What Does It Take to be a Changemaker? A Comprehensive Review of Social Entrepreneurship Competences

The growing interest in social entrepreneurship has led to a nascent research interest into social entrepreneurship competences. This paper is the first to systematically review this research, examining studies on the competencies needed for social and sustainable entrepreneurship. Our review results in the synthesis of three competence groups: impact competences (analytical competence to understand wicked problems, future thinking competence, impact assessment competence, normative competence, commitment competence), entrepreneurship competences (problem solving competence, opportunity identification competence, action competence under uncertainty, opportunity exploitation competence, innovation diffusion competence) and engagement competences (perspective-taking competence, interpersonal communication competence, stakeholder commitment competence, participatory competence, tensions management competence). Our findings provide several avenues for future research. Comprehensive measurement scales are required to research dependencies and trade-offs among competences, the level of competences needed by whom at which stage and on what level of competence, their impact on the economic, ecologic and social performance of the venture, on its governance structure and its entrepreneurial ecosystem.