Social Business Research Articles

Manifest of the education-oriented social business

Manifest of the education-orientedsocial business

Top management team social capital and business model innovation: moderating role of business ecosystem health

PurposeThis study explores the influence of the Top Management Team (TMT) social capital on business model innovation in business ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the impact of internal and external TMT social capital on enterprises’ business model innovation, explores the relationship between internal and external TMT social capital, and investigates how business ecosystem health moderates the relationship between external TMT social capital and enterprises’ business model innovation. These hypotheses are proposed and tested using a hierarchical regression analysis with data from 168 Chinese firms.FindingsFirst, both internal and external TMT social capital exert a significantly positive influence on an enterprise’s business model innovation. Second, internal TMT social capital positively contributes to the development of external TMT social capital, affecting business model innovation. Finally, the moderating effect of business ecosystem health on the relationship between external TMT social capital and business model innovation depends on the dimensions. Specifically, the productivity of the business ecosystem negatively moderates this relationship, whereas the niche creation capability of the business ecosystem has a positive moderating effect.Originality/valueThese findings enrich prior research on business model innovation within the business ecosystem, thoroughly exploring the critical role of TMT social capital. This study reveals the diverse impacts of internal and external TMT social capital on business model innovation and the intricate relationship between these elements. Furthermore, it emphasizes that the success of enterprise’s business model innovation within a business ecosystem depends on the alignment and adaptation to dynamic ecosystem conditions. By presenting these insights, this study provides valuable practical implications for enterprises aiming to cultivate social capital within business ecosystem to facilitate business model innovation.

Sustainable Development of Chinese Family Businesses: Exploring the Role of Succession Planning in Maintaining Organizational Sustainability from the Perspective of Socioemotional Wealth

Identifying the factors affecting organizational sustainability is a crucial topic in the field of social science and business research. Especially in family businesses, the most crucial issue is how to maintain corporate sustainability across generations. In this regard, succession planning plays a key role in maintaining the sustainable development of family businesses. From the perspective of socioemotional wealth, this study discusses the motivations and consequences of intrafamily succession by measuring the impact of the internal determining factors of succession planning on family business performance. Based on a sample of 281 Chinese family firms, this study uncovers the relationship between succession planning and organizational performance. The core findings of this study include succession planning is positively related to organizational performance in the matter of the successor’s training; succession planning has a positive effect on organizational performance in terms of the successor’s self-preparation; and succession planning is positively correlated with organizational performance in the aspect of the relationship between the successor and business. By illustrating that the formulation of succession planning is an essential pursuit for family businesses to preserve sustainability and socioemotional wealth, the results reveal ways to facilitate succession planning through internal factors in the family business. This study contributes to organizational sustainable development literature, family business sustainability studies, and succession management research by validating the positive relationship between succession planning and organizational performance, indicating that succession planning is a vital driving force for achieving organizational sustainability.

How Karmic Beliefs and Belief in Just World Interact to Activate Social Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Polynomial Regression with Response Surface Analysis

Little is known about how religious beliefs (i.e. karmic beliefs and beliefs in a just world) can active individuals’ social entrepreneurship. Integrating the justice motive theory within stimulus-organism-response framework, our study aims to explore the individual, complementary, congruent, and incongruent impacts of karmic beliefs and belief in a just world on social entrepreneurial intention as well as the mediation role of empathy and moral obligation in this relationship. Using a sample of 401 individuals and employing polynomial regression with response surface analysis, findings indicate that karmic beliefs and belief in a just world serve as significant stimuli which not only inspire empathic and moral organisation, but indirectly reinforce individuals’ social entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, high levels of both karmic beliefs and beliefs in a just world can enhance organisms (empathy and moral obligation), and behavioural responses (social entrepreneurial intentions), but imbalanced levels of these beliefs erode such organisms and responses. Some practical implications have been recommended to foster social business ventures based on the findings of the current study.

