Causal performativity and the definition of social entrepreneurship

There is an emerging consensus among scholars that a unified definition of social entrepreneurship would empower better research and legitimize the entire field. In spite of these benefits, none of the four definitions identified here is clearly superior to the others. Moreover, a unified definition might be unattainable and it would arguably also have negative side effects that have been so far overlooked—namely, managerial issues for social entrepreneurs, efficiency issues for the economic system, theoretical issues for scholars, as well as ethical issues at large. Finally, this chapter argues that the alleged benefits of a unified definition might be obtained with two definitions or more.