Where Change Happens: Community-Level Phenomena in Social Entrepreneurship Research

Social entrepreneurship (SE) research has advanced understanding of the dynamics and processes underlying positive social change. Yet only scant attention has been paid to where that change happens. We suggest that a community level of analysis is essential for understanding the extra-organizational settings implied by the “social” in “social entrepreneurship.” We adopt a UNESCO-inspired community typology including geographical communities, communities of interest or solidarity, communities of identity, and intentional communities as an organizing framework. Relying on a wealth creation perspective, we evaluate the social change that takes place by assessing four different types of capital created within communities—physical capital, financial capital, human capital, and social capital. Based on a review of 57 peer-reviewed journals and 8 leading case study outlets, we find that examples of all four community types and all four capital types are evident in the SE literature. We discuss the implications of the community as a locus of SE activity and capital as an indicator of social impact in future research.