Integrating Mission, Governance, and Generosity in Social Entrepreneurship: Insights from the Economy of the Gift

Abstract

In social entrepreneurship research, social businesses have increasingly been cited as a proper conduit to solutions for pressing social problems to transform societies into better places. As a result, the ethics of social entrepreneurship is often assumed but not explicitly explained. In this article, we reflect on this view and offer an alternative to enrich the comprehension of ethics in this area. We draw on Ricoeur’s notion of the economy of the gift, which stresses the generosity that we put in our relationships with others to evaluate the ethicality of our actions. This approach brings fresh insights to judge the ethics in the social entrepreneurship field with an integrative approach that goes beyond what is considered to serve a social mission or adopting a social governance but considering the ethics of actions in the immediacy and singularity of each relationship and situation.