Journal of the National Research University Higher School of Economics

Social entrepreneurship (third sector) is an increasingly important global economic phenomenon that is squarely under the academic lens. Social entrepreneurship represents an interesting opportunity for policy makers to explore new frontiers of economic growth and implement innovation in a potentially growing services sector with possible job opportunities coming from new job creation in the upcoming decades. Based on evidence from Italy, this paper considers the broader picture of this phenomenon. Addressing the need to better understand the drivers of social entrepreneurship policy, we propose a model for interpreting the impact of the recent Italian reform of the third sector at various levels of the ecosystem, which favors innovation, technology adaptation, and greater employability. The presented results contribute to laying the foundation for the further development of a theory of entrepreneurship policy.