Indigenous Social Enterprises Research Articles

Is the Buen Vivir of indigenous social enterprises in Colombia informing SDGs?

PurposeThis paper aims to study the Colombia Buen Vivir and how indigenous social enterprise strategies inform and contribute for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by reaching sustainability and the well-being in the community.Design/methodology/approachUsing participatory video research (PVR), this work draws upon evidence from a multiple case study of five indigenous communities (Curripaco, Puinave, Yanacona, Misak and Wayuu). Ethical approval was obtained from the five indigenous social enterprises (ISEs) in Colombia.FindingsWhat emerged from the findings is that the SDGs were addressed before the SDG Agenda in 2015. Moreover, the findings revealed that the cultural values of indigenous people had not been contemplated in the SDGs.Research limitations/implicationsThe cases respond to a particular context (Colombia); therefore, this invites us to be cautious when extrapolating the results to other regions.Practical implicationsThis work addresses a research gap that points to the lack of studies that focus on ISEs and the SDGs in developing countries. Further, this work sheds light on the role ISEs play in the quest for communities to achieve sustainability and well-being.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to explore whether the SDGs embed sufficient ways of knowing and doing by the Latin American Buen Vivir of ISEs.

Consolidating Ireland’s Indigenous Social Enterprise Sector – A Policy Perspective

Abstract The National Social Enterprise Policy for Ireland (2019 – 2022) was a watershed moment for social enterprise in Ireland. Ireland has a rich, proud and diverse experience of social economy and social enterprise, yet the policy framework developed comparatively later than in some other EU member states. Since its launch in 2019, the Policy has helped to significantly shape the social enterprise sector in Ireland including through targeted measures and improved coherence across government policy. At the same time, the sector is still in a nascent phase and faces dramatic new challenges associated with the realities of focussing on social impact whilst trading in a competitive market economy traditionally focussed on export-potential, which have been exacerbated by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As this foundational Policy comes to the end of its term, the Government, in partnership with the sector, now faces another significant juncture which will determine how successful social enterprise can be in moving from the margins to the mainstream and contributing to Ireland’s economic, social and environmental progress. The current article seeks to clarify the features of Ireland’s indigenous social enterprise sector, and offers perspectives on some of the prerequisites for an ambitious and impactful successor policy in 2023 to unlock the potential of the sector to grow in scale and impact.

Indigenous Social Enterprises and Health and Wellbeing: A Scoping Review and Conceptual Framework.

Indigenous people and communities are establishing social enterprises to address social disadvantage and overcome health inequities in their communities. This review sought to characterize the spectrum of Indigenous social enterprises in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States to identify the operational models and cultural values that underpin them and their impact on Indigenous health and wellbeing. The scoping review followed Arksey and O'Malley's six-stage methodological framework with recommended enhancements by Levac et al. underpinned by Indigenous Standpoint Theory, and an Indigenous advisory group to provide cultural oversight and direction. Of the 589 documents screened 115 documents were included in the review. A conceptual framework of seven different operational models of Indigenous social enterprises was developed based on differing levels of Indigenous ownership, control, and management: (1) individual, (2) collective, (3) delegative, (4) developmental, (5) supportive, (6) prescriptive and (7) paternalistic. Models with 100% Indigenous ownership and control were more likely to contribute to improved health and wellbeing by increasing self-determination and strengthening culture and promoting healing than others. Indigenous social enterprises could offer a more holistic and sustainable approach to health equity and health promotion than the siloed, programmatic model common in public health policy.

The Effect of HRM Practices on Employment Outcomes in Indigenous Social Enterprises

Indigenous economic development is a critical area of focus for many communities globally. Indigenous social enterprises play an important role in enhancing economic development by providing employment opportunities for Indigenous community members. Thus, understanding the factors that impact employment of Indigenous staff by Indigenous enterprises has important social and economic implications. This study examines the relationship between high commitment human resource management (HC-HRM) practices of Australian Indigenous social enterprises and their employment of Indigenous staff. Specifically, the paper contends with the research question how does the utilisation of HC-HRM by Indigenous enterprises shape the Indigenous employment outcomes of enterprises? Working with research partner Supply Nation, Australia’s Indigenous Minority Supplier Diversity Council, a survey of Indigenous social enterprises was conducted about their HRM practices in relationship to leader risk propensity and business strategy pertaining to cultural product/services. A key result of the study is that the use of HC-HRM practices helps increase Indigenous employment outcomes. In addition, the relationship between HC-HRM and Indigenous employment outcomes is moderated by both the enterprise’s business strategy and the leaders’ risk propensity. These findings provide important insight into how Indigenous social enterprises can be best managed to create social and economic benefits in Indigenous communities.

