Addressing autistic unemployment through autistic owned and led social enterprise

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Zivkovic, S. (2024). Addressing autistic unemployment through autistic owned and led social enterprise. Social Enterprise Journal, 20(5), 766-784. https://doi.org/10.1108/sej-01-2024-0011

Publication date: 3 Jul 2024 Added to AutiHub: 6 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)

Abstract

Purpose To address the high level of autistic unemployment it has been recommended that autistic individuals be supported to own and lead social enterprises. This paper aims to discuss what is required to create an enabling environment for autistic social entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach By referring to the autism, entrepreneurship and complexity theory literature, it is argued in this conceptual article that to create the required enabling environment for autistic social entrepreneurship, business advisors need to adopt a business development approach that aligns with autistic ways of thinking. It is also agrued that a place-based autistic social enterprise support ecosystem based on a landscape of practice approach is required to bring together diverse support individuals and organisations who have different approaches to practice. Examples including personal reflections are used to support these claims. Findings Challenges and barriers to creating the required enabling environment are identified. Two theories of change, one focused on creating integrated service delivery and one focused on enabling the landscape of practice to transition to a more effective state, are proposed for addressing the identified challenges and barriers. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, for the first time this article identifies what is required to address the challenges and barriers in creating an enabling environment for autistic social entrepreneurship. Without addressing these challenges and barriers there is a risk that nascent autistic social entrepreneurs will be set up for failure.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 28 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
92
With a DOI
34
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
56
12 / 92 (13.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
52 / 92 (56.5%)
References with detected author names
40 / 92 (43.5%)
Without detected author names
52
Without a structured title
30
Without a stable identifier
54
References with raw author names still to review
30
References with external metadata lookup issues
2
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
84
From DOI or external metadata
84
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
39
34 / 84 (40.5%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 50 / 84 (59.5%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
19 / 84 (22.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 19 / 34 (55.9%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 16 / 81 (19.8%).
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