Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Driven by the growing interest in finding new approaches to address social and environmental issues, social enterprises that seek to address these concerns have recently emerged and received applause from the public, governments, and researchers. Despite their intent to alleviate social and environmental issues, a supportive policy environment does not currently exist for these organizations. In order for these enterprises to function, they require positive regulatory environments, access to large amounts of funding, technological support, human resources, etc. In the absence of such aid, these organizations have to make difficult decisions that would force them to compromise either on their mission or the scale in which they operate. Since the fourth sector is an emerging organizational structure in the US, the policy understanding of it remains limited. Therefore, this study makes one of the first attempts to systematically examine the various policy initiatives from around the globe and discusses the results of these policy initiatives with a focus on the supportive policy environment. This study advances our understanding of the role that public policy plays in supporting the fourth sector and in improving the well-being of the society.