Social entrepreneurship advocates addressing complex social problems through market-based approaches and serves as a key driver of sustainable and inclusive development. As society enters the digital–intelligent era, an increasing number of organizations are leveraging digital and intelligent technologies to promote social innovation and social entrepreneurship, giving rise to distributed, collaborative, and intelligent solutions to social problems. Nevertheless, theoretical research in this field remains largely exploratory. Moreover, the characteristics of Chinese modernization pose clear challenges to traditional business entrepreneurship theory. This makes it imperative to develop a new hybrid value theory aligned with emerging practices of digital–intelligent social entrepreneurship in China and guided by the country’s new development philosophy, so as to better support Chinese modernization.

Basic elements, core functions

Traditional entrepreneurship theory identifies opportunity, resources, and teams as the basic elements of the entrepreneurial process. In the digital–intelligent context, however, as entrepreneurial processes become increasingly boundaryless and entrepreneurial actors more fluid, data, algorithms, computing power, and emotions emerge as fundamental elements of social entrepreneurship. Extensive practice shows that digital–intelligent social entrepreneurship also performs functions that are absent from traditional forms of social entrepreneurship.

First, the availability of digital technologies and the advantages of platform algorithms enable social entrepreneurs to access required resources rapidly and accurately, while ensuring a precise match between products or services and user demand. Second, the self-organizing nature of digital entrepreneurship systems stimulates interconnection and information exchange among participants, generating a wider range of potential solutions to problems. Third, the cross-boundary nature of digital technologies renders social entrepreneurship processes and collaborative networks increasingly “porous,” providing clearer and more measurable “evidence” for monitoring social value. Fourth, the generative capacity of digital technologies lowers entry barriers and creates more low-cost opportunities for addressing social issues through social entrepreneurship.

Identification, development, diffusion of opportunities

Digital–intelligent technologies are reshaping entrepreneurs’ conventional perceptions of risk and patterns of thinking, while also exerting a profound influence on the identification, development, and diffusion of opportunities in social entrepreneurship. Opportunity identification in digital–intelligent social entrepreneurship refers to a process in which entrepreneurs, drawing on personal experience, use digital technologies to conduct extensive searches for information on social needs and accurately identify demand. Opportunity development, by contrast, involves optimizing cross-departmental resource allocation through digital tools in order to derive sustainable business models. Opportunity diffusion typically encompasses two closely related dimensions: the diffusion of influence and the diffusion of innovative models. Their organic integration facilitates the resolution of a broader range of complex social problems.

Innovation system, entrepreneurial ecosystem

Efforts should be made to accelerate the cultivation of innovation R&D and innovation market systems in digital–intelligent society, and the establishment of institutions that provide appropriate guidance for technology application and market construction. A digital–intelligent social entrepreneurship ecosystem should also be fostered. Such an ecosystem encompasses digital–intelligent social entrepreneurs, impact investors, nonprofit organizations, communities and beneficiaries, consulting and service agencies, educational and research institutions, as well as the media. The governance effectiveness of digital–intelligent social entrepreneurship should be further enhanced. Establishing guardrail mechanisms oriented toward multiple objectives can ensure balanced consideration of social, economic, and environmental benefits in decision-making. The value generated by digital–intelligent social entrepreneurship across different domains should be assessed comprehensively, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Liu Zhiyang is a distinguished professor from the College of Business at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Qiu Zhenyu is an associate professor from the College of Management at Sichuan Agricultural University.