Intermediaries as external enablers in community-based social enterprises: case studies in China and Japan

Social enterprise is a new kind of hybrid organization that integrates social and economic logics, which has made a big contribution to solving complicated social problems. Therefore, it is regarded as a power of social governance. However, some scholars indicate that it is difficult for the social enterprise to integrate different institutional logics effectively. The institutional logics coexisting within the same organization will result in difficulties in the commercial operation of social issues and leading to inefficient social governance—“social enterprise failure”. Hence, is the social enterprise a useful approach for social governance, or has it really failed? This article intends to respond to this argument.Given that the theory of social enterprise failure is taken from Benefit Corporation: A Desirable Organizational Paradigm for CSR Practice, this article firstly interprets the means of social enterprise failure, its inference logic and substitutive approach from that paper; secondly, this article diagnoses whether the social enterprise has failed through combining theories of typology and multiple institutional logics; finally, this article puts forward some suggestions to make a better understanding on the social enterprise and its social governance value.The conclusion shows that social enterprise failure is a misjudgment. According to the failure theory, the social enterprise is a kind of hybrid organization dominated by social logic, which will lead to poor social governance effectiveness. In order to solve the low efficiency of social governance, the failure theory points out B Corporation as the substitutive approach because of its balanced institutional logic arrangement. There are two categories of misunderstanding in this theory. First, the starting point （what is the social enterprise） of inferencing social enterprise failure is flawed. In fact, the logic arrangement of mixed system of the social enterprise is more diversified than the failure theory. Second, there are some logical flaws in the substitutive approach of social enterprise failure. The failure theory adopts the way of “one part instead of the whole”, that is, a certain type of social enterprise with low degree of hybridity and low social governance effectiveness replaces the social enterprise population to demonstrate that B Corporation is a more desirable subject of social governance, but the similarities between the social enterprise and B Corporation are ignored.To better reveal the social governance value of social enterprises, this article suggests that: （1） On academic research, we need to take actions to improve social enterprise paradigm establishment, especially pay attention to the social governance processes and consequences of social enterprises. （2） In practice, social problems can be solved by social enterprises through different forms, such as organization, organizational behavior, co-production, and so on.The contributions are as follows: First, this article provides a lens to make a better understanding of social enterprises from dynamic and multiple perspectives. Second, some research suggestions are put forward to improve the social governance value of social enterprises. Third, the confusion among social enterprise, B Corporation and CSR is clarified to some extent through this article’s framework, and the forms of social enterprises participating in social governance are diversified.

Although a hybrid logic is widely recognized as the best institutional logic for social enterprises, why and how such a hybrid logic works for social enterprises is under-explored. Based on the institutional logic theory, we conduct a multiple-case study to investigate how and why the two competing logics are combined to form a hybrid logic during social entrepreneurial process. Data are collected from the in-depth semi-structured interviews with social entrepreneurs from three leading social enterprises in China. We categorize a hybrid logic model as a dominant logic model, which includes a social-dominant logic model and a commercial-dominant logic model, and an equality of dual logic model. We find that the adoption of a hybrid logic is affected by the type of a social enterprise and the motivation to acquire different legitimacy. Specifically, an integrated social enterprise adopts a commercial-dominant logic model while an external social enterprise employs a social-dominant logic model to achieve sustainability. An embedded social enterprise can adopt an equality of dual logic model from its establishment. Our study contributes to research on strategic social entrepreneurship by revealing the dynamic relationship among different types of social enterprises, the adoption of a hybrid logic at different entrepreneurial stages, the motivation to acquire different legitimacy, and business outcomes.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore social enterprise accountability with respect to their dual social and financial objectives. Drawing on theories of accountability, stakeholders and institutional logics, this paper examines to whom and how social enterprises are accountable, focusing on the potential differences in accountability where social enterprises have a dominant versus a diversified commercial customer base.Design/methodology/approachCase studies on four work integrated social enterprises are analysed. Primary data include interviews with general managers of each social enterprise. Secondary data include social media, websites and internal and external reports.FindingsFindings reveal accountability is largely influenced by dominant stakeholders (dominant commercial customers and parent organisations). Further, a connection between to whom and how social enterprises are accountable was noted, with formal accountability directed to the main stakeholders of the social enterprises, while less formal types of accountability were directed to less powerful stakeholders.Originality/valueThe integrated nature of the social enterprises facilitated complementarity rather than conflict among their commercial and social logics. While formal accountability was directed to those with power, expectations of these stakeholders ensured social and commercial logics were balanced, highlighting the importance of powerful stakeholders supporting both logics for social enterprises to effectively manage their hybridity. Conclusions consider the importance of social enterprises’ reporting practices.

