A Systematic Literature Review of Technology Social Ventures: State of the Art and Directions for Future Research at the Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Level

Technologies can play an important role in developing and scaling social innovations, thanks to their ability to reach and mobilise communities of people, use resources more effectively, and provide fast and broad responses to social needs. Seeing this potential, Technology Social Ventures have arisen as a form of social enterprises that employ technologies to achieve their social impact. This study has systematically reviewed the extant knowledge regarding Technology Social Ventures, applying a ‘micro-meso-macro’ framework to structure the analysis. The results from this multi-level approach revealed ten primary areas of inquiry on the topic, as well as showed that the research field is still in early development and has not been academically delineated from Social Enterprises. Based on these findings, the paper outlines a research agenda to address the existing gaps and advance the field’s development.