Form Of Social Enterprise Research Articles

The Social Enterprise Craze: CSO Financial Sustainability in Ghana

Abstract As a relatively stable democracy, Ghana has long been a popular country for international donors. However, recent changes in its classification by the World Bank and government proclamations have led to a reduction in foreign aid, forcing Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to confront the financial sustainability of their organizations. In this study, we test the typology proposed by Arhin et al. (2018. “Facing the Bullet? Non-Governmental Organisations’ (NGOs’) Responses to the Changing Aid Landscape in Ghana.” Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 29 (2): 348–60) which finds that CSOs in Ghana are using six different strategies to work toward financial sustainability. Based on an original survey of 42 CSOs, our findings indicate an almost exclusive focus on income generation in the form of social enterprises. The challenges this poses to the sector are discussed.

Stakeholders self‐organization and adaptive governance in social enterprises: Membership representation, worker control and client orientation

AbstractThe article uses elements of complexity theory, social systems theory, and new institutionalism to analyse stakeholder self‐organization in Italian non‐profit social enterprises. Organizational development goes through an evolutionary process of trial and error, in which stakeholder self‐organization produces governance rules and routines to achieve adaptation and resilience in a changing socioeconomic environment. Survey data regarding social cooperatives, which are prevalent in Italy as a form of social enterprise, display how diverse stakeholders engage in self‐organization and self‐positioning within key governance bodies of membership and board of directors. The results demonstrate that in the absence of investor ownership, producers, especially paid staff but also volunteer workers, assume the main responsibility for decision‐making and control. Client orientation, the production of economic and social value in favour of customers and users, is achieved in a context of high relational intensity through participation in the co‐production and co‐creation of services, as well as the pooling of non‐commercial resources and favourable price discrimination, less through participation in decision‐making and control. This emerging evolutionary pattern can support the development of new organizational and business models for social enterprises.

Social Enterprise Dalam Perspektif Maqashid Syariah: Studi Pada PT Kampung Marketerindo Berdaya

This study aims to reveal the social enterprise innovation implemented by PT Kampung Marketerindo Berdaya to empower rural communities with a maqashid al-syariah perspective. So far, quite a number of previous studies have discussed the theme of maqashid al-syariah. However, mostly in the perspective of Islamic law and its application in banking. This study contributes to outlining the suitability of social enterprise practices and community empowerment when viewed from the maqashid sharia principles. The research method used in 2 stages, namely online data search and in-depth interviews. Marketer village empowerment innovations are in the form of: 1) training village youth with online business technology skills, 2) building empowerment in the form of social enterprise, 3) connecting village skilled workers to urban businessmen who need their services. The results of the study show that the empowerment of the Marketer Village with the profit for benefit social enterprise model is in line with the principles of Maqashid Syariah, both in terms of orientation, implementation and the resulting benefit.

A Systematic Literature Review of Technology Social Ventures: State of the Art and Directions for Future Research at the Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Level

Technologies can play an important role in developing and scaling social innovations, thanks to their ability to reach and mobilise communities of people, use resources more effectively, and provide fast and broad responses to social needs. Seeing this potential, Technology Social Ventures have arisen as a form of social enterprises that employ technologies to achieve their social impact. This study has systematically reviewed the extant knowledge regarding Technology Social Ventures, applying a ‘micro-meso-macro’ framework to structure the analysis. The results from this multi-level approach revealed ten primary areas of inquiry on the topic, as well as showed that the research field is still in early development and has not been academically delineated from Social Enterprises. Based on these findings, the paper outlines a research agenda to address the existing gaps and advance the field’s development.

The nascent ecology of social enterprise

Employing population ecology theory, we examine social enterprise population emergence in the UK after 2005 when a new organizational form for social enterprise was established. Our density dependence analysis of nearly seven thousand community interest companies finds that survival is positively influenced by age and population densities of both other social enterprises and commercial organizations. Two specific patterns in population emergence are identified: social enterprise survival is more likely influenced by industry than age, a finding that we label the liability of specificity, and their survival benefits from the population density of commercial organizations but not non-profit organizations, a finding that we label the hybrid-commercial benefit. Our research identifies the liability of specificity as a new concept in population ecology theory and the hybrid-commercial benefit as a contextual influence on social enterprise survival.

