Social entrepreneurship as an object of institutional analysis

The development of social entrepreneurship, interpreted as a set of interrelated activities aimed at solving social problems through the commercial activities development of economic agents, is determined by a variety of factors, including a set of institutions that regulate this type of activity. The article shows the possibilities to apply the institutional approach for the research and development of this phenomenon. It allowes to consider social entrepreneurship as an object of institutional analysis. The most frequently used methods that are used in the study of social entrepreneurship have been identified on the basis of bibliometric analysis of articles presented in the leading indexed international databases. This analysis has shown that the descriptive method is the most common, whereas the regression analysis is the most common among the applied mathematical methods of analysis. The novelty of the research is a substantial treatment of an institutional environment of social entrepreneurship, that differentiates regulatory, supporting and cognitive types of institutions. While analyzing regulatory environment, we have distinguished and characterized institutions that are most often studied in research literature, in particular, the institutions of private property, social security, taxation, corruption. With regard to the analysis of the supportive environment, the institutions of lending and borrowing, the institutions of education and the religious activity organization have been distinguished and described. Analyzing the cognitive environment, particular importance was given to institutions of cultural values, institutions of the gender relation formation, institutions of social value creation and institutions of the social capital development. The above mentioned list of institutions characterizes the economic and social conditions for the social entrepreneurship development. The theoretical significance of the results is to systematize institutions that influence the development of social entrepreneurship. Practical significance is to form a platform for further research and development of the institutional environment of social entrepreneurship at particular territories.