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Drawing on capability theory, this study aims to examine the interplay of learning orientation, market orientation and stakeholder engagement in fostering social enterprise innovativeness.

A survey of 1,044 Australian social enterprise executives and managers tested hypotheses in a mediated moderation model using structural equation modelling.

Nested model comparisons revealed key insights: market orientation partially mediates the relationship between learning commitment, open-mindedness and innovativeness. High stakeholder engagement hinders learning commitment’s effect on innovativeness while enhancing open-mindedness’ impact. Shared vision negatively affects innovativeness. Control variables highlight gender-based perceptions, with female executives viewing market orientation and innovativeness less favourably than male counterparts. This study underscores the importance of heightened market orientations in hostile business environments.

Findings prompt further investigation into stakeholder engagement’s negative impact on learning commitment and shared vision’s effect on innovativeness. It is crucial to recognise gender perspectives in strategy and align internal practices with external conditions.

This study clarifies the interplay between learning orientation, market orientation and stakeholder engagement in fostering innovativeness amid contradictory findings. It advances social enterprise research by introducing a capability-based approach to cultivate innovativeness, challenging dominant customer-focused strategies to enhance organisational performance.

This study explores the configurations of management control systems (MCSs) while taking into account entrepreneurial cognition styles (ECSs) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to understand the impact of ECS on deployment and identify the various modes of MCS configurations employed by SMEs. The authors draw on and synthesise two theoretical perspectives relating to cognition and management control packages to understand the associations between ECS and MCS employed by SMEs in managing their business. This study was conducted using a quantitative approach that utilises a questionnaire survey to collect cross-sectional data from 150 SMEs. The authors uncovered three cognitive styles: knowing (e.g. preciseness), planning (e.g. organising), and creativity (e.g. innovativeness). Furthermore, five configurations of MCS utilised by SMEs were identified: customer focus, performance monitoring, administrative focus, strategic focus, and development focus. By combining both analyses, the authors discovered three constellations of significant association between ECS and MCS characterised by Cluster 1’s cohesive integration approach, Cluster 2’s revealing strategic approach, and Cluster 3’s multifaceted exploration. The study is significant because it uncovers the complex relationship between ECS and MCS configurations, highlighting their interdependence within the institutional context. Using a cognitive view, the authors explore how the cognitive styles of entrepreneurs facilitated imprinting institutional context into MCS configurations. These insights enable us to envisage that ECS is not mutually exclusive but forms a continuum that provides more plausible explanations that relax the direct universal relationship between MCS configurations and contextual factors.

Increasing workforce diversity requires leadership to ensure employees retain their well-being. This study aims to examine how employees’ and managers’ co-creation of diversity in the workplace influences positive leadership (PL) style, which in turn affects employee well-being (EWB) positively.

Employees and managers of Australian businesses participated in a cross-sectional survey. EWB was regressed on PL style and diversity dimensions (DDs). Also, the mediation effect of PL style between DDs and EWB was tested.

Results suggest that Australian organisations appear to have more employee diversity with its partial impact on managers’ PL style, which then positively affects on employee well-being (EWB). Furthermore, the PL style partially mediated the relationship between DDs and EWB.

Managers will better understand workplace diversities and the key role that PL style can play in enhancing EWB.

This study will help improve employees' and managers' personal and social lives by developing a better understanding of health and well-being. It will have further economic impacts, such as higher organisational productivity.

This study fills the gap in the literature where PL style will positively affect EWB. Investigating the relationship between DDs, PL style and EWB using PERMA-profiler is a unique contribution.

International investment law governs matters related to transnational investments. The extensive reach of transnational corporations (TNCs) has granted them substantial economic, political and social influence, often intertwining them with public interest issues and implications in human rights violations. This paper aims to explore the profound influence exerted by TNCs in today’s globalized world and its implications for human rights and social responsibility within the framework of international investment law. Particularly, it acknowledges the vulnerability of economically weak South Asian states and cites past instances such as the Bhopal gas tragedy in India and the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh as egregious violations of human rights. Focusing on South Asian bilateral investment treaties (BITs), this paper aims to examine the scope of investors’ social accountability.

