<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This paper argues that a dedicated legal status for Irish social enterprises - or the wider social economy - holds to date a mostly overlooked potential to increase clarity of what social enterprises are and for social enterprises themselves on governance. A legal status takes an agnostic approach towards the enterprise’s legal form while offering certain incentives and privileges for those that meet the criteria. A review of recent trends across Europe points towards a legal status being the preferred approach in more recent years, with country reports pointing towards lessons learnt in terms of aiming to capture and support the sector holistically. This paper concludes that while promising as a concept, further research is needed to validate the potential in the Irish context.</p>
</abstract>

This paper argues that a dedicated legal status for Irish social enterprises - or the wider social economy - holds to date a mostly overlooked potential to increase clarity of what social enterprises are and for social enterprises themselves on governance. A legal status takes an agnostic approach towards the enterprise’s legal form while offering certain incentives and privileges for those that meet the criteria. A review of recent trends across Europe points towards a legal status being the preferred approach in more recent years, with country reports pointing towards lessons learnt in terms of aiming to capture and support the sector holistically. This paper concludes that while promising as a concept, further research is needed to validate the potential in the Irish context.

A legal status for Irish social enterprise-an overlooked opportunity?

The Irish Journal of Management

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"A legal status for Irish social enterprise-an overlooked opportunity?"}

This paper argues that a dedicated legal status for Irish social enterprises - or the wider social economy - holds to date a mostly overlooked potential to...

A legal status for Irish social enterprise-an overlooked opportunity?

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Apr 04, 2023

Page range: 155 - 167

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijm-2023-0005

Keywords
Social enterprise, social economy, legal status, regulation, policy

© 2023 Sarah Hofmayer, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

A legal status for Irish social enterprise-an overlooked opportunity?

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Apr 04, 2023

Page range: 155 - 167

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijm-2023-0005

KeywordsSocial enterprise, social economy, legal status, regulation, policy

© 2023 Sarah Hofmayer, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Social enterprise, social economy, legal status, regulation, policy