Social entrepreneurship as a factor of a region’s competitiveness

One of the most important factors taken into account in resource management and local development is the developing social entrepreneurship. It can be understood as the social and economic activity of the so-called third sector. These organisations are seen as an important issue affecting the competitiveness of a region. However, analysing the achievements of social economics entities and appreciating their contribution to stimulating the development of local communities, it seems that their role is often overestimated, as the scale of activity conducted by these organisations is rather limited. The aim of the research was to identify the impact of social economy entities on improving a region's competitiveness. As indicated by the results of research conducted in 2019, in the Warmia-Masuria voivodeship, the activity of social enterprises enables meeting the needs mainly on a local scale, in a manner that is not guaranteed by enterprises operating on the open market. However, the atmosphere of financial entitledness is created around social enterprises based mainly on the conviction of the members of these entities of the unique nature of their actions.