Going on a Quest for Social and Humane Intentions Within Strategic Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Literature Review Approach

This chapter proposes a systematic literature review of Strategic Entrepreneurship (SE), aiming to improve the existing understanding of the issue, with reference both to the development of the notion over the time and the way it relates to other fields of study, like Social and Humane Entrepreneurship. For the purpose of this investigation, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) were used as databases. 183 articles (93 full papers and 90 abstracts) were finally selected and examined according to the following analytical categories: (1) Years in which the articles were published; (2) Countries where authors have published research on strategic entrepreneurship; (3) Journals in which authors have published their research; and (4) Type of adopted methodology. A thematic analysis of the literature was subsequently performed in order to answer the following research questions: How has the concept of SE evolved since its first appearance in management research? In what areas of knowledge was SE more extensively investigated so far? How does SE relate to other concepts like Social and Humane Entrepreneurship?

According to the research findings, a growing interest in strategic entrepreneurship has been developing for the last 20 years, especially with reference to the two main areas of knowledge: Innovation and Knowledge Spillover. By contrast, SE was never examined in the field of humanistic management, and never referred to firms’ simultaneous pursuing of both economic and social aims. In order to fill the existing gap, an integrative framework for further research was finally proposed.