Une analyse socio‐économique de la trajectoire institutionnelle de l'entreprise sociale : le cas de la Corée du Sud

AbstractAs a unique case in Asia, South Korea has developed for about 15 years a complex eco‐system for encouraging the promotion of various forms of social enterprises, i.e. enterprises pursuing a social aim and/or operating under a democratic governance. This paper analyses the institutional trajectory of social enterprise in Korea and its close relation with the concept of social economy. A socio‐economic analysis of this trajectory reveals that it is strongly driven by successive consensus towards socially useful organisational forms that remain first relatively unknown and local, and then tend to attract the attention of a growing number of stakeholders, including central and local governments, to eventually generate specific public schemes and laws. Through this analysis, one can understand how far an economic concept like social enterprise is the result of a social construct that depends on the involvement of the public side and the civil society and social movement. It also stresses how important is the decisive role played by relatively minor actors to generate a consensus between different stakeholders and disseminate thus social innovation to reshape public action and public/private forms of partnerships.

Evaluating indicators of social enterprises under the Vietnam Enterprise Law 2014 based on the European Research Network (EMES) ideal-type social enterprise model

In recent decades, social enterprises have flourished as a solution to social and environmental issues through their business models. However, basic theoretical issues of social enterprises, such as its definition and characteristics, have not attained a global consensus yet. Among the social enterprise concepts, that of the European Research Network (EMES) is supposed to lay the first theoretical and empirical foundation for social enterprise analysis. Through analyzing, reviewing, and comparing research methods, the article focuses on assessing the indicators of social enterprises under the Enterprise Law 2014 in relation to the "ideal-type" social enterprise model proposed by the EMES. The study shows that the indicators of social enterprises under the Enterprise Law 2014 only meet the economic and social dimensions as defined by the EMES while lacking the third dimension of governance, which is crucial to the sustainability of social enterprises. From the research results, the article suggests that Vietnam should recognize cooperatives (with social and environmental goals) as a legal form of social enterprises since they exhibit all of the three sets of indicators of social enterprises. The article also specifies the necessity of modifying some of the provisions in the Enterprise Law 2014 to ensure the participatory governance in social enterprises, which is also a potential topic of research.

Between de Jure and de Facto: Embedding Western Concepts of Social Entrepreneurship in Post-Socialist Reality

This article takes a historical perspective to explain the development of the concept of social entrepreneurship, divergence between the forms of social enterprises (SEs) de jure and de facto in a post-Socialist society and approaches to typical tensions experienced by SEs as hybrid organisations. In this respect, the paper presents a framework of eight contrasting conceptual dimensions (i.e. possible institutional tensions) based on the analysis of prior social entrepreneurship studies and identifies respective tensions experienced by SEs based on data from Lithuania. The data were generated from semi-structured interviews (N = 11) with social entrepreneurship experts and from a survey with a semantic differential method in a sample of the participants (N = 98) in the largest conference on social entrepreneurship in Lithuania. This study concludes that understandings of social entrepreneurship in Lithuania are blurred by a dichotomy between SEs de jure and de facto which is set by current legal acts. The findings also indicate that social entrepreneurship insiders no longer perceive any controversy between social mission and businesslike activities. However, external attitudes as expressed in experts’ interviews may still hinder SEs’ attainment of social impact, one of the three dimensions (founding motives and innovation types being the other two) that is little reflected by social entrepreneurship insiders of a post-Socialist society in which the phenomenon is at a nascent stage. Directions for further research to bring contribution to institutional theory are suggested.

Social enterprise and sustainable development in Bangladesh and Korea: Opportunities and challenges

AbstractThe aim of this paper was to understand the similarities and differences between social enterprise (SE) systems in Korea and Bangladesh in terms of the emergence, background, development, and current status of the SE's policies and support systems in these two countries. This study employs a conceptual qualitative analysis, and the data used in this study were obtained from multiple reliable literature reviews. The data were analyzed based on a text‐by‐text comparison of social enterprises in the two countries, and the results were revealed through written explanation. In Korea, the SE system emerged as social employment creation plan after the currency crisis in 1997. Later, in 2007, this movement turned into the “Social Enterprise Promotion Act.” Conversely, in Bangladesh, the SE system emerged as a result of NGOs’ activities to “alleviate poverty” and “facilitate job creation” after the War of Independence in 1971 in an informal socioeconomic conditions. There is no explicit legal form of SEs in Bangladesh. This study also suggests the nature and scope of SEs and the barriers to sustainability of SEs in both countries. The study also emphasized the foundations to develop relevant policies as well as clear regulations for the future sustainability of the SEs of these two countries.

