A bottom-up methodology for a national baseline data collection of the social enterprise sector: the experience of Ireland

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dc.contributor.authorOlmedo Osuna, Lucasen
dc.contributor.authorRuiz-Rivera, María Joséen
dc.contributor.authorCorcoran, Lorraineen
dc.contributor.authorWhelan, Brendanen
dc.contributor.funderNational University of Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderDepartment of Rural and Community Developmenten
dc.date.accessioned2025-12-09T16:08:00Z
dc.date.available2025-12-09T16:08:00Z
dc.date.issued2024-12-03en
dc.description.abstractThe launch of Ireland’s National Social Enterprise Policy in 2019 represented a milestone for social enterprises in Ireland. However, the policy and previous reports stress the limited data about social  enterprises at national level; against this background, the Irish Government commissioned in 2022 a research project to fill this gap. The aim of this paper is to discuss the process for establishing a methodology towards a baseline data collection exercise of social enterprises in Ireland, where official statistics do not account for this type of organisations. The methodology draws from conceptual  frameworks and international experiences for building statistics of social and solidarity economy organisations, including social enterprises census and baseline exercises. Moreover, the methodology is informed by a consultation process with Irish stakeholders consisting of four focus groups (87 participants), 15 semi-structured interviews and three meetings with experts’ committees. The methodology shows how baseline information on social enterprises in Ireland was built through intermediaries lists and an ad-hoc survey. The dependence on intermediaries and the lack of publicly available financial data on social enterprises in Ireland poses challenges, especially in terms of validity. However, using an official definition, data triangulation from different intermediaries, trust and engagement developed through the consultation process partially address the challenges. The methodology developed is context-sensitive, focusing on Ireland; however, it allows for some degree of international comparability and offers guidelines for building baseline information of social enterprises, especially in countries where these organisations are not captured by official statistics. en
dc.description.sponsorshipNational University of Ireland (Postdoctoral Fellowship in Rural Development); Department of Rural and Community Development (Social Enterprises in Ireland. A Baseline Data Collection Exercise)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationOlmedo Osuna, L., Ruiz-Rivera, M. J., Corcoran, L. and Whelan, B. (2024) 'A bottom-up methodology for a national baseline data collection of the social enterprise sector: the experience of Ireland', CIRIEC-España, Revista de Economía Pública, Social y Cooperativa, 112, pp. 257–286. https://doi.org/10.7203/CIRIEC-E.112.27082en
dc.identifier.doi10.7203/ciriec-e.112.27082en
dc.identifier.endpage286en
dc.identifier.issn1989-6816en
dc.identifier.issn0213-8093en
dc.identifier.issued112en
dc.identifier.journaltitleCIRIEC-España, Revista de Economía Pública, Social y Cooperativaen
dc.identifier.startpage257en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/18342
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversitat de Valenciaen
dc.rights© 2024, Universitat de València.en
dc.subjectSocial enterprisesen
dc.subjectBaseline dataen
dc.subjectMethodologyen
dc.subjectSocial and solidarity economy statisticsen
dc.subject~Food Business and Development - Journal Articles~en
dc.subject~Cork University Business School - Journal Articles~en
dc.titleA bottom-up methodology for a national baseline data collection of the social enterprise sector: the experience of Irelanden
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
dc.typejournal-articleen
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