As a theoretical framework in organization studies, institutional logics is immensely popular. It has been used in a large amount of highly contributory and enlightening empirical studies, and developed far beyond its original formulation in a classical paper by Friedland and Alford (1991). In our paper, we identify three key theoretical problems that have emerged in the development and use of institutional logics theory in the past three decades: the lack of uniformity and coherence in the definitions and empirical identifications of logics; the tendency of institutional logics theorists to attempt to build grand theory to connect micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis; and the difficulties to explain how institutional logics are reproduced and how institutional logics interrelate and evolve over time. To address these issues, we highlight the similarities between institutional logics theory and classical functionalist differentiation theory, drawing its legacy from Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton, and propose its use as a resource in further theoretical development. The aim of the paper is not to reject institutional logics theory, or merely to point out its weaknesses, but to demonstrate how a revival of some classics in sociological theory can be used to sharpen institutional logics as an analytical tool and thus assist in efforts to further improve the usefulness of institutional logics as a theoretical framework in organization studies.

While institutional logics theory has increasingly been applied in higher education research, especially in the past five years, agreement is lacking on how to approach institutional logics analysis. This results in proliferating institutional logics in higher education studies and often confuses newcomers to the field as to how to use institutional logics in their empirical research. As a response to this situation, our study outlines the state-of-the-art application of institutional logics in higher education studies through scrutinising 59 articles that apply institutional logics in organisation studies in the field of higher education. Specifically, we ask the following research questions: What approaches to institutional logics analysis are used in higher education studies? What institutional logics are identified/applied in higher education studies? What challenges are evident in applying institutional logics in higher education studies? How does the use of institutional logics in higher education research contribute to institutional logics theory? The most profound outcomes of our literature analysis are: First, we construct a novel typology of approaches to institutional logics analysis that is positioned on two-dimensions: the reasoning applied (deductive vs. inductive), and the level at which the logic is examined (societal vs. field/local); Second, we create an exhaustive list of institutional logics (over 50) applied and identified in these studies; Third, we discover major challenges in using institutional logics in higher education research. Finally, we clearly define societal-level and field-level logics and suggest a rationalisation of institutional logics approaches in order to fully utilise the explanatory power of institutional logics.

Managing tensions in a social enterprise: The complex balancing act to deliver a multi-faceted but coherent social mission

This study explores how Participatory Budgeting (PB) actors employ diverse logics to dominate the PB implementation during political and administrative leadership periods in a Sri Lankan local government context. The study contributes to the limited literature on PB and institutional logics in accounting studies by exploring how political, administrative, and citizen empowerment logics interact in shaping the PB processes and their outcomes. Drawing on the institutional logic theory, this interpretive case study relies on document analysis, informal discussions, and semi-structured interviews with local politicians, administrators, and community members. The finding reveals that political actors use PB as an instrument to develop their political strength by modifying PB practices during political leadership. In contrast, administrators introduce procedural adherence to rules and regulations and tend to marginalise the contribution of citizen participation in administrative leadership. The role of citizens in making final budgetary decisions under both leaderships is scant despite rhetorical discourses on citizens' empowerment. Therefore, the study underscores the need for a balanced approach to ensure citizen empowerment, which combines political inclusiveness, administrative accountability, and transparency, and citizen engagement within a budgeting process to foster democratic participation and participatory decision-making in local government.

This study explores how Internet enterprises integrate different industries to sustainably develop organizational ecology, using institutional logic theory and an exploratory case study of LeEco, a famous Chinese Internet enterprise. The findings are as follows: (1) There are two main barriers to sustainable development of internal organizational ecology: resource barriers and information barriers. To overcome these obstacles, managers should carry out a series of institutional practices so that the organizational ecology obtains both product and institutional legitimacy; (2) A new institutional practice, the rigid/flexible method, is proposed, which includes implementation, communication, incentive, and cultural mechanisms. This method can help reconcile institutional logic conflicts caused by multiple logic coexistences in the organizational ecology; (3) A sustainable development model of organizational ecologies for Internet enterprises is presented, based on institutional logic, for closed-loop analysis of the ecological growth path. Based on a case study of China’s Internet environment, this paper opens up the “black box” of the internal growth of Internet enterprises at the micro level, complementing the macro studies in the literature. This study enriches organizational ecology theory and institutional logic theory. In addition, the case study of LeEco provides sufficient information on sustainable development to serve as a model for other Internet enterprises.

