Managerial Dynamics of Social Entrepreneurship in the Knowledge Economy: Mapping the Research Landscape

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this research is to examine the landscape of social entrepreneurship research through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of themes, trajectory, prolific authors, and the most contributing countries in the field of study. This study analyzes 287 Scopus-indexed documents covering the time frame from 2001 to 2025. Data was analyzed using R, Biblioshiny, and VOSviewer software. The analysis comprised research trends, average citation, three-field plot, relevant sources, prolific authors, global citation, local citation, impact, affiliation, countries’ scientific production, corresponding author, most cited countries, trend topic, relevant words, thematic map, bibliographic coupling of authors, co-occurrence, and countries. The findings of the study revealed an escalating trend in the social entrepreneurship theme over the study period. The average citation per article was found to be highest in 2006. The terms ‘cooccurrence’ and ‘trend topic’ show ‘innovation’, ‘entrepreneurship’, social entrepreneurship’, and ‘social innovation’. Ratten was found to be the most prolific author; Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies was found to be the most relevant source; and the USA was found to be the most contributing country. The result of this study contributes to sparking an understanding of managerial dynamics of social entrepreneurship in the knowledge economy. Additionally, the result offers practical insight depicting a path for entrepreneurs and policymakers and provides a valuable benchmark for practitioners and research scholars, depicting the trends and vital role of social entrepreneurs. The bibliometric analysis and its findings establish a trajectory and prospect for future study and exhibit practical guidelines for entrepreneurs and research scholars to investigate the research themes.