Earnings generation and strategic alliance-building and as a means of achieving scalability of social enterprises in South Africa

Abstract

While scaling of social impact is a key element in social entrepreneurship (SE), many social enterprises fail to scale-up their impact meaningfully. This is an opportunity to investigate earnings generation (EG) and strategic alliance-building (SAB) as potential predictors of scalability of social enterprises. The study context is South Africa where SE has much relevance due to the many social ills, which plague the country. Initially, the study instrument is tested for validity and reliability, whereupon hypotheses are tested using multiple regression analyses. Results show that EG is a significant and positive predictor of social enterprise scaling. This finding is important considering that many social enterprises in South Africa are challenged by financial resource constraints. This study, conducted in an African emerging market context, allows social entrepreneurs to more deeply understand the relevance of EG and SAB in their scaling efforts. Indeed, developing a strong body of evidence that validates the effectiveness of policy in supporting social enterprise scaling is pivotal for both theory and practice.