Hybrid forms of business: Understanding the development of indigenous social entrepreneurship practices

Few studies have been conducted on indigenous social entrepreneurship practices in Latin America. The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of indigenous social entrepreneurship practices in Colombia drawing on postcolonial theory and in particular Bhabha’s mimicry and hybridity theoretical framework. Using participatory video research, this work draws upon evidence from a multiple case study of five indigenous communities (Curripaco, Puinave, Yanacona, Misak and Wayuu) in three geographic regions. The analysis of the multiple case study using NVIVO, discovered that indigenous social enterprises operate as hybrid organisations that are influenced by their cultural practices, as well as the dominant Western forms legitimised by SE norms (mimicry). This paper brings into attention the importance of the hybrid forms of businesses and community’s sustainable development.

Building Sustainable Rural Communities through Indigenous Social Enterprises: A Humanistic Approach

This article follows a humanistic management approach to analyze how indigenous social enterprises contribute to building sustainable rural communities. To this end, I first explore the process of how these entities were formed and developed the necessary capabilities to generate such outcomes. Then, I examine the strategies indigenous social enterprises create to engage in value creation activities with the community and their main outcomes. Such outcomes are finally classified by the problems they addressed according to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), since one of the gaps in the literature indicates a lack of studies that relate specific SDGs with the outcomes of social enterprises in developing countries. This article follows a qualitative approach, a case study research strategy, and uses semi-structured interviews as the main data collection instrument. Evidence from four cases of indigenous social enterprises in Latin America suggests that these entities originate as a result of a major crisis that affects the dignity of the individuals and compromises the socio-economic dynamics of the communities. Second, local leadership urges a response that takes the form of a social enterprise that follows local principles and governance and pursues dignity protection, sustainability, and cultural reaffirmation. As a result, the communities have increased their levels of well-being and sustainability, linked to SDGs such as good health, decent work, reduced inequalities, public infrastructure, sustainable communities, and partnerships for the goals. This article also sheds light on how a humanistic management approach can contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of social enterprises, as these humanistic principles and practices seem to be naturally promoted by social entrepreneurs.

A study on the process and mechanism of social enterprise’s legitimation

Purpose This paper aims to explore the complete process and underlying mechanism that social enterprises obtain legitimacy during interactions with stakeholders from theoretical integration of institutional theory and organization ecology perspective. Design/methodology/approach Based on theoretical classification, this paper selects six typical Chinese social enterprises and conducts a multi-case analysis. Findings The study finds that social enterprises aim at legitimizing single entity or industry and shaping stakeholders’ cognitive boundary simultaneously. Therefore, by adopting constrained cooperation and competition activities, social enterprises use normative isomorphism to achieve personal legitimation and combining ecological niche construction, social enterprises achieve organizational legitimation. By adopting fragmented cooperation-dominant or competition-dominant activities, social enterprises use mimic isomorphism supplemented by competitive isomorphism or population structure creation to obtain industry legitimation. By adopting dynamically integrated coopetition activities, social enterprises use mimic isomorphism and reflexive isomorphism to reach field legitimation. Originality/value This paper proposes a mechanism model that the coopetition with stakeholders influences the legitimation process, identifies four stages of social enterprise’s legitimation process and the types of legitimacy obtained in each stage and fills the gap of Chinese indigenous social enterprise research.

