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1 – 10 of over 1000Valentina Patetta and Marta Enciso-Santocildes
The aim of this paper is to provide insights and knowledge about the motivations and implications for social enterprises' participation in SIBs, particularly in terms of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to provide insights and knowledge about the motivations and implications for social enterprises' participation in SIBs, particularly in terms of collaboration and partnership with the public sector, as well as the different positions on this issue. The overall aim, therefore, is to show how social enterprises and public organisations have interacted in the context of SIBs and what has been achieved by participating.
Design/methodology/approach
This multiple case study approach applies qualitative methods like observations and semi-structured and unstructured interviews.
Findings
The study shows that SIBs can be an option for financing social enterprises within a strategy of income diversification and resource dependency. Despite tensions and complexities, SIBs can renew the traditional funding relationship by adding innovation, strengthening the co-creation process and creating a stable relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Research findings may lack generalisability due to the specific context in which the case study is rooted.
Practical implications
The paper offers practical implications in terms of insights and suggestions for social enterprises and the public sector interested in developing the scheme.
Originality/value
This paper adds the voice and perspective of social enterprises on the relationship with the public sector within the framework of SIBs initiatives.
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Casper Hendrik Claassen, Eric Bidet, Junki Kim and Yeanhee Choi
This study aims to assess the alignment of South Korea’s government-certified social enterprises (GCSEs) with prevailing social enterprise (SE) models, notably the entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the alignment of South Korea’s government-certified social enterprises (GCSEs) with prevailing social enterprise (SE) models, notably the entrepreneurial nonprofit, social cooperative and social business models delineated in the “Emergence of Social Enterprises in Europe” (Defourny and Nyssens, 2012, 2017a, 2017b) and the “principle of interest” frameworks (Defourny et al., 2021). Thereby, it seeks to situate these enterprises within recognized frameworks and elucidate their hybrid identities.
Design/methodology/approach
Analyzing panel data from 2016 to 2020 for 259 GCSEs, this study uses tslearn for k-means clustering with dynamic time warping to assess their developmental trajectories and alignment with established SE models, which echoes the approach of Defourny et al. (2021). We probe the “fluid” identities of semi-public sector SEs, integrating Gordon’s (2013) notion that they tend to blend various SE traditions as opposed to existing in isolation.
Findings
Results indicate that GCSEs do align with prevalent SE frameworks. Furthermore, they represent a spectrum of SE models, suggesting the versatility of the public sector in fostering diverse types of SEs.
Originality/value
The concept of a semi-public sector SE model has been relatively uncharted, even though it holds significance for research on SE typologies and public sector entrepreneurship literature. This study bridges this gap by presenting empirical evidence of semi-public SEs and delineating the potential paths these enterprises might take as they amalgamate various SE traditions.
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Hyejin Kwon, Youngok Choi and Richard Hazenberg
The paper aims to explore the roles and impact of design in incubating and accelerating social enterprises. It aims to understand design’s influence on social enterprise…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explore the roles and impact of design in incubating and accelerating social enterprises. It aims to understand design’s influence on social enterprise ecosystems and in improving outcomes for social enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used an exploratory, qualitative approach, using case studies and interviews. The comparative case-study methodology was applied to evaluate the influence of design on the development of social enterprises in the UK and South Korea and identify critical issues in their utilisation of design. Empirical data included: in-depth case studies of design utilisation practices (UK = 6; South Korea = 15) and design applications (UK = 2; South Korea = 2) for the growth of social enterprise and its ecosystem; 27 social enterprise/design experts (UK = 17; South Korea = 10); and 22 social enterprises (UK = 12; South Korea = 10). Content and thematic analysis were used to synthesise the findings.
Findings
Findings demonstrate the differing influences of design on social enterprise, from improving products/services and business models to enhancing social enterprise ecosystem support and networks. Future directions are suggested for applying design for social enterprise growth, business stage development and systematising interactions between the social enterprise and design sectors.
Research limitations/implications
The research is based on case studies from only two countries. Further, the adoption of working definitions of social enterprise in the countries may result in the research underestimating the heterogeneity of social enterprise.
Practical implications
The findings contribute to optimising efficient ecosystem development to improve social enterprise competitiveness and innovation.
Originality/value
This paper establishes a research foundation on design for social enterprise, offering theoretical and practical insights into its impact on growth.