Clustering social enterprises: an empirically validated taxonomy

PurposeThis study aims to develop an empirically validated taxonomy. Typologies of social entrepreneurship are primarily based on conceptual considerations and case studies. There is a need for quantitative approaches and empirical testing of this emerging organizational form and its characteristics.Design/methodology/approachFirst, an item scale was developed that emerged from frequently mentioned elements in social entrepreneurship literature. Next, social entrepreneurs rated these items. Finally, the authors conducted a cluster analysis to derive a taxonomy with three distinguishable types of social enterprises.FindingsBased on a cluster analysis (N = 70), an empirically validated taxonomy is provided with three social enterprise types: social service providers, social change makers and social philanthropists.Practical implicationsAlthough this research has an exploratory character, it makes a clear contribution by complementing existing typologies, which tend to be conceptual in nature, with a taxonomy that is empirically grounded. This study defogs the blurry understanding and limited knowledge about different social enterprise forms and provides insight into meaningfully similar groups across the sector as a whole.Originality/valueThis article fills a void of empirically grounded taxonomies by analyzing which definitional aspects of social entrepreneurship literature correspond to the perceptions of social entrepreneurs regarding the nature of their organizations.

Whose value? Problems in valuing social enterprise and research implications

Purpose This paper argues that we need a more disciplined understanding of social enterprise (SE) that is able to incorporate its diversity across different contexts, yet remains sympathetic to its core ideal of value creation. This paper aims to revisit the meaning of value creation to reflect critically upon the diverse forms of SE. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the Aristotelian causes, namely, the formal, efficient and final causes, to problematize the meaning of value creation. Findings This paper shows that SEs can create or destroy value depending on who evaluates the value. It also raises the issue that how value is created – the motives, means and action – is affected by the ethical orientation of the actors. Lastly, it encourages researchers to pay attention to how stakeholders are defined in SE, in light of the diverse nature of organizations that are labelled as SEs. Research limitations/implications This paper demonstrates that the current definition of SE is inadequate, and to-some extent, problematic. It then proposes some future research agendas, to unpack the issue of value creation, through social cost, politics, transparency and legal perspectives. Originality/value This research makes new contribution to the SE literature by injecting an Aristotelian perspective to problematize and reframe the meaning of value creation. It asks scholars to answer these questions: from whose perspective is value created or destroyed (formal cause), how is value created (efficient cause) and for whom is the value created (final cause)?

The Case for a Socially Oriented Business Model Canvas: The Social Enterprise Model Canvas

The main purpose of this article is to introduce the Social Enterprise Model Canvas (SEMC), a Business Model Canvas (BMC) conceived for designing the organizational settings of social enterprises, for resolving the mission measurement paradox, and for meeting the strategy, legitimacy and governance challenges. The SEMC and the analysis that explains its features are of interest to academics concerned with the study of social entrepreneurship because they offer a new analytical tool that is particularly useful for untangling and comparing different forms of social enterprises. Also, it is of interest to social entrepreneurs, because the SEMC is a platform that can be used to prevent ‘mission drifts’ that might result from problems emerging from the mismanagement of such challenges. The arguments presented are grounded on scientific literature from multiple disciplines and fields, on a critical review of the BMC, and on a case study. The main features of SEMC that makes it an alternative to the BMC are attention to social value and building blocks that take into consideration non-targeted stakeholders, principles of governance, the involvement of customers and targeted beneficiaries, mission values, short-term objectives, impact and output measures.

Contextual influences on HRM practices in social enterprises: the case of Thailand

