Seventeenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

This paper develops a theoretical stance proposing the appropriateness of using dialectical pluralism as a multiparadigmatic lens grounding mixed methodology research into social entrepreneurship education. Previous scholarship regarding dialectical pluralism is compared with the goals of social entrepreneurship study with an eye to how those goals seek congruence. Justification for the mixed method dialectical pluralism stance are found in 1) the lateral and hierarchical distance between significant actors in social entrepreneurship that result in fundamental differences in how they discover entrepreneurial opportunities, (2) differing ontologies that contrast the complexity of technological solutions with the complexity of natural organic systems, 3) dialectical pluralism’s goal of creating collaborative knowledge, 4) the ability of dialectical pluralism to produce knowledge from the multiplicity of projects, ontologies, and epistemologies guiding social entrepreneurship and 5) the non-equivalency of stakeholders, both social entrepreneurs as well as the targets of social entrepreneurship education and social entrepreneurship ventures. This theoretical stance also engages with epistemologies of the South, quantum models of environmental education, and connections to appreciative inquiry and asset-based community development. Together, these discussions support the promotion of dialectical pluralism-based mixed methodology studies as particularly fertile ground for understanding the complex systems guiding studies of social entrepreneurship education.