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The purposes of this study were to calculate the confirmatory factor analysis in the measurement model using robust measures (McDonald’s omega and Cronbach’s alpha) to ensure the reliability of the proposed scale and to explore the measurement invariance of the scale per the participants’ gender.

The methodological sample had 408 students from a private university in northern Mexico, of which 200 (49%) were male and 208 (51%) were female; the sample age range was 18–58 years (M = 22.4 years, SD = 6.0). The data analysis included descriptive and normality, dimensionality, reliability and measurement invariance.

The social entrepreneurship competency measurement model showed acceptable adjustment indexes in evaluating the internal structure, reliability and factorial invariance by gender of the study participants.

Even though the contributions of this study are evident, these findings must be taken with caution due to some limitations. First, the proposed measurement model uses a self-reported scale, so it is essential to include other measurement methods with less implicit social desirability. Second, although the sample was intended to be representative, it only drew from a specific geographical area, making it difficult to generalize these findings to culturally diverse areas. Third, this study did not consider other validity measures; for example, concurrent, divergent and predictive, so future studies should consider examining the relationship of social entrepreneurship with other factors.

From the practical perspective, this study provides a parsimonious instrument regarding the number of items included in the measurement model. From the theoretical perspective, the present study contributes to delimiting the dimensions of social entrepreneurship competency.

This study contributes to the field of social entrepreneurship, particularly in the area of construct measurement, by offering a measurement model with solid evidence of internal structure validity, reliability and factorial invariance for the perceived achievement of social entrepreneurship competency.

The purpose of this study is to explore the development of “social innovation (SI)” research within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) context.

This paper explores academic databases (Web of Science/Scopus/Sage), to identify relevant papers focused on SI. Using a systematic literature review (SLR) with narrative-assessment approach, the “VOSviewer” tool is used to analyse relationships between themes/subthemes related to SI in HEIs. Additionally, Excel’s polynomial-trendline feature is used to track publication numbers over time.

This research identified five themes related to HEIs and SI trends, each exposing important aspects of higher education and SI, including “Sustainable Development; Social Entrepreneurship; Digital Transformation; Research; and Innovation Culture.” This research also identifies best practices of global universities and their SI programmes across 19 topics, including changes in publication volume since 1996.

The SLR reveals research gaps related to HEIs and SI trends that require further investigation. Each of these areas gives scholars/practitioners opportunities for in-depth investigation.

The findings of this study encourage global HEIs to implement SI, become acquainted with the present themes and the programmes conducted by HEIs, recognise the importance of SI trends and fill HE provision gaps around SI.

This paper contributes to knowledge on the promotion of SI in HEIs and sustainable development, while identifying gaps for further research.