Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2023 number 4

This article presents an author’s analysis of the factors that affect the growth of entrepreneurship in social work at the regional level, with a focus on the Republic of Karelia, spanning from 2015 to 2023. This period witnessed significant changes in the legal framework governing social services and social entrepreneurship. Our approach to this analysis is dynamic, building upon our prior study published in the journal “Region: Economics and Sociology" in 2019. Consequently, we employed diachronic and factor analysis as our primary methods. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the barriers identified in 2019 remained unresolved during subsequent periods, potentially exacerbated by emerging factors and circumstances. Our research outcomes provide an understanding of entrepreneurial activities in the social work sector, encompassing state institutions, commercial enterprises, socially-oriented NGOs, and self-employed individuals in the Republic of Karelia today. We have identified both facilitating and inhibiting factors contributing to the development of entrepreneurship in social work. These findings hold relevance for regional authorities actively engaged in shaping and executing social policies. They can serve as a foundation for engaging with the public to disseminate knowledge about entrepreneurship within the social sphere. Furthermore, our research methodology can be readily applied to other regions of the Russian Federation, particularly in the North and the Arctic, characterized by vast distances between settlements and low population density.