In this paper we address the issue of defining what a “social enterprise” is, by realigning our focus from “definition” to “identity”. What is significant about an organisation considering itself a “social enterprise”?
Emerging areas, such as social enterprise, are a particularly salient environment in which to consider organisational identity, as the process of identity formation may be particularly visible (Clegg, Rhodes, & Kornberger, 2007).
y moving beyond academic musings which try to demarcate boundaries in theoretical silos, value can be added to scholarship and practice by better understanding how and why organisations choose to identify themselves as social enterprises.