Has Social Entrepreneurship Reduced Economic Inequality Among Non-state Actors? A Systematic Review

This paper explores the relationship between social entrepreneurship (SE) and economic inequality, aiming tounderstand SE’s potential in addressing economic disparities among non-state actors. Social entrepreneurship, oftenrecognised for its capacity to create social value and drive social change, offers unique opportunities to tackle pressingsocietal issues, including economic inequality. By leveraging innovative business models, SE can bridge gaps in incomedistribution and create sustainable livelihoods for marginalised communities. However, understanding the extent of thisimpact requires a closer examination of SE’s contributions to economic inclusion and equity. Through a systematic literaturereview, as well as a bibliometric and content analysis of the selected studies, this paper investigates the growing body ofresearch on SE, identifying key themes, trends, and research gaps. The analysis reveals a global interest in SE, as evidencedby an increasing number of publications over the past two and a half decades. This rise in academic attention reflects therecognition of SE’s potential to address various social challenges. Despite this progress, the direct relationship between SEand economic inequality remains underexplored. Most research has focused on SE’s social impact—such as communitydevelopment, poverty alleviation, and environmental sustainability—rather than its economic implications. The paper alsoidentifies core concepts associated with SE, including social entrepreneur, social enterprise, social innovation, social capital,economic development, work and employment, and sustainable entrepreneurship. However, references to economicinequality are often implicit rather than explicit, highlighting a gap in the literature. This suggests a need for more focusedresearch that examines how SE can effectively reduce economic disparities, particularly through income redistribution,wealth creation, and access to economic opportunities for marginalised communities. Whilst SE has the potential to be apowerful tool for reducing economic inequality, realising this potential requires addressing persistent challenges. Amongthese challenges is the widening gap between low- and high-income sectors, which complicates SE interventions and limitstheir transformative impact.