Social enterprises have become a nascent concept in academia and have grabbed the attention of research
scholars. They are deemed as an important predictor of economic growth, poverty alleviation, and solving social
and economic issues. In the COVID-19 pandemic, many developed and developing economies accounted for a
negative change in unemployment, health, education, and other social issues. Consequently, researchers realized
that social enterprises are an important predictor to overcome many issues during the pandemic. Hence, the
current study contributes to the body of knowledge by investigating the influence of social entrepreneurial
orientation on social and economic performance through a mediating role of competitive advantage. The data
were collected from the top management of family-owned manufacturing firms operating in Pakistan. The
current study executed a dual-stage analysis involving Smart-PLS and artificial intelligence (AI) named Artificial
Neurons Networks (ANN). The SEM model shows that social entrepreneurial orientation has a negative impact on
economic performance (profit maximization) but a positive effect on social performance. ANN architecture explains
the 78 % accuracy of the proposed model. Considering the results, we recommend firms emphasize social
entrepreneurial orientation to configure their competitive advantage and performance in the pandemic.