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Social entrepreneurship in Portugal: Intervention and management models in third sector

Cristina Parente (Department of Sociology, Universidade do Porto - Faculdade de Letras, Porto, Portugal)

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

ISSN: 0144-333X

Article publication date: 11 July 2016

945

Abstract

Purpose

This paper provides a reflection about the usefulness of the concept of social entrepreneurship to Portuguese third sector organizations (TSOs) with the purpose of understanding the paths undertaken by the latter. Departing from a theoretical synthesis inspired by different approaches to social entrepreneurship, the purpose of this paper is to offer an operative view of the concept in light of the problematics of social innovation and organizational innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical analysis focuses on the intervention models and management models of these organizations. It uses a sequential methodological approach that combines extensive and intensive analyses.

Findings

The author has concluded that Portuguese TSOs show a fragile form of social entrepreneurship. This includes, among others, state dependency both in terms of models of financial management and the definition and regulation of activities, recipients and social intervention. This leads the author to claim, even though cautiously, that management models influence intervention models.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper lies on the use of an analytic framework that offers an eclectic approach to social entrepreneurship. This approach goes beyond some hidden contradictions between Anglo-Saxon schools of thought, namely, the earned income school of thought, and the school of social innovation, as well as the European perspective on social enterprises, and the Latin-American school of solidarity economy. These schools have been reconciled for the purposes of this analysis, which attempts to operationalize the notion of social entrepreneurship in the Portuguese TSOs.

Keywords

Citation

Parente, C. (2016), "Social entrepreneurship in Portugal: Intervention and management models in third sector", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 36 No. 7/8, pp. 531-546. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-01-2016-0002

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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