<p>Social enterprises (SEs) operate at the intersection of social impact and financial sustainability, facing complex challenges in creating and capturing value that vary significantly across developed and developing economies. Drawing on a systematic literature review, we integrate perspectives from strategic entrepreneurship and strategic management to construct a multi-level, multi-dimensional framework that elucidates how macro-, meso- and micro-level factors interactively shape SEs’ strategic choices toward organizational sustainability. A key contribution of our study lies in a disaggregated analysis of the constituent elements within each strategic choice, revealing that the salience of these elements is highly context-dependent. Building on this insight, we develop a typology of strategies that reflects how SEs selectively combine different elements to form effective, context-grounded strategic pathways, eschewing one-size-fits-all approaches in favor of nuanced, adaptable strategic configurations. This typology addresses the varying institutional, resource and stakeholder conditions encountered across heterogeneous environments. By offering a more granular and comprehensive synthesis than previous literature, our work provides a foundational building block for future research and contributes actionable insights for SE organizational sustainability. </p>