Hans Rawhouser (Management, Entrepreneurship and Technology) with Michael Cummings (University of Arkansas) and Scott Newbert (Baruch College, City University of New York) recently had a paper, “Social Impact Measurement: Current Approaches and Future Directions for Social Entrepreneurship Research,” published in the prestigious Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (ETP). In recent years, there has been a flurry of research activity seeking to measure the beneficial outcomes resulting from prosocial behavior of organizations “that are enjoyed by the intended targets of that behavior and/or by the broader community of individuals, organizations, and/or environments.” The paper identifies four different approaches for conceptualizing and measuring social impact that are used in various different business disciplines and identifies paths by which these approaches can yield beneficial theoretical and practical insights. Sage Journals recently selected the article as a featured article because it is one of the most downloaded ETP papers (875 downloads in first three months of being available online). This type of impact contributes to understanding entrepreneurs and society, which is one of the stated goals of the Troesh Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