The Link between HRM Practices and Social Purpose Outcomes in Indigenous Enterprises

The human resource management (HRM) practices of social enterprise organizations is an under researched area of the emerging field of social entrepreneurship. This paper addresses this research gap by focusing on how the internal HRM practices of social enterprises influence their ability to deliver on their social mission and produce social purpose outcomes. We focus on HRM practices because prior research has shown that they can have an important impact on a variety of critical performance outcomes in firms (e.g., financial performance, survival, productivity, IPO performance). We theorize about the relationship between these HRM practices and other contextual factors to social purpose outcomes. We study these relationships in a unique context, Indigenous social enterprises in Australia and find that the use of high commitment HRM (HC-HRM) practices helps to drive the social purpose outcomes. We also find a positive significant two-way interaction between HC-HRM practices and the extent that the enterprise’s business strategy is driven by cultural products or services similarly drives the social purpose outcomes of these enterprises. Our final finding demonstrates that the social enterprise leaders’ risk propensity moderates the impact of HR practices on the social purpose outcomes.

Social-Commercial-Cultural Tensions in Remote Indigenous Social Enterprises: A Study of Paradoxes

This research investigates the social, commercial and cultural logics that contribute to ongoing tensions or a trilemma that managers of social enterprises in remote Australia experience, and the c...

El desarrollo sostenible a través de empresas sociales en comunidades indígenas de América Latina

Objetivo: explorar y describir el rol de las empresas sociales para impulsar el desarrollo sostenible de comunidades indígenas. Metodología: a través de un método cualitativo basado en una estrategia de investigación de estudio de caso, se analizaron dos empresas sociales indígenas ubicadas en Perú y México. El método principal de recolección de información fue la entrevista, y de forma secundaria la observación y el análisis de documentos. Resultados: el liderazgo local de ambas organizaciones busca involucrar y empoderar a la comunidad a través de distintas estrategias como empleo digno, creación de nuevas empresas, sensibilización ambiental, construcción de infraestructura, y nuevos mercados para productos locales. Además, la cosmovisión de cada grupo indígena permitió crear organizaciones alineadas a los valores y cultura de cada comunidad, potenciando las sinergias con los principales grupos de interés. El desarrollo de un ecosistema de emprendimiento ha permitido la creación de nuevas empresas que generan empleo digno, y han convertido a ambas comunidades en polos de desarrollo regional. Finalmente, la innovación social dirigida a la reducción del impacto ambiental negativo ha permitido legitimar las operaciones de las empresas, diversificar, y obtener certificaciones relacionadas con desarrollo sostenible. Limitaciones: la cosmovisión de cada comunidad indígena limita la utilidad de los resultados derivados de esta investigación en otros contextos culturales. La fase exploratoria del fenómeno invita a ser cautos al formular relaciones causales. Conclusiones: las lecciones derivadas de estas empresas sociales indígenas contribuyen a replantear lógicas largamente establecidas en el ámbito del desarrollo regional y la administración de empresas. Este trabajo contribuye a la literatura al analizar el papel de las empresas sociales en el desarrollo regional de comunidades indígenas, en cuya conversación existe poca evidencia empírica de América Latina, y más aún en un contexto con altos niveles de marginación y exclusión.

Profits and purpose: Organizational tensions in social enterprises

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the way in which three indigenous social enterprises from Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, solve the paradox of simultaneously producing social and economic value, which creates organizational tensions.Design/methodology/approach: This research follows a qualitative method based on a case study research strategy. Three different data collection techniques are applied: Analysis of internal reports, direct observation, and semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholder, mainly employees and managers.Findings: Indigenous social enterprises deal with organizational tensions by adopting different organizational structures and privileging one dimension over the other (social or economic) in decision making Social implications. Indigenous social enterprises generate quality of life and reduce historical exclusion patterns by strengthening local economy dynamics through social innovation.Originality/value: Social innovations, appreciated in different organizational structures, contribute to alleviate the tension that arises from managing entities with double purpose. Also, this research provides evidence of how marginalized groups can overcome exclusion and poverty conditions by creating indigenous social enterprises.

Capacity development and Indigenous social enterprise: The case of the Rirratjingu clan in northeast Arnhem Land

AbstractWith the widespread shift from models of welfare to business-led development, capacity development offers a useful lens from which to consider the emergence of Indigenous social enterprise as a business-led development approach. We explore capacity development from the international development literature and identify capacity development principles in the context of an Indigenous social enterprise in remote northeast Arnhem Land. Here, Aboriginal Australians continue to experience poverty and marginalisation. This paper provides an ethnographic example of the relationship between Indigenous social enterprise and capacity development. Identifying principles of capacity development in this rich context reveals the remit of the Indigenous social enterprise privileges environmental stewardship and cultural maintenance.

