The Institutional Sub-Ecosystem of the Social Entrepreneur: The Importance of Logistical Support

The concept of an ecosystem encompasses various entities, including business models, platforms, networks, and technological systems. For instance, an entrepreneurial ecosystem may emerge from a hierarchical approach to governance and an agreement among multiple institutional, industrial, or cultural actors. For entrepreneurial initiatives to be effective, they must be grounded not only in the attitudes and behaviors of individual entrepreneurs but also in the broader social, economic, and political context. This research analyzes the systemic process of social entrepreneurship. Then, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted with 12 Tunisian social entrepreneurs. The findings reveal that the institutional ecosystem of social enterprises primarily consists of municipalities, regional and local administrations, governorates (prefectures), public financial institutions (the state), and public universities. It also appears that the support provided to social enterprises by this institutional ecosystem is mainly logistical in nature.