Connecting the dots: Business history research on social entrepreneurship in the Global South
本文通过叙事综述，梳理商业史对全球南方社会创业的研究，指出当前忽视本土实践的问题，并呼吁关注草根和原住民形式的社会创业。
Social Entrepreneurship (SE) in the Global South is often framed as a recent innovation introduced through Global North–driven development programmes. This perspective overlooks the long-standing and locally embedded practices of SE in these regions. Business history, emphasising contextual analysis and examining long-term change, offers essential tools for uncovering the diverse trajectories and meanings of SE. Yet, business historians have only recently started to engage with SE beyond the Global North. Through a narrative review, this article connects the dots between existing business history research on SE and work from adjacent social science disciplines such as entrepreneurship and development studies. It highlights both the strengths and limitations of current approaches and identifies underexplored areas, such as grassroots and Indigenous forms of SE. The article concludes by outlining future research directions that foreground local agency, offer alternative visions of social impact and expand the conceptual boundaries of SE within business history.