In 2010, the Initiative on Social Entrepreneurship, Trinity College Dublin, carried out exploratory research to map the characteristics, behaviours and facets of Irish Social Entrepreneurial Enterprises. The aim of the mapping study was to examine more closely the nature of social entrepreneurial enterprises in Ireland, and gain a better understanding of their structures, activities and entrepreneurial behaviours as distinct organisational structures on the Social Economy Continuum.
In the study social entrepreneurial enterprises were viewed as enterprises, businesses or projects that are run to provide products and services that generate social and environmental return. This survey was aimed at those enterprises that saw themselves as a business with the primary objective of creating social value.
A zoomerang survey was developed and gathered information relating to their activities, funding sources, income generation and sources, and questions that examined their overall "entrepreneurialness". The online survey was launched on 25th February 2010 and remained active until 11th March 2010. 194 individuals or enterprises responded. Once the survey was closed, raw data files were downloaded from the Zoomerang website and converted from MS Excel into SPSS for analysis.
The findings of the research are presented in our Report entitled "Mapping Social Entrepreneurial Enterprises in Ireland" and can be downloaded on the Initiative on Social Entrepreneurship web pages (http://www.tcd.ie/business/cnm/research/initiative-social-entrepreneurship/sei-mapping.php) In addition, we have created a number of shorter snapshot documents that can be downloaded, that discuss some of the key findings of the full Report. The snapshots are as follows:
The Mapping of Social Entrepreneurial Enterprises in Ireland is an exploratory study, and we hope to continue to develop and carryout further research in this area. For more information on the Initiative on Social Entrepreneurship, contact Dr. Denise Crossan at crossand@tcd.ie
Denise Crossan
Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship
School of Business
3.21 Aras an Phiarsaigh
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin 2
+1 8963462
crossand@tcd.ie
3.21 Aras an Phiarsaigh
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin 2
+1 8963462
crossand@tcd.ie
