Enabling and constraining: Deepening understanding of context in social entrepreneurship research

Social entrepreneurship is widely regarded as a powerful mechanism for addressing many of today’s most urgent social and environmental challenges. In research and success narratives, social entrepreneurs are often portrayed as central drivers of change. However, such views frequently overlook the complex and reciprocal influence of their environments, resulting in unrealistic expectations and incomplete theoretical perspectives. This dissertation challenges these narratives by investigating the dynamic interplay between social entrepreneurship and context. The research is structured around three key inquiries: how social entrepreneurs actively shape enabling contexts, how they demonstrate resilience in constraining conditions, and how they navigate the complexities of embedding circular business models within linear economic systems. Insights are derived from a rich qualitative methodology, including ethnography and longitudinal case studies of Dutch social enterprises. By examining how social entrepreneurs interact with enabling and constraining contextual elements, this research reveals social entrepreneurship as a deeply relational and context-dependent process.