This chapter introduces a few theoretical terms and points out some caveats with these terms that are perhaps not always apparent. It takes the form of a discussion between concepts around professions and professionalism, and the abstract theory of institutional logics. The chapter begins by discussing the term ‘profession’, and recognizes a need for a more detailed way of discussing the characteristics of professionalism. In order to develop this, the chapter looks at the theory of institutional logics, drawing on Freidson's framework, to set the stage for a more distinct discussion of professionalism and its relation to markets and bureaucracy. It then turns to discussing professional service organization. The chapter outlines these theoretical influences in what the author chosen to call a ‘Janusian’ view on institutional logics.

This article illustrates how the theory of institutional logics can be used for analyzing the identity of social workers and clients, focusing on people processing that precedes treatment (control access, assessment, and treatment deliberation, among others). The article has two research questions: (1) What identities of social workers and clients can be distinguished by institutional logics? (2) How are identities intertwined in practice (exemplified by well-established decision-making models such as evidence-based practice, family group conference, and government by voucher)? Identity is examined using institutional logics and the findings reported in the current body of social work literature. The article derives two conclusions. The first conclusion is that institutional logics can be used for distinguishing ideal type identities: three client identities, namely taken care of community member (community logic), active citizen (participatory democracy logic), and consumer (market logic); and three social worker identities, namely professional (professional logic), bureaucrat (State logic), and executor of management directives (corporation logic). The second conclusion is that identities and institutional logics coexist in well-established models for processing people and treatment deliberation, but the conditions for coexistence differ. For instance, evidence-based practice is characterized by segregation (a bureaucratic and a professional alignment have been separated from the original version of EBP), whereas family group conference and government by voucher are typified by assimilation (logics coexist with the core elements of original logics preserved). Keywords: social work, institutional logics, people processing, decision-making

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between institutional logics and specifications quality, and how this relationship is mediated by the legitimacy of the procurement process and stewardship behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on insights from institutional logics theory, and legitimacy and stewardship behaviour literature. We conducted an extended literature review to gain a comprehensive understanding of “institutional logics” and their manifestations in organizational contexts, utilizing the 2000–2024 data collected from the EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science databases, complemented with Google Scholar. We gather that institutional logics manifest in several forms, and that while some organizations may thrive on a single logic, in certain contexts institutional logics can manifest in combinations – “multiple logics or hybrids”. Based on this understanding, we developed testable research hypotheses, predicting the influences of institutional logics – professional logic, efficient service logic and delivery (market) logic, on legitimacy, stewardship behaviour and specifications quality. We then carried out an empirical study, adopting a quantitative cross-sectional survey design with a self-administered questionnaire to test the hypothesized relationships. The empirical data were obtained from 162 procuring and disposing entities in Uganda and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling technique.FindingsThe study findings reveal that institutional logics exert a strong positive effect on the legitimacy of the procurement process and on stewardship behaviour, which, in turn, both positively influence specifications quality.Research limitations/implicationsThe study findings have implications for theory and practice. The study findings provide useful insights that support the conceptual and theoretical development of institutional logics theory and applications in procurement literature. In addition, the study findings enhance procurement managers’ understanding of the mechanisms through which institutional logics can foster specifications quality. However, considering the fact that the study was conducted in a single country context, and focused on the public sector only, the findings of the study might not be generalizable globally.Originality/valueThis study contributes to established knowledge about quality management and procurement by examining the legitimacy of the procurement process and stewardship behaviour of those involved in procurement processes as mechanisms through which procuring entities are able to use institutional logics to enhance specifications quality. In addition, the study highlights areas for future research that may be explored to increase understanding of the value of institutional logics in ensuring specifications quality, and the link between specifications quality and the general performance of procuring entities.

Social enterprises pursue a dual mission: on the one hand, they strive for social purpose, while on the other, they try to achieve economic stability despite scarce resources. To achieve the dual mission, social enterprises avail themselves of both for-profit and non-profit institutional logics. Due to this combination of multiple institutional logics, such enterprises can be classified as hybrid organizations. This study focuses on these organizations and investigates tensions between social enterprises and various stakeholder groups caused by the use of commercial logics within the social sector. In particular, we examine the perception of commercial versus social welfare logics by various stakeholder groups, and investigate the effects on organizational communication. Our study is centered on social franchise enterprises. We use an exploratory qualitative research approach based on semi-structured interviews with 21 social franchisors and social franchisees of seven social franchise enterprises. Our main results suggest that the use of commercial logics in the social sector tends to decrease the legitimacy of social franchise enterprises in the eyes of internal stakeholders, the general public, and various (but not all) external stakeholder groups. Many stakeholders of social franchise enterprises show a strong aversion to commercial logics, and particularly to commercial terminology. Overall, we conclude that social franchise enterprises very consciously apply commercial and social welfare logics and use alternative terminology where necessary to retain legitimacy and prevent tensions.