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the social enterprises and human resource management (HRM) literatures by examining how institutional and cultural contexts influence human resources (HR) practices, i.e., recruitment practices (specifically, recruitment channels) and employee relations (ER) practices that are adopted in social enterprises in the developing country of Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies an embedded cross-case analysis of four social enterprises in Thailand across a variety of industries. The case study evidence in this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with each social enterprise’s representatives; field visits to each social enterprise in Bangkok and in other provinces in Thailand; and a review of archival documents and web-based reports and resources. This paper uses thematic analysis to pinpoint, examine and record the patterns or themes found in the data.FindingsBased on these four case studies, this paper proposes that the deficiencies in the Thai skill formation system, especially skill shortages, are associated with the adoption of alternative or substream recruitment channels among social enterprises. Additionally, the weak and highly fragmented ER institution and the cultural context that favor conflict avoidance and unassertiveness among workers within the workplace are associated with the adoption of a paternalistic ER practice in these enterprises.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper has only focused on the role of national skill formation system, ER system, and the cultural context that favor conflict avoidance and unassertiveness among workers within the workplace. Future research may explore how other institutional and cultural domains influence the adoption of HR practices in these enterprises in the context of emerging market economies. Additionally, because this research is based on the case studies of four social enterprises in a variety of industries in Thailand, the findings of this paper may not be generalizable to all social enterprises across countries. Another limitation of this research is that it did not include social enterprises in several other industries, including the entertainment and media industry and the printing and publishing industry, and it does not include other forms of social enterprises, such as community-led social ventures. Future research may explore how institutional and cultural contexts influence HR practices adopted in social enterprises in other industries or in other types of social enterprises. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of social enterprises across industries might be useful in deepening our understanding of a topic that is significant from the perspective of both social enterprises and HRM.Practical implicationsThis paper provides practical implications for HR professionals, founders and top managers of social enterprises not only in Thailand but also in other countries that face the problem of a skill shortage in the labor market.Social implicationsThis paper provides policy implications for the government of Thailand and the governments of several other emerging market economies in which the skill shortage is particularly severe. These governments should focus on solving this problem to alleviate severe competition among several types of organizations in the labor market. Furthermore, these governments should foster the implementation of a partnership model for employee–management relationships within the workplace. In this model, employees and management perceive each other as partners rather than enemies to sustain win–win solutions to any problems or disputes that may occur.Originality/valueThis paper aims to fill the gap in the literature regarding how social enterprises manage HR across contexts, especially in developing countries where institutional and cultural contexts might differ from those of developed countries. Batt and Banerjee (2012) suggested that the literature on HRM, including strategic human resource management (SHRM), should extend beyond the organizational context and examine how institutional contexts influence the adoption of organizations’ HR practices. Additionally, Batt and Banerjee (2012) noted that the majority of studies in the HRM literature focus on profit-oriented firms in the private sector and ignore other types of organizations such as non-profits or social enterprises.

Regulating social entrepreneurship in Russia

In Russia social enterprises (entities of social entrepreneurship) are set up and develop during the last decade. In 2012 they were included in the state program of support for small and medium entrepreneurship. The growth in the number of social entrepreneurship and the experience of state regulation and support to their work accumulated within the period 2012 – 2017 stipulate the need to systematize and analyze this managerial experience. The article describes the origin of the system of state regulation in the field of social entrepreneurship in Russia. It shows that today the process of establishment and development of the conceptual kit, goals, tasks and tools of state policy is going on. Having studied tools of legislative regulation, infrastructure, education and finance support to entities of social entrepreneurship in Russia the authors pointed to the absence of the unique program of this sector development, which is obvious in dividing all tools of support in accordance with organizational-legal forms of social enterprises and it actually duplicates infrastructure and makes administration of finance support more difficult. The authors put forward recommendations dealing with designing a unique program of social entrepreneurship development in Russia with adopting relevant legislation and correcting the mechanism of managing this sector of economy on the part of state.

Community Contribution Companies and Access to Social Finance

There is widespread agreement that innovative funding solutions are necessary to address capital requirements of social enterprises, social purpose businesses and not-for-profits in the social economy. The community contribution company (C3) is a legal organizational form for social enterprise, introduced in British Columbia, Canada, in 2013. In creating this legal form, the British Columbia government intended to provide social entrepreneurs with a recognized legal structure designed, in part, to assist social enterprises in gaining access to investment capital. Drawing on interviews from 14 of the 35 registered C3s and a review of filing data, this study provides information to help understand what attracted organizational founders to the C3 model, what challenges are experienced by C3s engaging with investors and financial institutions, and what opportunities there are for improvement to the C3 legal form. This study found that reasons outside a motivation to access investment capital are key driving factors for incorporating as a C3; there is currently a low level of engagement from impact investors; financial incentives may have a role in increasing investment in C3s; and there is an expressed need and opportunity to enhance education about the model to further support C3s. While the consensus from interview respondents was that benefits of incorporating as a C3 outweighed disadvantages, we found that the model has not helped organizations attract social finance and investment. As this model is in relatively early stages of implementation, the lessons learned in this study can inform investors, social finance intermediaries, entrepreneurs, and policy makers.

How perceived empowerment HR practices influence work engagement in social enterprises – a moderated mediation model

Drawing insights from the group engagement model and self-determination theory, our research explored the role of perceived empowerment human resource (HR) practices in the hybrid organizational form of social enterprise in China. Based on two studies, this paper developed and examined a moderated mediation model, linking perceived empowerment HR practices, identification motivation, work engagement, and authority work value. Specifically, in Study 1 we found perceived empowerment HR practices increased employees’ work engagement through enhancing employees’ identification motivation. In Study 2, we adopted a two-wave design to duplicate and extend this mediation model. A moderator, employees’ authority work value, was found to weaken both the mediation relationship, and the positive relationship between perceived empowerment HR practices and identification motivation. This study broadens the understanding of what social enterprises look like in alternative contexts, while providing an opportunity to explore how a HRM mechanism and its boundary condition function in large social enterprises in China.

