Purpose -This paper draws upon prior research that built a theoretical framework for the emergence of social enterprise ecosystems based upon biological evolutionary theory. This paper seeks to extend this previous research by practically applying the theory to the development of stakeholder and institutional networks across Europe.Design/methodology/approach -Data from in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus groups were analysed using Constant Comparison Method. Data were generated from discussions with 258 key stakeholders in 10 countries across Europe, exploring the historical, political, social, legal and economic factors that influence the patterns of social enterprise seen in each country.Findings -The results identify the emergence of four social enterprise ecosystem types (Statist-macro; Statist-micro; Private-macro; Private-micro). These are used to explain the differences found in each of the 10 country's social enterprise ecosystems. The results are discussed in relation to evolutionary theory in social entrepreneurship and how 'genetic' and 'epigenetic' factors lead to the divergence of social enterprise ecosystems, and the impact that this has on the stakeholders and institutions that are present within them.Originality/value -A typology of ecosystems is presented, which can be used by policymakers across Europe to understand how best to support their local social economies.

An emerging stream of literature has focused on the ways in which social enterprises might act on the social determinants of health. However, this previous work has not taken a sufficiently broad account of the wide range of stakeholders involved in social enterprises and has also tended to reduce and simplify a complex and heterogeneous set of organisations to a relatively homogenous social enterprise concept. In an attempt to address these gaps, we conducted an empirical investigation between August 2014 and October 2015 consisting of qualitative case studies involving in-depth semi-structured interviews and a focus group with a wide variety of stakeholders from three social enterprises in different regions of Scotland. We found that different forms of social enterprise impact on different dimensions of health in different ways, including through: engendering a feeling of ownership and control; improving environmental conditions (both physical and social); and providing or facilitating meaningful employment. In conclusion, we highlight areas for future research.

Social isolation and loneliness has been classed as a major public health concern due to its negative physical and mental health implications, and living in a remote or rural area is a prominent contributing risk factor. Community-led social enterprise models are recognised in government policy as a potential preventative measure for social isolation and loneliness, yet there is a lack of understanding of their application in rural contexts. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the role of social enterprise in addressing social isolation and loneliness in rural communities, and to explore the pathways in which social enterprise activity may act upon the health and wellbeing of social enterprise beneficiaries. We also discuss the capacity of rural community members to deliver and sustain such services. The study used in-depth interviews over a three-year period with 35 stakeholders from seven social enterprises in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, including board members, staff, volunteers and service users. Findings showed that social enterprises are successfully providing activities that counteract factors contributing to social isolation and feelings of loneliness, leading to wider health and wellbeing benefits for individuals. However, the sustainability and continuity of social enterprises are questionable due to the burden on smaller populations, limited expertise and knowledge of running social enterprises, and effects on the personal lives of social enterprise volunteers and staff. This study supports suggestions that social enterprises can be generators of health and wellbeing through their varied remit of activities that impact on the social determinants of health. However, it also shows that relying on social enterprise as a particular solution to social isolation and loneliness is precarious due to complexities associated with rurality. Therefore, rural policy and practice must move away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to tackling social isolation and loneliness, recognise the need for local level tailored interventions and, through harnessing the potential or rural social enterprises, enable flexible service provision that correlates with rural context.

Social enterprise has been identified as a culturally and socially constructed phenomenon that varies in its meaning both internationally and within geographic regions. Over recent years there has been increasing academic focus on how social enterprise ecosystems differ across different countries. This focus has been both global (examinations of differences between North American, Asian and European social enterprise) and regional (exploring differences between countries within Europe). There has however, been less focus on the differences in social enterprise ecosystems within countries, where subtle regional differences in the cultural, political and social environment can potentially lead to significant variations in the environment for support. The recent history of the United Kingdom, with devolution for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, has led to all four countries (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England) developing fairly diverse political and policy environments despite sharing relatively similar social and cultural backgrounds. This paper seeks to explore this through the lens of evolutionary theory. Evolutionary theory posits that within an ecosystem all organisms are a product of the evolution of that ecosystem, and that this evolution is based upon genetics, epigenetics and phenotypes. The research reported in this paper draws upon qualitative data gathered as part of a European Commission FP7 project. Semistructured interviews explored the perceptions of a variety of key stakeholders in regards to the historical, socio-political, cultural and regulatory environments, at both local authority/city (either not both) and national levels, in Scotland and England. The results are discussed in relation to evolutionary theory and how socio-political and regulatory differences can lead to the rapid divergence of social enterprise ecosystems.

The centrality of the third sector in the co-production of public services is seemingly based on the assumption that it can act as an effective proxy for service users. However, the third sector encompasses a broad range of organisational forms, interests and governance arrangements, which all have implications for the type and nature of relationships between the sector and its constituencies. Through analysis of empirical data drawn from research on a prominent co-production model in Scotland, we construct and present a typology of different approaches to service user involvement.