Professionalization and Hybridization Dynamics of Social Enterprises

Abstract

Most of the extant studies on social enterprises have taken a static view of institutional complexity and assumed conflict between social and market logics as given. In this study, by taking a dynamic perspective and examining the conflict between social and professional logics, we examine the process of their hybridization and how institutional complexity evolves as they grow and professionalize. Based on our study of a hospital in India, we find that social enterprises operating in highly professionalized fields pass through phases of hybridization and professionals play a crucial role as carriers of alternative logics to social enterprises.