The ambiguities of (social) value creation: towards an extended understanding of entrepreneurial value creation for society

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to question the supposed self‐evidence of a core category in the social entrepreneurship literature: “social value creation”. By criticizing the taken‐for‐granted use of the dichotomy “social vs business” the paper aims to develop a multi‐dimensional approach that conceptualizes the creative entrepreneurial process as generating several forms of value for individuals and society. Design/methodology/approach – The paper proceeds in two steps. First, the shortcomings of the “social vs business” dichotomy are revealed by analyzing its common yet mostly unquestioned use on several levels of inquiry. Then, some conceptual ideas from institutional theory and virtue business ethics are used to sketch a framework for the “social” dimensions of entrepreneurial value creation. Findings – The result of the discussion is a coherent set of conceptual pairs, each characterizing two important aspects of “social” value beyond the utilitarian mainstream. In this respect, the paper gives an overview of potentially useful categories which could help to fill the conceptual void resulting from the vagueness of the “social value creation” concept. Research limitations/implications – The proposed categories are not exhaustive, as a brief outlook on further ambiguities of value creation shows. Nevertheless, they are an attempt to point out the fruitfulness of virtue business ethics to developing an extended understanding of entrepreneurial value creation for society. An important consequence is an uncommon view on what is the range of relevant examples of social entrepreneurship in the first place. Originality/value – The paper offers novel, possibly more adequate categories for dealing with the societal and ethical qualities of entrepreneurial value creation. Eventually, it can lead future research to maybe less obvious, but equally important, expressions of social entrepreneurship.