PurposeThis study aims to explore the influence of field-level funding pressure and resource dependency on conflicting institutional logics in implementing a new performance measurement system (PMS) within a privatised social enterprise (SE) in a developing country. It answers the research question: how accounting-based key performance indicators (KPIs) were chosen within a privatised SE to maintain co-existence between two different institutional logics, the social and commercial logics, to gain legitimacy in the government funding scheme.Design/methodology/approachThis study expands the application and contribution of the Besharov and Smith’s (2014) logics multiplicity framework to previous management accounting literature on PMS and institutional logics. It adds a new dimension to previous literature to theorise the cognitive dynamics of institutional logics at three distinct but interrelated institutional levels, namely, field, organisational and individual. Data come from an interpretive case study of an Egyptian SE, involved in implementing a social project (drinking water refining) in rural communities.FindingsPMS acts as a political tool through which the privatised case company has gained societal acceptance and legitimacy in the government funding scheme. Its non-political KPIs have turned into political tools to meet the institutional demands of the funding scheme. This government involvement represents field-level institutional logics, which influenced the organisational-level interplay of commercial and social logics and then the individual-level choice of internal KPIs. This contributes to the fact that institutional logics and their interplay between these three levels are “in a state of flux” within SEs’ internal PMS.Originality/valueThis study deals with a real-life practical case that proves the prevalence of one institutional logic over another at both the organisational and individual levels may be occasioned by organisational field pressures and opportunities rather than by other intra-organisational conflicts as discussed in most previous literature on PMS and institutional logics.

The characteristics of collaborative innovation and interactions among core enterprises, users, and partners are critical. Research is lacking on how to construct open innovation ecology through institutional design. This study explores how core enterprises effectively motivate users and partners to participate in innovation activities on the Internet and successfully constructing open innovation ecology, using the institutional logic theory and an exploratory case study of Xiaomi, a famous Chinese Internet enterprise. The findings are as follows: (1) three main characteristics of innovation carried out by core enterprises, users, and partners in the open innovation ecology—iterative innovation, social innovation, and joint innovation; (2) three new institutional practices—following, leading, and symbiotic mechanisms—which provide an effective institutional guarantee for interaction and innovation; (3) two kinds of institutional logic—administrative logic and social logic, which core enterprises follow to construct open innovation ecology on the Internet, and its change in innovation characteristics. Therefore, a full understanding of the changing rules of the institutional logic is fundamental for successfully building open innovation ecology. This study enriches both the open innovation ecology theory as well as the institutional logic theory. In addition, Xiaomi’s open innovation ecological development model proves that core enterprises can take the approach of building open innovation ecology. It provides a strong example to other enterprises on innovations on the Internet.

The social enterprise concept, a business with specific social objectives, has been questioned by scholars and practitioners for its sustainability. More importantly, a paucity of research exists on how a social enterprise can be sustainable, indicating the necessity of developing a sustainable model of social enterprise, particularly in the Asian context. Filling in the gap in the literature, the present study’s prime objective is to explore a sustainable social enterprise model. The bodies of knowledge on social enterprise and sustainable enterprise are reviewed, followed by identifying a sustainable social enterprise model for exploration. The identified model is among the few sustainable social enterprise models available, thus making it appropriate for the exploration. To explore the model, the phenomenological paradigm is adopted. The study uses the case study approach with open-ended, semi-structured interview methods as well as documentation to explore a case enterprise called Amphawa Chaipattananurak (ACCP) in Thailand. To ensure data validity, the data, method, investigator, and theory triangulation methods are adopted. Ninety-five stakeholder informants were interviewed, ranging from the management team, staff, community people, and visitors to customers. In terms of analysis, the working analytical framework is adopted to analyze the collected data. Findings indicate that the ACCP practices and outcomes are consistent with those of the sustainable social enterprise model, indicating the model’s applicability. Based on the findings, a refined sustainable social enterprise model is derived. Limitations, future research directions, theoretical contributions and implications, and managerial implications are also discussed.