GRIS Articulator: A Social Business Archetype for Management in Responsibility and Social Intelligence from the Perspective of Social, Environmental, and Corporate Governance

GRIS Articulator: A Social Business Archetype for Management in Responsibility and Social Intelligence from the Perspective of Social, Environmental, and Corporate Governance

Effective Leadership in Social Businesses: An Integrative Framework Grounded on Experiences in Brazilian Social Ventures

Although scholars have argued that leadership is key to bring momentum to social ventures, little is known about specific leadership attributes that are necessary to foster stakeholder engagement and goal achievement in social enterprises. To fill this knowledge gap, we apply the grounded theory method to better understand effective leadership of social businesses. We uncover eight leader attributes that enabled effectiveness in this field. We clearly define and describe this parsimonious yet thorough set of attributes, highlighting their relevance vis-à-vis specific business challenges and suggesting that effective leadership in social businesses goes beyond the attributes covered by extant leadership perspectives.

Dynamics of Social Influence and Knowledge in Networks: Sociophysics Models and Applications in Social Trading, Behavioral Finance and Business

In this paper we offer a comprehensive review of Sociophysics, focusing on relevant models as well as selected applications in social trading, behavioral finance and business. We discuss three key aspects of social diffusion dynamics, namely Opinion Dynamics (OD), Group Decision-Making (GDM) and Knowledge Dynamics (KD). In the OD case, we highlight special classes of social agents, such as informed agents, contrarians and extremists. As regards GDM, we present state-of-the-art models on various kinds of decision-making processes. In the KD case, we discuss processes of knowledge diffusion and creation via the presence of self-innovating agents. The primary question we wish to address is: to what extent does Sociophysics correspond to social reality? For that purpose, for each social diffusion model category, we present notable Sociophysics applications for real-world socioeconomic phenomena and, additionally, we provide a much-needed critique of the existing Sociophysics literature, so as to raise awareness of certain issues that currently undermine the effective application of Sociophysics, mainly in terms of modelling assumptions and mathematical formulation, on the investigation of key social processes.

Sustainability Impact: A Representation of Social Enterprise Value

Social enterprises have a unique characteristic in their business objectives, which is the element of profit as well as creating value that addresses social issues in society. In practice, the sustainability impact represents the value that shows how social enterprises establish strategies, conduct daily operations, and build partnerships with stakeholders. Therefore, this study aims to explore and understand the meaning of "impact" from the perspective of social enterprise actors. The research data consists of observations and interviews with social enterprise business actors, as well as documentation related to the research theme. Data analysis was conducted using a case study approach, which involves data reduction, coding, and theme determination, followed by interpreting the analysis results to address the research problem. The findings illustrate that the impact for social enterprises can be interpreted as creating positive changes in the lives of people in society. This is ingrained from the strategy setting to daily operations because success for a social enterprise is not only measured by profit but also by the social impact generated. Additionally, a social enterprise is also considered a green business when impact thinking correlates with sustainability principles.

Social network centrality and the corporate environment: The case of sexual diversity policies

AbstractWe study the external influence of social capital, measured by Facebook's (now Meta) Social Connectedness Index, on a firm's decision to adopt policies that promote a more diverse corporate environment. Recent studies find corporate policies that embrace sexual diversity are beneficial to firms and their stakeholders, thereby contributing to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business sustainability. We find that firms with a high social network centrality are more likely to adopt policies and business strategies that support sexual diversity. Moreover, firms that adopt good CSR practices are more likely to implement more inclusive policies such as sexual diversity policies. This provides for a more comfortable work environment for the LGBT+ community. However, we also find that firms reduce their adoption of inclusive policies during times of economic uncertainty, supporting the pessimistic view that firms decrease window dressing activities during economic downturns when governance is tightened, and resources are scarce. We attribute this phenomenon to the exploitation of agency benefits by managers.

Monetizing Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA): A Case Study in SMEs Tapioca Industry in Lampung, Indonesia

