Social Entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence: How Entrepreneurs Shape Innovation? The Lebanese Case

Artificial intelligence (AI) in organizations has the potential to disrupt administrative positions as well as ways of working. The concept of social entrepreneurship emerged and has been recognized as having a substantial impact on the welfare and prosperity of society. Yet, there is lack of information in the literature about how the use of AI within organizations and specifically in social enterprises (SE) will impact managerial skills and performance. For this purpose, we adopted a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews conducted with SE managers from four SEs that have already implemented AI and are using it already. The results were subjected to a thematic content analysis. The findings confirm that the majority of managerial talents will probably be enhanced by AI, while a small number of them (information collecting and straightforward decision-making) may be replaced or unaffected. The results of this study show that implementing AI in SEs can assist them in building brand recognition and expanding their consumer base.