Based on the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, this paper takes 31 provinces as research cases, integrates the five elements of entrepreneurial ecosystem that social entrepreneurship depends on from the uniqueness of social entrepreneurship, and discusses the complex causal mechanism driving the activity of regional social entrepreneurship.

The research results show that: First, a single entrepreneurial ecosystem element cannot constitute a necessary condition for generating high social entrepreneurial activity and non-high social entrepreneurial activity. Second, there are two types of entrepreneurial ecosystems that generate high social entrepreneurial activity, namely, market-culture driven with government support and people-culture driven with government support. These two types of entrepreneurial ecosystems show the characteristics of “multiple concurrency” and “same destination” in achieving high social entrepreneurial activity in different provinces. Third, there are five types of entrepreneurial ecosystems that generate non-high social entrepreneurial activity. Among them, the four types of entrepreneurial ecosystems all contain non-high government support, reflecting that in China’s transition period, the lack of government support has a general impact on the generation of non-high social entrepreneurial activity. The conclusions reveal the realization path of entrepreneurial ecosystem with high social entrepreneurial activity in the region, and provide theoretical guidance for improving the social entrepreneurial activity in regions with different entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Based on the above findings, the following enlightenment is obtained: First, when formulating measures to promote the development of social entrepreneurship activity, government departments at all levels need to play not only the leading role of the government, but also the auxiliary role of social culture to stimulate the willingness of social entrepreneurship. Second, it is very important to realize the linkage and matching between institutional elements and resource elements. Government departments at all levels should promote the development of key element environment with limited resources according to local resource conditions. Third, when optimizing the entrepreneurial ecosystem, government departments at all levels should pay attention to the unique situation of social entrepreneurship to avoid the negative impact.

The main contributions of this paper are that: First, based on the entrepreneurial ecosystem theory, starting from the uniqueness of social entrepreneurship, a regional and systematic model of social entrepreneurial ecosystem is constructed. Second, it clarifies the causal complex mechanism between entrepreneurial ecosystem and social entrepreneurial activity, and reveals the similarities and differences between social entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial activity. Third, it explores the distribution characteristics of social entrepreneurship activity among different regions in China from a regional perspective, which is helpful to provide theoretical guidance for improving social entrepreneurial activity.