ФИНАНСИРОВАНИЕ СОЦИАЛЬНОГО ПРЕДПРИНИМАТЕЛЬСТВА: ОПЫТ ВЕЛИКОБРИТАНИИ

The article summarizes the forms of financing the social entrepreneurship in a comparative perspective of Great Britain and Russia. Research methods: a general characteristic of social entrepreneurship in Great Britain is based on a secondary analysis of the PwC research data in the context of the fields of activity and organizational-and-legal forms of social enterprises. The study of forms of financing social enterprises in Great Britain is based on the method of classifying forms of financing; comparative analysis of forms of financing in the context of characteristics, objectives with a description of specific implementation cases in Great Britain and Russia. Results of the research: a classification of the forms of financing the social entrepreneurship has been proposed depending on the source of income, goals, tangibility, and the mechanism of provision; in Great Britain, a diversified structure of social enterprise financing is used. In Russia, forms of non-repayable financing (grants, donations) prevail with complete underdevelopment of forms of social investment. The results of the study may be used in the development of forms of financing the social entrepreneurship in Russia.

Multidimensional competency construct for social entrepreneurs: A logistic regression approach

Do social entrepreneurs running a for-profit (private, limited) enterprise require different competencies from those running a not-for-profit enterprise? The present research study aimed to answer the above question by proposing and vindicating a multidimensional competency construct that can serve as a succinct base to distinguish for-profit social entrepreneurs from not-for-profit social entrepreneurs. An online survey method was used to elicit responses from 400 Indian social entrepreneurs. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data and to test the hypothesis. The empirical results revealed that for-profit social entrepreneurs did not differ not-for-profit social entrepreneurs in four competencies. By vindicating the competencies relevant for the two different forms of social enterprises, the study contributes to theory development in the field of social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the study makes an attempt to explore new avenues for social entrepreneurial competencies research, which offer special insight with regard to enterprise form/type. The logistic regression model provides valuable insights for future enquiries by postulating and vindicating competencies as an underpinning for differentiation. The research study is limited to India; hence, it provides scope for further research in other geographical regions in order to generalize the results.

The Implications of Schumpeter’s Theories of Innovation for the Role, Organisation and Impact of Community-Based Social Enterprise in Three European Countries

Social enterprises, with strong ties to local areas and communities, have been a growing phenomenon in many European countries at least since the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the resulting retrenchment of state involvement in welfare provision. The paper draws on the empirical findings from nine case studies of community-based social enterprises (CBSE) in three countries which were investigated in depth in our study. Our objective is to use Schumpeter’s work as a lens to assess the effects of social innovation on different aspects of this type of social organisation. Thus, we aim to address the questions: (i) to what extent can CBSEs be considered as a form of social innovation and how does this innovation arise in terms of role, organisation and impact of CBSEs? (ii) What are the similarities and differences between CBSEs in the three selected European countries? And (iii) how far does Schumpeter’s conceptual framework of “creative destruction” provide insights into the process of organisational change in this form of social enterprise? In doing so we identify and discuss a series of innovations in organisation, project selection and delivery and conclude with insights relating to Schumpeter’s theory of “creative destruction”.

Innovación urbana y social

En los últimos años tanto en Italia como en Europa, se oberva cada vez con mayor frecuencia el surgimiento de iniciativas que vienen desde bottom-up. Con respecto al pasado estas iniciativas tienen hoy más intensidad y un diferente grado de complejidad. Las experiencias que surgen de estos procesos regenerativos tienen las tendencias a una colaboración cada vez más vinculada entre personas singulares auto-organizadas, llevando a la formación de empresas sociales que asumen el rol de agentes del desarrollo territorial (Ostanel 2015). La referencia principal será la situación actual del contexto italiano, con el convencimiento que la reacción a la crisis del paisaje en general está generando, en este país en concreto, interesantes resultados aplicables a cualquier contexto urbano. El artículo sugiere la hipótesis que estas experiencias de innovación social prevé el sobrepaso de la clásica relación dicotómica entre prácticas de bottom-up y prácticas top-down. Todo esto es estrictamente dependiente al contexto histórico y cultural de referencia: las administraciones públicas y la ciudadanía activa parecen, en este marco, predispuestos al diálogo. La innovación social de hecho necesita unagobernanza colaborativa, con la cual se pueda establecer, por medio de una comparación constructiva y moderada, un objetivo común compartiendo los recursos necesarios y repartiendo las responsabilidades para obtener finalmente una acción común. Esto pasa también gracias a la creación de nuevas plataformas que representan herramientas concretas y que permiten que esta modalidad de acción se convierta en una práxis.