Management of Tensions in Bangladeshi Social Enterprises within Institutional Plurality: A Resource-Based View

Abstract

This paper examines the nature of managerial tensions that may result in hybrid social enteprises (SEs) due to co-existence of values and influences from pluralistic institutional domains. The paper also explores how such organisations mobilise resources and capabilities in order to respond to internal tensions. The study adopts a multiple case study approach, collecting data from nine Bangladeshi SEs. The study identifies a number of competing pressures originating from multiple institutional domains, which have affected the way they accomplished their dual value and approval from multiple stakeholders. This interplay between SEs’ dual goals and institutional influences led to seven different tension types inside the studied cases. The management of these tensions, at the strategic level, involved five different responses: (i) forced adoption/coercive adoption, (ii) proactive response, (iii) adapt, (iv) influence, and (v) side-stepping. At the functional level, this involved orchestration of SEs’ resources and capabilities in a particular way.