The dark side of doing good: a guiding framework for advancing research on the negative outcomes of social entrepreneurship

Abstract

Existing research on social entrepreneurship has tended to focus on its favorable outcomes and positive societal impacts. While we acknowledge and commend this optimistic perspective, we contend that the lack of robust and systematic attention given to the negative outcomes and effects of social entrepreneurship restricts our understanding of the subject and impedes further investigation. Accordingly, by addressing this deficiency, we aim to shape the development of a body of knowledge on the “dark side” of social entrepreneurship. To do so, we adopt a prescriptive approach to explore the instrumental question of how scholarship on the dark side of social entrepreneurship ‘ought to be’ and how it ‘should be’ structured to achieve this. We provide such structure by offering a framework that scrutinizes the negative effects of social entrepreneurship at the intersection of who is affected and what capital is put at risk. We examine the implications of adopting this framework to build a more balanced and realistic body of scholarship in this research domain. By doing so, we contribute to social entrepreneurship research, to the dark side of entrepreneurship research and to policy and practice.