Social Innovation as a Support for the Development of Social Entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic

Abstract The main objective of the research was to clarify whether and what types of innovations are generated by work-integrated social enterprises (WISE) in the Czech Republic. The presentation of the results focuses only on selected types of innovation, namely pure and combined. The paper also aims to clarify whether WISEs generate more pure or combined innovations. The creation of pure innovations is more indicative of typical entrepreneur behaviour, while combined innovations are indicative of social entrepreneur behaviour. To collect primary data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 WISE managers and the results were obtained using content analysis. Thus, the contribution of this paper can be seen in the identification of specific types of social innovations in the WISE environment that help to map the specific needs of managers. The results point to WISE’s support of employees using innovation and their focus on combined innovation.