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Abstract: SUMMARY Living in a time of materialism, when the ethical component of business is almost completely ignored, is the main challenge for all activists of different thinking, to offer ideas that can lead to new and important changes. Social entrepreneurship is an idea that has awakened much interest in recent decades, because it is based on different approaches of classical economic understanding. This concept in the cold logic of modern business brings warmth, a note of humanity and altruism, and contributes to the promotion of moral and ethical practices and standards. Initiatives of social entrepreneurship are always associated with humane ideas, aiming at the general social well-being, as opposed to traditional entrepreneurship, in which the profit is the primary goal and the main measure of success. Social entrepreneurship, as a model, in its ideological and practical function, aims to create a stable structure based on full utilization of human resources, offering new ways of resolving the numerous social and economic problems. A significant number of the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina is strongly affected by social exclusion. Among the most vulnerable are persons with disabilities, Roma and youth, while women in all groups are particulary vulnerable. The European Union practice shows that social entrepreneurship is a good instrument for eliminating poverty, social exclusion and unemployment. Compared to the European Union model, the potential for the development of social entrepreneurship is not being utilized enough in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bearing in mind these findings, the main objectives of this work is to explore and present theoretical approaches and concepts of social entrepreneurship and possible ways of overcoming social exclusion through social entrepreneurship, based on primary and secondary research. The strongest arguments for commitment to the development of social entrepreneurship in Bosnia and Herzegovina show facts: • Citizens of the Bosnia and Herzegovina recognize that entrepreneurship can contribute to the reduction of social problems, especially social exclusion. • The development of small and medium enterprises significantly influences the increase of social inclusion. The practical part included exploration of the needs for solving social exclusion, poverty and unemployment problems, and the possible ways of overcoming these problems through social entrepreneurship. Research of the situation and possibilities of development of social entrepreneurship included: 1. Survey with target groups, based on prepared questionnaire, which covered 400 unemployed persons from marginalized groups: women, youth, persons with disabilities and Roma, throughout Republic of Srpska (40 municipalities), in cooperation with non-governmental organizations and Employment Service of the Republic of Srpska. 2. Findings of survey with institutions, non-governmental organizations and small and medium enterprises Based on theoretical part of doctoral dissertation we confirm the sub-hypotheses: • H1.1: Human capital is the most important resource for achieving sustainable development goals; • H1.2: Gender is a significant predictor of socio-economic status of citizens, and • H1.5: By introducing special measures and support programs, it is possible to significantly improve the development of social entrepreneurship. Based on empirical research we partially confirm the sub-hypotheses: • H1.3: Citizens perceive entrepreneurship as a mechanism for overcoming social exclusion and • H1.4: Development of small and medium enterprises significantly influences the increase of social inclusion. In final, we partially confirm our main hypothesis H.1: Sustainable Community Development, viewed through the paradigm of social inclusion, is significantly associated with the development of social entrepreneurship.
Keywords: social entrepreneurship, social enterprises, employment, social exclusion, non-governmental organizations
Published in DKUM: 01.06.2016; Views: 1943; Downloads: 150
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