From Policy to Practice: Exploring Practitioners\u2019 Perspectives on Social Enterprise Policy Claims

Micaela Mazzei,Michael J. Roy

doi:10.1007/s11266-017-9856-y

Abstract

While there has been significant academic focus on social enterprise policy for a number of years now, the links between policy and the practice of social enterprise have received comparatively less attention. Scotland is recognised as having a particularly supportive environment for social enterprise; the Scottish Government has publicly endorsed social enterprise and made considerable investment into the sector. Based upon an in-depth qualitative analysis of the perceptions of social enterprise practitioners and stakeholders across Scotland, we explore whether the rhetoric of support matches practitioners experience of ‘doing’ social enterprise. Reviewing emerging issues and reflecting upon the complex nature of the Scottish context, including in relation to welfare reform, we find that in contrast to the claims of politicians, the attitude of local authorities in Scotland, coupled with a lack of understanding of the needs and requirements of social enterprise at the local authority level, has led to a rather more ‘patchwork’ picture than the rhetoric would seem to suggest. While some local authorities recognise the potential of social enterprise for their local economies and privilege and encourage cooperation, others are less inclined to openly support social enterprise, particularly those that are small in scale. Underpinning these contentions, we argue, are unrealistic expectations about the prospects of social enterprises being able to become ‘sustainable’, and how this could be achieved.

Highlights

The role of the social enterprise—an organisation that sells goods and services with an explicit social mission, rather than the maximisation of returns to investors or shareholders—as a tool of public policy is well documented
Confronting the narrative of official government publications with the opinions of those involved in delivering social enterprises, diverging perceptions of policy claims emerge
While the Scottish Government claims to recognise the contribution of social enterprises to the local economy—as exemplified in the Economic Strategy (2015)—when it comes to the tendering of public contracts, social enterprises do not consider that the environment for public procurement is especially favourable towards them

Summary

Introduction

The role of the social enterprise—an organisation that sells goods and services with an explicit social mission, rather than the maximisation of returns to investors or shareholders—as a tool of public policy is well documented. The ‘hybrid’ nature (Billis 2010; Doherty et al 2014) of social enterprise arguably makes it ideally equipped to act as an instrument of political parties from each side of the political divide From those who favour neoliberal, market-based approaches (Grenier 2009; Teasdale 2012) to those who believe in co-production, mutualism and partnership is building between the Third Sector—the space between state and market (Salamon and Sokolowski 2016)—and government (see, for example, Farmer et al 2012; Pestoff 2012, 2014).

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