Doing well and doing good: Exploring how strategic and market orientation impacts social enterprise performance

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to deepen and expand our understanding on how strategic/market orientation (SO/MO) and a cohesive/shared social vision affect performance in the social enterprise (SE) context.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted in Greek SEs. Stepwise and simple regression analyses were applied in order to test the hypothesized relationships among the study variables. Additionally, Baron and Kenny’s (1986) recommendation for exploring mediating effects was followed.

Findings

The results indicate the crucial role of customer orientation dimension of SO/MO in enhancing commercial effectiveness and subsequently profitability, whilst a cohesive/shared vision was found to have positive direct associations with the social effectiveness and profitability elements of SEs performance. Moreover, the findings provide some indications for the mutually reinforcing relationship between the social and commercial aspects of SEs functioning.

Originality/value

The current paper contributes to the ongoing quest to understand the strategic management element of SEs and the challenge they face in managing rival logics. Also, it addresses the gap related to the type (mainly qualitative) and geographical concentration of SE research.

Citation

Glaveli, N. and Geormas, K. (2018), "Doing well and doing good: Exploring how strategic and market orientation impacts social enterprise performance", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 147-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-04-2017-0132