To verify the responsible and sustainable functioning of circular economy (CE), assessing the sustainability of CE methods is essential. The consistent absence of a social aspect within the CE has been a recurring topic in research. This paper aims to pinpoint social-benefit aspects that are quantifiable in monetary values and investigate how attributing monetary significance to these elements can enhance the evaluation of social sustainability, leading to more informed decision-making processes. The methodology involves both quantitative and qualitative research methods. A quantitative research study was initiated in February 2023. Two approaches were used for sample selection. First, a case study approach was applied to select a specific SME within the tapioca industry. Survey interviews with workers follow the second step. This study also incorporates qualitative methods like literature review and interviews with key informants (cassava and social experts, government officials, and business owners) in April 2023. This research utilized descriptive analysis as a diagnostic tool, offering valuable insights. Challenges in monetizing social factors are discussed, highlighting the need for standardized frameworks, transparency, and stakeholder engagement. The paper also provides a practical example of monetizing social aspects within a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) tapioca industry to address issues such as gender wage gaps, worker safety, and community engagement. The findings suggest that the costs of monetizing social aspects may outweigh the benefits in certain cases, calling for a reassessment of practices to ensure a more equitable and sustainable approach to social responsibility. Integrating social factors into assessments improves decision-making processes and stakeholder engagement, ultimately leading to more socially responsible decisions.

Diversity Hiring in the Purview of Providing Equal Employment Opportunity: Importance and Impact on Organizational Productivity

In today's global business landscape, social responsibility encompasses diversity management, with organizations striving to enhance inclusivity of underrepresented individuals. The employee selection process is crucial in diversity management, as it influences an organization's branding and commitment to diversity. Top executives are focusing on talent diversity and inclusion to drive innovation and create a competitive advantage. Gender parity in the workplace is a social cause and business imperative. Leaders are focusing on making businesses more attractive to diverse workforces, especially female talent. Employers have struggled to balance compliance with affirmative action laws and ensure fair selection processes. This paper analyzes EEO provisions and diversity management in the United States, focusing on discrimination and efforts to address them. It discusses the unresolved EEO issues in the US, particularly gender diversity, and its implications for other countries. The paper also reviews HR challenges in employing selection methods and the impact of diversity selection practices on organizational culture.

Do the Prevalent Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Factors Drive the Choice of Business Models? A Mixed-methods Study Involving Social Entrepreneurs in India

While social entrepreneurship scholars in the past have focused much on the building blocks of robust social entrepreneurship business models and sustainability factors including supportive ecosystem elements, it is not clear ‘what’ categories of the interactive ecosystem in which social entrepreneurs are located influence the choice of business models even before they operationalize their social ventures. Accordingly, this study espouses a mixed-method research design to address this issue. The authors collected data from 24 and 112 social entrepreneurs in two study phases, respectively. Four support factors—business, market, financial and policy were considered important by social entrepreneurs in India that they believe influenced their choice of business models. While policy and financial support factors were considered most important by social entrepreneurs with a pure social mission/impact orientation, market and business support were considered significant influential factors by social entrepreneurs with a profit orientation. Social entrepreneurs who sought a balance between social and economic missions, however, considered the presence of financial and market support to be crucial for choosing a relevant business model. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the inherent priori influence of prevalent ecosystem factors on social business model selection. It uniquely brings out an empirical association between ecosystem factors and business model preferences, affirming that factors pivotal to choice also underpin sustainability. Moreover, this study also unveils an interactive framework encompassing entrepreneur traits and their orientations, ecosystem factors, feedback and performance. Offering multiple actionable implications, this study offers key insights for policy decision-makers and practitioners.

Can women empowerment contribute to sustainable growth – examining the enablers for social enterprise performance of women social entrepreneurs in India

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that drive superior social enterprise performance for women-led social enterprises. The authors examined the role of individual entrepreneur cognitive characteristics contributing to social enterprise performance and recommended a framework for women's social entrepreneur development. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an exploratory qualitative study of 22 women founders of social enterprises using a semi-structured questionnaire. In-depth interviews were conducted, and the transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Findings This study found a significant impact of self-efficacy on the performance of social enterprises among the studied subjects. Social support in the form of material, information and emotional support enhanced the ability of women social entrepreneurs to better achieve business sustenance and continuance of operations. The business skills of the women social entrepreneurs led them to move from just social impact generators to becoming thought leaders. The strong prosocial motivation of the founders contributed to building their resilience in the face of adversity. Research limitations/implications This study extended the existing theories on social entrepreneurship by bringing the dimensions of entrepreneurial resilience in driving social enterprise performance along with business skills. Thus, it provided an enhanced explanation to the existing body of knowledge on contributors to superior social enterprise performance. Practical implications This study gathered insights into the role of entrepreneurship education focused on business skills, especially for women social entrepreneurs in achieving superior performance for their social ventures. This also reconfirmed the role of social support and how structurally this could be provided by educational systems to aspiring women social entrepreneurs. Social implications The practice of social entrepreneurship by women social entrepreneurs has been growing. Its importance in developing economies because of its ability to make grassroots changes at the lower levels of society was substantive. Women have shown more inclination toward social business with an affinity for prosocial contribution. By focusing on nurturing these social enterprises, governments as well as global agencies like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum could accelerate social change. Furthermore, support for the current women social entrepreneurs as change-makers making a difference in society could be achieved. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research study was one of the first studies on women social entrepreneurs focusing on the factors of self-efficacy, social support and entrepreneurial resilience contributing to social enterprise performance. This study combined the social entrepreneurship intention theory with entrepreneurial resilience and business skills to understand the factors leading to successful social enterprise performance for women social entrepreneurs.

