Entrepreneurial ecosystem for promoting social innovation in emerging markets: Is corporate social responsibility integration with technology business incubators the right path?

Abstract

This study attempts to fill in two research gaps in the extant literature concerning the ecosystem for social innovation in the context of emerging market economies such as India. The study first attempts to assess the potential of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in not-for-profit entities such as technology business incubators (TBIs) to stimulate social innovations in the prevalent ecosystems in emerging markets. Further, using a random-effects Tobit model, the study examines the characteristics of firms that spend higher percentages of CSR expenditure on not-for-profit TBIs/societies/trusts in India. The study provides policy suggestions to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem for promoting social innovation in emerging markets such as India. © 2023 W. Michael Hoffman Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University.