Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development in Sparsely Populated Areas

• Social entrepreneurship and responsibility have grown in societies in recent decades. The purpose of this article is to investigate and discuss social entrepreneurship in relation to the SDGs within municipalities in sparsely populated areas in Sweden. Specifically, this article explores how politicians and officials in municipalities view social entrepreneurship, what challenges municipalities face in creating sustainable development, and how municipalities can develop conditions for collaborations between public actors and private companies in order to achieve more sustainable development within the municipality. To this end, close to 40 different stakeholders were interviewed within 15 municipalities in 2 regions in the middle of Sweden. The results illustrate that little attention was paid to the use of social entrepreneurship in these communities and regions. There is also little knowledge regarding the very concept of social entrepreneurship among municipal officials and politicians. Instead, strong focus is placed on creating jobs in the municipalities, where social entrepreneurship can play an important role. Meanwhile, sparsely populated municipalities face challenges in the form of an aging population and population decline. Furthermore, there is also a lack of competence. The companies, for their part, are aware of the important role they play in creating sustainable development in the municipality. The companies employ a large proportion and need skills. From all this, the conclusion is drawn that collaboration between different actors is necessary to create sustainable development.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

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