THE EFFECT OF SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-CONTROL, SELF-MOTIVATION, SOCIAL AWARENESS, AND SOCIAL SKILLS ON PERFORMANCE OF MSME WOMEN ENTERPRISES

Purpose: The research aims to measure the relationship between self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, social awareness, and social skills and business performance of female entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach: The total population in this study was 248 businesses. The analysis used in this research used several PLS methods, which included several analyses, including Factor Analysis, Designing a Structural Measurement Model (Inner Model), Designing a Measurement Model (Outer Model), and Hypothesis Testing. Findings: The effect of self-awareness on the performance of MSMEs shows a coefficient value of 0.435. The effect of self-control on the performance of MSMEs shows a coefficient value of 0.054. The effect of self-motivation on the performance of MSMEs shows a coefficient value of 0.273. The effect of social awareness on the performance of MSMEs shows a coefficient value of 0.048, and the effect of social skills on the performance of MSMEs shows a coefficient value of 0.246. Research implications: This research shows that self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, social awareness, and social skills have a positive and significant effect on MSME performance.

The Integration of Complex Systems Science and Community-Based Research: A Scoping Review

Complex systems science (CSS) and community-based research (CBR) have emerged over the past 50 years as complementary disciplines. However, there is a gap in understanding what has driven the recent proliferation of integrating these two disciplines to study complex and relevant issues. In this review, we report on the results of a scoping review of articles that utilized both disciplines. After two levels of reviewing articles using DistillerSR, a web-based platform designed to streamline and facilitate the process of conducting systematic reviews, we used two forms of natural language processing to extract data. We developed a novel named entity recognition model to extract descriptive information from the corpus of articles. We also conducted dynamic topic modeling to deductively examine in tandem the development of CSS and CBR and to inductively discover the specific topics that may be driving their use in research and practice. We find that among the CSS and CBR papers, CBR topic frequency has grown at a faster pace than CSS, with CBR using CSS concepts and techniques more often. Four topics that may be driving this trend are collaboration within social systems, business management, food and land use and knowledge, and water shed management. We conclude by discussing the implications of this work for researchers and practitioners who are interested in studying and solving complex social, economic, and health-related issues.

Concept of Micro Healthcare Entrepreneurship (MHE) to Facilitate Universal Health Coverage (UHC): Prospects and Challenges

In the pursuit of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), developing countries with limited resources face significant hurdles. Traditional top-down approaches, spearheaded by governments, often entail lengthy planning periods and substantial costs to reach underserved communities. This paper proposes a bottom-up, cost-effective, and preventive approach aimed at empowering local human resources and using advanced technology. We call it the Micro Healthcare Entrepreneurship (MHE) model. The MHE model comprises four primary components: (1) utilization of local human resources, (2) disruptive healthcare technology, (3) continuous training, and (4) available funds. Extensive testing of the digital health and social business elements across diverse contexts underscores their efficacy. Furthermore, the viability of social business funds has been established. To solicit feedback and refine the MHE concept, three workshops, conducted in phases, engaged 60 community healthcare service providers. This paper elucidates both the potential advantages and the challenges inherent in implementing the MHE model. By shifting the paradigm toward grassroots empowerment and leveraging existing community assets, this approach offers promise in advancing healthcare accessibility and sustainability in resource-constrained settings to achieve UHC.

