for social enterprise and applies theoretical concepts to develop an integrated account of social economy advancement.

Social economy employees focus on personal fulfillment and social good rather than economic gains. They prefer to work in a sector that promotes satisfaction and makes them feel worthy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate employees’ motivations to engage in the social economy sector, especially in a period of financial downturn in Greece. Furthermore, the impact of specific demographic characteristics on employees’ work motivation is examined.

The research participants included 200 employees of worker cooperatives and social cooperative enterprises. A survey was conducted by collecting primary data and using a close-ended type questionnaire.

According to the findings, intrinsic forces motivate the employees to a greater extent toward social economy sector than economic ones. However, the replacement of the profit motivation from the main concern, it does not mean that the employees are not interested in financials. The survey also indicated that the most important barrier for starting to work in the social economy sector is the difficulty in finding partners. Finally, the findings showed that demographic characteristics partially influence work motivations of Greek employees on the social economy sector.

The results of this study may interest employers in finding new ways to motivate employees toward social economy sector under economic crisis conditions.

To investigate the application of the social enterprise model to the childcare sector in Scotland and develop a practical model for analysing such social enterprises.

A review of the literature of ideas on social enterprise found in official and academic literature is presented. The concept of “social enterprise” is reviewed with particular reference to features of the childcare sector that relate both generally and specifically to Scotland. Reports the results of a questionnaire survey, conducted in late 2005 and early 2006, involving 81 childcare organizations (27.0 per cent response rate).

The results indicated that about two‐thirds of the organizations operated at just one site, with playgroups tending to be local groups operating in relatively small geographical areas. Reveals that the issue of whether childcare should be free caused mixed but fairly evenly distributed responses, from strong agreement to strong disagreement, but the issue of external sources of funding and the problems involved caused the majority of respondents to agree that childcare services are unsustainable without external funding, a finding that shows that sustainability is not the same as self‐sufficiency. Concludes that childcare sector issues and social economy issues are the most significant.

Contributes to the social enterprises literature where there is a dearth of knowledge about the birth and death rates for social enterprises and where improved statistics would help in supporting sector‐related policies more effectively and understanding better the sector’s function and behaviour. Provides information that could be helpful for banks and other financial institutions that might be in a position to offer credit to these social enterprises.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the methodology proposed by the non‐governmental organisation (NGO) Anelixi to the Hellenic Ministry of Labour and Social Security, in an attempt to involve socially excluded persons in a local‐based project in Korydallos, Athens. The methods and actions employed by NGO Anelixi are explained and their effectiveness are discussed.

NGO Anelixi proposed a local‐based project, which was based on the theory of social economy, to the General Secretariat for Youth (Ministry of Labour and Social Security), under the general project title “Youth Initiatives 2010”. The current project was entitled as “Investigating the Possibilities of Employing Young Persons in the Social Economy Sector”. The specific project lasted six months (September 2010‐February 2011) and aimed to address the economic and social challenges of today, especially in Greece, which faces an economic recession. The ultimate aim of the specific project was placed on the macro‐level; it was aiming to empower young persons (18‐30 years old) in need to investigate the possibility of establishing a social enterprise (their own business) in the municipality of Korydallos.

The overall project would be successful, if the community was more sensitive and open to accept the new concept of social economy and social enterprises.

The overall value of this project is the fact that similar projects could be a first step towards youngers' motivation and empowerment in local communities, in order to prevent them from being socially excluded.

This paper critically assesses Western views on the social economy in contrast to everyday realities in a low-income country, and challenges ethnocentric epistemologies in the discourse of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship that is prevalent in international development. It charts the changing trajectory of the social economy and different influences.

Qualitative data is used to explore views of members of social enterprises in Northern Cambodia. Three enterprises with different characteristics were selected. Semi-structured interviews and a group discussion took place in each case, exploring motivation, values, empowerment, participation, equity, innovation and risk appetite.

The important roles social enterprises play in rural community development are sometimes at odds with the reasoning of Western development agencies. The social economy in Cambodia is undergoing change with the advancement of capitalist market forces. This suits formal businesses but could exacerbate the exclusion of various community actors.

Three case studies are in close proximity in Northern Cambodia, and the situated dynamics may not transfer well to other contexts. Some limitations are offset by the selection of different types of social enterprises.

The study gives insights of value to the designers of programmes or projects to support social enterprise who work within international development agencies and non-government organisations. For academics, it offers critical insight into assumptions about social enterprise that emanate from Western management literature.

This paper meets the need for close-up inter-disciplinary work on social enterprise development in under-represented contexts.