Samenvatting

This paper is aimed at presenting a theoretical definition for the construct of social entrepreneurship as competence for the social economy in Europe. This definition is part of a study that was designed and developed in two phases. This paper will present only the results of the first one: the formulation of a hypothetical model for social entrepreneurship as competence in social economy. The formulation is based on specifications of the concepts of competence and social entrepreneurship, as a result of extensive literature review, and analysis of theoretical considerations. The result is a model that was constructed on the multidimensional holistic approach to competence, using Austin e. al. (2006) definition of social entrepreneurship to describe the outcomes of the competence, within the framework of the social economy in Europe. The next step will be validation of the construct with a selected target group based in Romania and the Netherlands as geographical regions within the social economy in Europe.