The social and environmental impact of entrepreneurship: a review and future research agenda

Abstract

This study seeks to systematize and integrate the scientific knowledge about the social and environmental impact of entrepreneurship. It does so by performing a bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review of 172 journal articles. The study provides an overview of the current knowledge on the topic by identifying four thematic clusters: “social entrepreneurship for societal impact”, “entrepreneurship for sustainable development”, “female entrepreneurship for institutional change”, and “entrepreneurship for inclusive regional development”. It further reveals that entrepreneurship literature predominantly focuses on social impact, with less emphasis on environmental impact, and it stresses the need for future research to avoid working in silos. In particular, it suggests that the boundaries between the different impact domains are elusive and that the interlinkages between social, environmental, and economic impact should be further explored. Finally, it proposes that further studies need to increase clarity in the conceptualization and operationalization of impact in entrepreneurship research, as well as to pay more attention to the negative impact of entrepreneurship.