Title: The social dimension of necessity entrepreneurship

Authors: Christel Tessier-Dargent; Alain Fayolle

Addresses: Institut Universitaire Technologique 2 de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, 2 Place Doyen Gosse, 38031 Grenoble Cedex 1, France ' Emlyon Business School, 23 avenue Guy de Collongue, CS 40203, 69134 Ecully Cedex, France

Abstract: This paper aims to propose a new perspective on necessity entrepreneurship (NE). This phenomenon is indeed widely considered in the literature as having no or a negative impact on economic growth and is therefore mostly depreciated by scholars. We argue that NE allows to socially integrate deprived individuals and increases their psychological and human capital, if adequate structures and public policies are in place. We have opened a new venue, in considering for the first time NE in the perspective of a knowledge development process, calling for a differentiated approach. Although NE proves to play a limited impact on shrinking unemployment, fighting poverty and reducing discriminations, its social role as inclusive tool for deprived individuals has been underestimated: efficient entrepreneurial knowledge management, skills and competencies development in a constrained context can have a positive impact on individuals and societies.

Keywords: necessity entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial competencies; social capital; human capital; social entrepreneurship.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2022.122026

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2022 Vol.45 No.3, pp.376 - 395

Received: 01 Jun 2019
Accepted: 01 Jun 2019
Published online: 08 Apr 2022 *

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