Indigenous Social Enterprises as Drivers of Sustainable Development: Insights From Mexico and Peru

The aim of this article is to explore the mechanisms by which indigenous social enterprises contribute to a rural community’s sustainable development and improves the quality of life of its inhabitants. The work follows a qualitative methodology and uses the case study as a research technique. The research suggests that social enterprise uses four main mechanisms to promote rural sustainable development in the community where it operates: labor as a source of quality of life, gender equality, sustainable exploitation of the resources, and the equitable distribution of benefits between the economic, social and environmental dimensions.

Women empowerment through social innovation in indigenous social enterprises

ABSTRACT Purpose: To explore innovative enabler mechanisms for women's empowerment in a social enterprise and how they promote local development in a Zapotec indigenous community, the third largest ethnic group in Mexico. Originality/gap/relevance/implications: This paper contributes to the extension of social entrepreneurship literature from a gender perspective, exploring the mechanisms that allow women to succeed in highly marginalized indigenous communities. Key methodological aspects: This paper follows a case study methodology, inductive approach and qualitative methods mainly through 70 in-depth interviews. Summary of key results: Although the male-dominated culture slows down the democratic and political empowerment of women in the community, mechanisms such as job stability, low-interest microcredits and gender-equality policies in the organization have triggered economic empowerment. Key considerations/conclusions: The creation of empowering mechanisms within the social enterprise has allowed the Zapotec community to prosper and increase its general wellbeing. Women have been particularly benefited since the organization has given them the opportunity to work, empowering them to create micro-enterprises and changing the prevailing culture towards a more equalitarian society. Increasing control of their source of income has improved women's willingness to participate in political and managerial decision-making, inspiring more women in the community to work at the organization.

Australian indigenous social enterprise: measuring performance

Purpose Using an integrated framework for performance management of nonprofit organizations, this paper aims to present an analysis of the activities of an Indigenous social enterprise in the town of Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The evaluation focuses on the social effectiveness of the organization and its ability to help generate income and employment and drive social capital creation. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is informed by data derived from “yarns” with social enterprise staff and semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants who were selected using snowball sampling. Data were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Findings The analysis reveals that the organization provides a successful community-based pathway for increasing Indigenous economic participation on local terms at a time of regional economic decline and high levels of Indigenous unemployment nationally. Practical implications The measured effectiveness of Nuwul highlights the need for targeted policy support for Indigenous enterprises and that social entrepreneurship is far more likely to be successful in a supportive government policy environment, a critical need for government-initiated policies to encourage the formation of Indigenous social enterprises that are entrepreneurial and innovative in their solutions to poverty and marginalization. Such policies should not only aid the establishment of Indigenous ventures but also facilitate their long-term growth and sustainability. Originality/value Although Indigenous entrepreneurial activities have been found to be effective in addressing Indigenous disadvantage in Australia, little is known about their community impact. The article provides original empirically grounded research on the measurement of Indigenous entrepreneurial activities and their wider community impact. The data show, against the backdrop of mixed results of government efforts to drive Indigenous economic mainstreaming, that the entrepreneurial activities analyzed in this paper are an example of more flexible and culturally appropriate pathways for achieving Indigenous equality in rural and remote regions of Australia.

La empresa social como detonadora de calidad de vida y desarrollo sustentable en comunidades rurales

The aim of this paper is to analyze the mechanisms by which an indigenous social enterprise contributes to a rural community’s sustainable development and improves the quality of life of its inhabitants. The work follows a qualitative methodology and uses the case study as a research technique. The theoretical framework deployed to identify the nature of the dynamics involved is social entrepreneurship, as a means of fighting poverty and changing patterns of socio-economic exclusion. The research suggests that social enterprise uses four main mechanisms to promote rural sustainable development in the community where it operates: innovation in the exploitation methods of natural resources, labor as a source of quality of life, bonding and development of local suppliers; and the equitable sharing of benefits between the economic, social and environmental dimensions.