The evolution of social entrepreneurship: what have we learned?

Purpose If there is one thing that truly characterizes entrepreneurship and especially social entrepreneurship, it is the “engaged scholarship” at their very heart. That is, teaching, outreach/service and research are connected, often tightly. The purpose of this paper therefore is to discuss the evolution of social entrepreneurship and the lessons learned. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports on the results of a multi‐country survey dealing with social entrepreneurship. Findings It is found that a lot of maturing needs to be done in the area of social entrepreneurship work. Originality/value This paper provides real value to the literature by showing what is actually done in the teaching of social entrepreneurship.