Social Impact Measurement: an Innovative Tool For Fostering the Positive Social Change Created by Social Enterprises

Although social rights are an important part of human rights, in reality the well-being of the society depends on situation of national economy and its available resources to ensure the social security of the society. Thus, for the past 30 years the concept "social entrepreneurship" is well known across the world, and it is been considered as an innovative and effective solution to the social problems that countries are facing and can't solve due to their limited resources. Whelk discovering huge potential of social entrepreneurship in increasing social welfare and the development of social services, the research interest of the authors is related to the study of the field. To create a social impact is a main objective of social enterprises as a participant of social economy and market, rather to make a profit for its owners and shareholders. Therefore European and international social enterprises use a wide spectrum of social impact measurement methods and approaches, while in Latvia it is not a widespread practice. Data of social impact provided by Latvian social enterprises are not available and there is no requirement for such data to be provided in the legislation, nor any guidelines or standards for developing a comprehensive picture of social objectives achieved by social enterprise. Aim of the research: to explore the existing practice of social impact measurement among Latvian social enterprises in order to improve it in the future. Methods of research: study of literature, semi-structured interview, expert interview, content analysis. Results of the research: a research about an existing practice of social impact measurement among Latvian social enterprises and based on these findings, recommendations for further improvement of the practice