<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Purpose</jats:title>
<jats:p>Social entrepreneurship (SE) has been a field of research that has interested researchers for over 30 years. However, there is no consensus on the concept of SE, and research in this field moves in several directions. The purpose of this study is to summarize the definitions of SE, propose a unified definition of SE and describe the state-of-the-art of SE in the Latin American context.</jats:p>
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<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title>
<jats:p>This study carries out a literature review on SE from 2010 to 2020 to explore the main topics in the SE field, searching, reviewing and selecting the most representative articles published.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Findings</jats:title>
<jats:p>The findings of this study suggest agreements and disagreements in the main topics of SE and reveal a significant gap in the SE research in the Latin American scenario.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Originality/value</jats:title>
<jats:p>This study contributes to the future growth of SE literature under a common umbrella that allows for more and better knowledge in this field and proposes a novel research agenda for the SE field in Latin America.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