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Md. Saiful Alam and Dewan Mahboob Hossain
The purpose of this research is to investigate how different accountability practices might be observed in the annual reports of non-government organisations (NGOs) in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to investigate how different accountability practices might be observed in the annual reports of non-government organisations (NGOs) in Bangladesh. The study further aims to understand whether such accountability disclosures support NGO legitimacy in Bangladesh and if so, in what form.
Design/methodology/approach
To fulfil this objective, a content analysis was conducted on the annual reports of 24 selected leading NGOs operating in Bangladesh. The data were then analysed through the not-for-profit accountability framework of Dhanani and Connolly (2012). Theoretical constructs of legitimacy were further mobilised to corroborate the evidence.
Findings
It was found that NGOs operating in Bangladesh discharged all four types of accountability, i.e., strategic, fiduciary, financial and procedural (Dhanani and Connolly, 2012) through annual reports. The findings further suggested that carrying out these accountabilities supported the legitimation process of NGOs. Moreover, we found that NGOs took care of the needs of both primary and secondary stakeholders although they widely used self-laudatory positively charged words to disclose information about their accountabilities.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the limited accounting research on the public disclosures of NGOs and not-for-profit firms particularly in emerging economy settings. Also, we contribute to the limited research on the accountability-legitimacy link of NGOs evident in public disclosures like annual reports.
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Wei Li, Tianran Ni, Yi Zhang, Daan Wang and Salvador Parrado
This study aims to examine the effects of vocational training programs for people with disabilities on their income.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effects of vocational training programs for people with disabilities on their income.
Design/methodology/approach
It conducted a multinomial regression analysis of 10,469 survey responses from 31 provincial administrative areas in mainland China.
Findings
It finds the following antecedents all influence the trainees’ self-reported income, including their perception of the quality of the program, the training subject, the degree of consistency between their current job and this subject, their employment sector, their motivation and access to training resources and the geographical location of the program.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are not representative of people with disabilities across mainland China because the respondents were not randomly sampled.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that to increase the income of people with disabilities, the training can be designed according to the needs of employers by teaching subjects relevant to the needs of the labor market, reaching out to motivated trainees and enhancing the quality of training. Training institutions, employers and governments are recommended to work together to integrate class-based learning with workplace-based learning and practices. More training resources can be devoted to the self-employed people with disabilities or those who operate in the informal sector and are in less-developed areas.
Social implications
The improvement of employment opportunities and income of people with disabilities supports the safeguarding of their social economic rights and the building of an inclusive society.
Originality/value
Few studies have empirically explored and explained the effects of vocational training programs on people with disabilities’ income. This article fills this gap by assessing the performance of China's vocational training programs funded by the Federation of Disabled Persons at all levels.
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Ying-Hsun Lai, Yu-Shan Lin, Yao-Chung Chang and Shih-Yeh Chen
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a developing educational concept that aims to achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability through education. Cultural…
Abstract
Purpose
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a developing educational concept that aims to achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability through education. Cultural sustainability education aims to cultivate awareness and protection of cultural assets, promote sustainable development and foster environmental responsibility. This study establishes a cyber-physical metaverse of cultural sustainability learning to cultivate students' motivation, multicultural identity, critical thinking and sustainability thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, virtual reality (VR) and 3D printing technologies were utilized to create a cyber-physical metaverse learning environment. This learning environment is designed to allow elementary school children to learn about indigenous cultures and the architecture of slate houses, as well as socio-architectural issues. Learners will be able to experience first-hand the plight of the indigenous tribal areas and the exploration of related cultural knowledge.
Findings
The study collected pre- and post-test data through questionnaires, using covariates to analyze learners' perceptions of learning. The results of this study showed that cyber-physical metaverse learning environment had a significant impact on learning motivation, multicultural identity and sustainability thinking for culturally sustainable education. However, this study’s impact on critical thinking skills in students remains to be confirmed.
Research limitations/implications
This is a quasi-experimental study of a single country’s elementary school children in the indigenous area, so its findings cannot be extrapolated to other areas or to learners of different ages.
Originality/value
This study introduces a framework for incorporating both virtual and real cultures to promote sustainable learning. The cyber-physical metaverse learning is used to supplement teaching activities to enhance learners' motivation in learning multicultural knowledge. Students were able to recognize and protect cultural assets, as well as emphasize the importance of sustainable development.
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Katariina Juusola, Krishna Venkitachalam, Daniel Kleber and Archana Popat
This study aims to explore the use of knowledge sharing (KS) in delivering open social innovation (OSI) solutions for sustainable development in the context of economically…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the use of knowledge sharing (KS) in delivering open social innovation (OSI) solutions for sustainable development in the context of economically marginalized, rural societies in India.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is guided by an exploratory, qualitative approach using an embedded case study design with four social enterprises. The study approaches the use of KS in three stages of OSI: (1) the stages of ideating and prototyping, (2) the initial stages of experimenting and business development and (3) the more current and future-oriented stages of organizations’ strategies for expanding market opportunities for maximizing impact.