The Investigation of Preference Attributes of Indonesian Mobile Banking Users to Develop a Strategy for Mobile Banking Adoption

A new normal has been established as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social behavior, technology, and business. This has a significant effect on how technology is used, such as mobile banking services, which offer more hygienic and secure payment alternatives than cash. Mobile banking has been viewed as having the ability to enhance access to unbanked customers in developing economies such as Indonesia, where 100 million people remain unbanked. This study aims to develop strategies using importance-performance analysis (IPA) to improve adoption based on the perceived importance and performance of 1441 mobile banking users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected using an online questionnaire administered during the period of September 2022 to March 2023 using the mobile banking adoption attributes of Attitude, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, Subjective Norm, Interpersonal Influence, External Influence, Perceived Behavior Control, facilitating conditions, self-efficacy, firm reputation, trust, disease risk, performance risk, financial risk, privacy risk, time risk, psychological risk, and perceived risk. IPA results were divided into four quadrants: “concentrate here”, “keep up the good work”, “low priority”, and “possible overkill” with a representation that respondents regard as important and well-addressed. The findings show that bank strategists seeking competitive advantage must push innovation efforts to protect users by improving privacy risk and financial risk and enhancing mobile banking security from potential cyberattacks. Digital banks and associated institutions need to educate mobile banking customers on the benefits of security measures for these services, which may improve confidence and trust, and consequently, accelerate mobile banking adoption.

Where's the theory contribution? An answer in four parts

The requirement for a theory contribution in empirical papers causes consternation among some and confusion among many. We address this issue by articulating alternative approaches to theory that include formal modeling, paradigm elaboration, problem solving, and theory emergence from observations. Knowledge about these different approaches will, we believe, help ameliorate disagreement and incomprehension across the research tribes that dominate social science and business school research. Each approach requires different assumptions about truth and the representation of reality. We outline each approach, provide examples, and a short critique. We suggest that what may seem mundane to the critical realist may be eye-opening to the pragmatist who directs attention to practitioners. For the scholar immersed within the walls of a paradigm, a set of stylized facts may challenge and inspire. The secret to innovative theory contributions is to synthesize ideas from the different tribes to use within your own focused research program.

Role of Business Ethics in Raising Corporate Social Responsibility Awareness of Public Institutions (Case Study: Tayma Municipality, Tabuk Region in Saudi Arabia)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential relationship between the social responsibility and business ethics of personnel working for the municipality of Taima. as importance, this study shows how much Saudi government employees respect work ethics, which influences social responsibility. This study should also improve organizations' ethics to promote Arab-Islamic values. Our sample included 50 Saudi employees from various Taima Municipality departments. Our investigation relied heavily on quantitative method. A questionnaire is used to collect data in a hypothetical-deductive framework. The form of administration utilized is a self-administered survey conducted using the messaging application WhatsApp. This research's empirical findings show that corporate ethics affect economic, ethical, legal, and charitable social responsibility. These contributions strengthen the notion that Corporate Social Responsibility is inherently connected to ethics. CSR seeks to create socially responsible companies that smoothly integrate into society and operate sustainably in every way. By the end of the research, we recommend that social responsibility is essential for successful organizations to achieve their goals. In addition, conducting conferences on social responsibility, is a key aspect in sustainable development, and promoting the link between social responsibility, ethics, and institutional excellence.

An institutional perspective on the shifts in banking and capitalist ideology: sustainability, social and environmental insights

PurposeThis paper investigates the development of moralised business ideologies (MBIs) amongst sustainable banks as they navigate social and environmental business prospects.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical evidence is drawn from top-management-level interviews with 16 UK-based small and medium-sized banks that specialise in financing social and environmental projects.FindingsMBIs have emerged in the literature review and empirical data analysis as a new concept taken on by sustainable banks with roots closer to sustainability such as ethical practices, moralised values, sustainable business models and ecological standards. The results confirm that MBIs help banking institutions create a more sustained positive impact in terms of social and environmental business opportunities.Originality/valueThis paper offers novel evidence on the intersection between banking and MBIs, with a focus on social, sustainability and environmental considerations.