Social entrepreneurship and economic development: A bibliometric and content analysis

This bibliometric analysis investigates the academic landscape of social entrepreneurship within the context of economic development, leveraging a dataset of 127 rigorously selected papers from the Scopus database. By employing advanced bibliometric techniques and data visualization tools such as VOSviewer, this study maps the intellectual structure, identifies thematic concentrations, and highlights geographic and institutional contributions to the field. Our findings reveal significant concentrations of research activity in developed economies, with emerging trends indicating increasing interest in developing regions. The study underscores the critical role of technological innovation in driving the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship initiatives and identifies gaps in longitudinal and cross-cultural research. This comprehensive overview provides a foundational framework for future research, offering insights into the evolution of themes and the dispersion of knowledge across global contexts.