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20 Years of Social Entrepreneurship Research Paves Way for New Tools and Connections
20 Years of Social Entrepreneurship Research Paves Way for New Tools and Connections
The annual conference, co-directed by USC Marshall School of Business Professor Jill Kickul, identifies new strategies to translate theory into impact.
On April 18, amid the vast natural landscape of Switzerland’s Lake Geneva, USC Marshall School of Business Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies Professor Jill Kickul kicked off the 20th Annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference to an audience of over 150 scholars, practitioners, and students, including four students from the USC Marshall Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship (MSSE) program. Alongside her conference co-director Sophie Bacq — who is a professor of social entrepreneurship and Coca-Cola Foundation Chair in Sustainable Development at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) where the event was hosted — Kickul looked back on 20 years of progress in building a social entrepreneurship research community that promoted the field and connected it to real-world applications in solving pressing global issues.
“You learn new co-authors, new research streams, new friends, and new colleagues from this community,” reflected Kickul, who is also the academic director of the MSSE program and acting director of the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL).
The conference, held in Lausanne, Switzerland boasted more participants and papers than any other year in the event’s history. Launched two decades ago at the New York University Stern School of Business, the SE Conference has been hosted at five institutions. This year’s program featured 84 paper presentations, representing research from 23 countries.
Presenters discussed enduring topics like impact measurement, impact investment, social entrepreneurship motivation, and social enterprise governance, as well as emerging topics including entrepreneurial ecosystems, social cohesion, DEI, legitimacy-seeking, and responsible innovation. Acknowledging how the conference program reflected cross-disciplinary work, Bacq pointed to the purple and pink graphic created for the printed programs, an homage to weaver Annie Alber.
“There are a lot of human issues, but also a lot of potential and power within humanity when it works together,” Bacq said. “This design [a macrame graphic] reminds us not only of the intersection of humans in general, but also of us as scholars. More and more, interdisciplinary work and conversations are at the converging point of entrepreneurship and positive impact.”
It was so wonderful to be there together [with my classmates], speaking a common language around SE, and finding ourselves in deep discussions about experiences that had already happened, ones that were currently happening, and about what our futures might look like.
The conference began with a focus on practice and grew to have a greater focus on research. Now, a key goal is bridging the two. “The conference gave me a new understanding of the connection between the research that is being done in the field and what we study in the classroom,” MSSE ’24 Olivia Salcedo said.
Among the many accomplishments over the last 20 years, Kickul and Bacq discussed the development of community — like-minded individuals coming together in a space that felt welcoming, nurturing, and instructive.
MSSE student Adrienne McCurrach ’24 was surprised by the depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem gathered in Lausanne. “It was incredibly invigorating to see the expansive ecosystem at work,” she said. “It was so wonderful to be there together [with my classmates], speaking a common language around SE, and finding ourselves in deep discussions about experiences that had already happened, ones that were currently happening, and about what our futures might look like.”
The SE conference featured keynote speeches from leaders in SE education Johanna Mair, Rachida Justo, and Kai Hockerts.
"Why do we care what drives social entrepreneurship?” Associate Professor at IE University Justo said. “Because it could have real consequences for the type of SE we create. Many social enterprises come from underrepresented people and places, but we don’t speak their language when we do our research.”
Participants were also able to attend paper development workshops, such as Greif Center Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship Jennifer Walske’s presentation on “Changing the Paradigm for Performance in Impact Investing.”
“As we see huge growth in funds moving into impact investing worldwide right now, there is greenwashing of what this term [impact investment] actually means,” Walske said.
To ensure impact investments are actually tied to tangible social and environmental progress, Walske said it is important to look at how and when we measure impact and how it compares to collection of financial data. “How can you create change if you are not measuring it?” Walske asked.
The conference closed with a takeaways panel featuring legacy keynote speakers Helen Haugh, Lisa Hehenberger, Anne-Claire Pache, Filipe Santos and Tyler Wry. The speakers noted how the depth and rigor of the research has increased over the last 20 years, as has the strength of the community.
Whether in the past or in the future, however, there is one value that remains consistent and bolsters the field’s growth. “The huge value that you [the Social Entrepreneurship Conference] has provided to the community is that it is legitimate to study social entrepreneurship in an academic context,” said Pache.
As Kickul closed the conference, she looked forward to what’s ahead.
“As we look to the next 10 years, we’re asking what is going to be the new research that helps practitioners but also helps move policy,” Kickul said. “How do we get our work out of a vacuum into a greater space where we can inform governments and policymakers, where we can really effect change that helps families, communities, and society at large?”
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