Social entrepreneurship as a specific kind of business has been developing in Latvia since 2018, and it is a little researched field. Achieving the goals of social entrepreneurship is facilitated by several factors, including the competences of the social entrepreneur him/herself. The present research aims to identify the general basic knowledge, skills and competences necessary for a social entrepreneur in Latvia. The authors made a review of theoretical literature on the role of managerial competencies in social enterprises and analysed the results of surveys of social entrepreneurs and their institutional partners – university teaching personnel – conducted in Latvia. The research found that there were areas of general knowledge, skills and competences of social entrepreneurs that were rated as equally important by both groups surveyed, yet the social entrepreneurs gave more importance to competences related to business goals and opportunities. The present research makes a scientific contribution in two aspects: 1) the identified general competencies required for a social entrepreneur could serve as a basis for further research to measure the actual competencies of social entrepreneurs; 2) the research contributes to an institutional framework for the social entrepreneurship ecosystem by developing recommendations for cooperation partners – those involved in adult lifelong learning, incl. universities, for the development of competencies in social entrepreneurs.

Purpose – The goal of this research was to identify the need for networking competencies in social enterprises rated by the managerial personnel of social enterprises and academic staff of universities in Latvia. Research methodology – A survey among representatives of Latvian social enterprises and academic staff of Latvian higher education institutions (HEIs) was conducted. The data was processed by means of average ranking, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and one-way-ANOVA test. Findings – The analysis of the results of Latvian survey revealed that: 1) social enterprise per- sonnel and university academic staff rated the role of networking competencies in social enterprise performance differently; 2) social enterprises rated cooperation with local governments higher and with industry associations as less important than the group of university academic staff. Research limitations – The research is limited to the analysis of only networking competencies. Practical implications – The research results contribute to the institutional framework for the social entrepreneurship ecosystem through recommendations to universities in creating training programmes of social entrepreneurship competencies. Originality/Value – The conducted empirical study is the first study of its kind in the Latvian social enterprise ecosystem, and it offers unique data that can be used for planning the development of networking competencies.

The development of social entrepreneurship as a special business type is in its beginning in Latvia, therefore its development conditions have been researched very little. The legislation regulating this type of business activity commences on the 1st April 2018. In order to promote the development of social entrepreneurship and at the same time promote employment opportunities for unemployed persons who are less favoured, persons with disabilities and other socially vulnerable persons, the EU Structural Funds support for the realization of these strategic goals is available for social businesses. The research carried out a comparative analysis of the legal framework regulating social entrepreneurship in the Baltic States and an analysis of economic preconditions and the support system for social entrepreneurship. The present research contributes to research on social entrepreneurship in two aspects: 1) the legal framework distinguishing this business form from others is analysed; 2) economic preconditions for social entrepreneurship as well as its socio-economic goals and the relevant institutional framework in Latvia are analysed. The subject of the research: preconditions and prerequisites for social entrepreneurship. Methods of the research: the monographic method, statistical analysis and comparative analysis. Keyword : social business, social entrepreneurship, legislation, employment, region This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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