Social entrepreneurship and COVID-19

COVID-19 has changed the world. The pandemic is a public health crisis with profound implications for society. It follows that research efforts focused on addressing societal issues such as social entrepreneurship (SE) - 'the practice of addressing social problems by means of markets' - will also be deeply altered. In this commentary, we reflect on how the current COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics have affected, and will affect, research on the topic of SE. We unearth five fundamental assumptions underlying the field of SE that have been challenged by this crisis, consider their implications for research in the space, and propose future research questions to guide SE scholarship. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The COVID-19 Virtual Idea Blitz: Marshaling social entrepreneurship to rapidly respond to urgent grand challenges.

In response to societal grand challenges, professors have unique opportunities to effect change, repurposing their expertise to deploy relevant, timely, practical, and research-backed knowledge for the betterment of communities. Drawing on scholarship on postcrisis organizing, entrepreneurial hustle, and social entrepreneurship, we provide a firsthand, real-time case description of a three-day "virtual idea blitz" organized in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The event was organized and executed in less than a week and ultimately involved 200 individuals, including entrepreneurs, coders, medical doctors, venture capitalists, industry professionals, students, and professors from around the world. By the end of the weekend, 21 ideas with corresponding pitches were developed in five thematic areas: health needs, education, small businesses, community, and purchasing. We describe how the community was rapidly rallied, and we discuss the key learning outcomes of this spontaneous entrepreneurial endeavor. We provide evidence from participants and mentors that showcases the value of the time-compressed virtual idea blitz in accelerating social entrepreneurial action. We offer practical guidance to academic, community, and professional institutions that would like to replicate or build upon our approach to stimulate the formation of community and to coordinate efforts to thwart the ongoing threat of COVID-19, as well as other societal challenges that might emerge in the future.