3rd meeting of young researchers at UP 1 - IJUP - Universidade do ...

Social Entrepreneurship: An analysis through youth associations
Filipe A. Ribeiro, Ana N. Veloso, Artur V. Vieira
Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are attributed a number of characteristics, the development
of which has been considered of top importance by the public authorities in most different
countries. Although entrepreneurship, in its more current character - that is, the “commercial”
one - is relatively well studied in literature, the social entrepreneurship still lies in an emergent
phase, this justifying the existing deficient empiric evidence on this phenomenon. The purpose
of this article is to contribute to add evidence to this reality, assessing, by means of a broad
enquiry, addressed to the leaders of most Portuguese youth associations, in which way these
associations bring an effective contribution for the creation and improvement of skills
connected to entrepreneurship. From the obtained data and corresponding results, the
conclusion is that youth associations play a determinant part in the development of the
enterprising competences of their leaders. Based on a multivariable model, we proved that
leaders consider their participation on associativismm determining in the formation of their
entrepreneur profile. In concrete, we can say that entrepreneurship attitudes are positively and
considerably associated to the perception, by associative leaders, of the contribution that
associations may bring to the improvement of their knowledge on management of
organizations, legal system, performance of the markets. The entrepreneur leaders also
recognize that associations increased the respective contact network in terms of
business/market, providing them with a number of wider knowledge, and of practical
applicability, than any subjects ever taught in their formal academic preparation. In terms of
implications of educational politics, the conclusions strengthen the need of getting a larger
integration between a formal and non-formal approach for the creation of theoretical and
practical skills in the teaching of entrepreneurship on the most different levels. So, the formal
recognition of the experience on association management, as a mean of curricular enrichment,
would constitute an important improvement in the spirit of the future implementation and
adoption of the European Qualification Framework.
Key-words: social entrepreneurship; youth associativism; Portugal
18 3 rd meeting of young researchers at UP