Social entrepreneurship as a supporting model for sustainable rural development: A case study of central Lika (Croatia)

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to explore social entrepreneurship as a supporting model for sustainable rural development that could bring the developmental facets of the Lika Region into balance. The theoretical concepts used are related to the representation of the connection between neo-endogenous and sustainable development. The paper consists of two parts: in the first part, the results of desk research are presented, which describe the social entrepreneurship scene in Croatia; in the second part, the results of the two-stage qualitative research are given. The first stage consisted of semi-structured interviews with local social actors involved in Lika’s current socio-economic development (2013), with the emphasis on the economic dimension of sustainable development. The second stage consisted of semi-structured group interviews with social entrepreneurship practitioners in Lika (2015), namely civil society organizations, with the emphasis on the status and developmental level of social entrepreneurship. The results show that social actors are aware of the opportunities for sustainable development in Lika (e.g. preserved natural resources), as well as of alternative and/or complementary economic models that could foster an enhanced quality of life. Key social actors (research participants) see social entrepreneurship as an opportunity to develop an alternative/complementary economic model in Lika, e.g. “to incorporate people’s ideas into the economy and to adapt the economy to the people”.