The entrepreneurship concept as a subject of social innovation

What is essentially innovation occurs at the level of social behavioural patterns, routines, practices and settings. An innovation is therefore social to the extent that, either conveyed by the market or the non-profit sector, it is socially accepted and widely diffused throughout the society or in certain societal sub-domains, transformed depending on circumstances and ultimately institutionalized as new social practices or routines emerge. The field of social innovation turns critical societal problems into opportunities by actively involving the community actors. In the last years, we have identified that in the international academic debate a discussion is evolving around a number of interconnected concepts which intrinsically include two apparently contradictory dimensions: social and economic. Among them, one of the most visible is the social entrepreneurship concept. Social economy organizations, representing the outputs of the social entrepreneurship process, are extensively innovating; both in terms of the organizational forms they developed and in the manner they perform managerial activities. They are solving in new and innovative ways the tasks of planning, organizing, leading, motivating and controlling resources and people in order to achieve effectively and efficiently their purpose and objectives, fundamentally connected to social needs. Our paper contributes to clarifying the relation between the two concepts of innovation and social innovation by exploring the "socializing" trend that is conditioning relevant economic concepts. Meantime, by revealing the historic background and generic definition of the social entrepreneurship concept, we are advocating for the social innovation dimension of the social entrepreneurship concept. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.