Findings
The first stage used KS for collaborative efforts among diverse stakeholders to recognize the needs of marginalized people and ideate suitable ecological solutions. The social enterprises acted as orchestrators in this stage. The second stage involved a more dynamic role of KS in the refinement of social enterprises’ market offerings, generating additional innovations and value propositions, which diversified the scope of the social enterprises. This was facilitated by enterprises’ ability to be open systems, which change and evolve through OSI processes and KS. In the third stage, social enterprises’ use of KS was shifted towards future business development by expanding market opportunities with solutions that tackle complex societal and ecological problems, thereby contributing to sustainable development goals.
Originality/value
The present study contributes to studies on OSI, focusing on sustainable development and the role played by social enterprises operating in rural, economically marginalized areas, which have been an understudied phenomenon in the open innovation literature.
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Annachiara Longoni, Davide Luzzini, Madeleine Pullman, Stefan Seuring and Dirk Pieter van Donk
This paper aims to provide a starting point to discuss how social enterprises can drive systemic change in terms of social impact through operations and supply chain management.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a starting point to discuss how social enterprises can drive systemic change in terms of social impact through operations and supply chain management.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews existing literature and the four papers in this special issue and develops a conceptual framework of how social enterprises and their supply chains create social impact and further enable systematic change.
Findings
Our paper finds that social impact and systemic change can be shaped by social enterprises at three different levels of analysis (organization, supply chain and context) and through three enablers (cognitive shift, stakeholder collaboration and scalability). Such dimensions are used to position current literature and to highlight new research directions.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a novel understanding of operations and supply chain management in social enterprises intended as catalysts for systemic change. Based on this premise we distinguish different practices and stakeholders to be considered when studying social impact at different levels. The conceptual framework introduced in the paper provides a new pathway for future research and debate by scholars engaged at the intersection of social impact, sustainable operations and supply chain management.
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This study systematically assesses and empirically examines the research question: How do social skills influence resource acquisition and social performance? Specifically, this…
Abstract
Purpose
This study systematically assesses and empirically examines the research question: How do social skills influence resource acquisition and social performance? Specifically, this study applies RBV theory from strategy to link social skills, resource conditions and the performance of social enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
For this, we surveyed social enterprises in Korea to collect data and used SPSS 18.0 for hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
In the Korean context, first, the results show that all social skills of social entrepreneurs are positively related to social performance. Second, among independent variables, self-promotion is positively associated with financial support and expressiveness is positively associated with marketing support. However, the rest of the independent variables have no significance. Finally, obtaining financial support from their partner mediates the relationship between self-promotion and social ventures' social performance, and obtaining marketing support from their partner mediates the relationship between expressiveness and social ventures' social performance.
Originality/value
This study provides two contributions. First, this is the first study to apply and test the RBV systematically and empirically in the context of social enterprises. Second, the results suggest that social skills and support types are important to social value creation.
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Misun Lee, Ralph S. Brower and Daniel L. Fay
This paper analyzes how a national social enterprise policy encourages the social missions of social enterprises and uncovers the relationships between social enterprise…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes how a national social enterprise policy encourages the social missions of social enterprises and uncovers the relationships between social enterprise governance and labor equity, an area that has been rarely studied in nonprofit governance studies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyzes the effects of four legal requirements for work-integrated social enterprises (WISEs) codified by the Social Enterprises Promotion Act (SEPA, 2007) in South Korea. Then, it relies on panel regression analysis (2020–2022) to examine how the compositions of the governance of WISEs are related to their hiring and wage equity.
Findings
The institutional arrangements required by SEPA have resulted in positive social impacts for most WISEs. However, the results of regression models show that individual participant groups in the WISE governance achieved mixed results depending on the labor issue.
Research limitations/implications
Generally, this research explores the concept of diversity and its utility in nonprofit governance, with a particular focus on targeted diversity policies, demonstrating that governance arrangements influence the success of these policies.
Practical implications
The findings bring new insights for policymakers about “altruistic economic entities.” For practitioners in social enterprises, the results of the regression models underscore the importance of understanding the participant composition of decision-making meetings.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on labor equity, which government-certified social enterprises should achieve from the perspective of nonprofit governance.
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