This research engages with doctrinal and analytical methods in traversing through primary and secondary sources. It would parse the arbitral tribunals’ jurisprudence for their discussion on the inclusion of social accountability obligations within international investment agreements (IIAs). Further, it engages in a quantitative analysis related to the nature of the social accountability-related obligation of the corporation within South Asian BITs.

The findings reveal a glaring absence of the law on investors’ social accountability and the need for enhanced regulatory mechanisms to address the escalating influence of TNCs on human and social rights. The absence of a robust legal framework, coupled with the asymmetric nature of international investment law, granting investors greater rights and leverage compared to states, exacerbates this challenge. The phenomenon of “regulatory chill” inhibits states from effectively enforcing regulatory measures aimed at protecting human rights and the environment. Furthermore, the broad interpretation of clauses such as “fair and equitable treatment” by investment tribunals often undermines states’ ability to implement measures in the public interest. While international organizations such as the UNCTAD and the UNCITRAL Working Group III are actively discussing reforms to IIAs, the existing guidelines addressing investors’ social accountability are woefully lacking in the content as well as the method of their integration with international human rights law. The findings underscore the imperative for South Asian nations, the subject of this research’s empirical analysis, to adopt a comprehensive approach involving both domestic law reforms to promote corporate social accountability and active pursuit of negotiations for the inclusion of binding social obligations for investors within IIAs.

This research, drawing upon international law developments, offers suggestions for incorporation of social accountability provisions via relevant domestic law reform. The research could be viewed as a prelude for mapping the legal developments in the area of investors’ social accountability within investment agreements, as well as investment contracts, drawing guidance from international law instruments.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study analysed the scope of investors’ social accountability in South Asian BITs.

A qualitative approach based on grounded theory was utilized, with data collected through 26 semi-structured interviews with social entrepreneurs. Alas’s Triangular Model provided the framework for data analysis and interpretation.

This study explores how Hong Kong social enterprises approached crisis and change management during the COVID-19 pandemic, examining their resilience-building strategies.

The pandemic triggered an existential crisis for many social enterprises, causing severe revenue losses. However, strong leadership and cultures based on social mission enabled resilience. Enterprises demonstrated agility by rapidly transitioning operations online and establishing partnerships. Technology adaptation and social innovation were pivotal to sustaining impact.

As the sample comprises enterprises that survived the pandemic, insights into failed enterprises are lacking. Comparative analysis could illuminate differences in crisis response between successful and unsuccessful cases.

The study’s practical implications suggest that social enterprises should focus on developing flexible crisis management plans, cultivating purposeful leadership, embracing digital transformation, strengthening collaborative networks and prioritizing organizational learning to effectively navigate crises while staying true to their social missions.

Findings demonstrate how shared values and cultures grounded in purpose can anchor organizations amidst upheaval, fostering resilience. This underscores the role of social enterprises in modeling responsiveness to societal needs.

While research has examined social enterprises’ vulnerability in crises, investigation into their crisis management practices is limited. This study enriches understanding of how social enterprises effectively navigate turbulence.

This study aims to work toward understanding the entrepreneurship ecosystem of agricultural social enterprises in the Philippines by exploring the interactions between policy, culture, supports and human capital domains.

The authors considered using an exploratory single-embedded case study approach, involving methodological triangulation of document analysis, semistructured interviews and participant observation. The authors analyzed the data using a narrative approach to map the ecosystem.

Through the research, the authors discovered that while each domain functions effectively individually, disconnects exist when interacting collectively as an ecosystem. The authors come to know that there is no policy consensus on social enterprise definitions, which limits specialized policy support. Although support services like incubators are available, the authors observed that awareness and accessibility vary based on location and business maturity. The authors also noted that human capital helps translate concepts into frameworks, but research tailored to agriculture and social entrepreneurship is limited. The authors come to the conclusion that collaboration and openness across domains are needed to strengthen connections and synergies.

The study was geographically limited to Luzon Island, and the authors did not include the finance and markets domains of the ecosystem model in the analysis.

Based on the findings, the authors identify strategies to reinforce connections, such as increasing awareness of support services, developing tailored policies for social enterprises, conducting specialized research and promoting collaboration across domains. The authors are convinced that implementing these strategies can further develop the agricultural social entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The study provides unique empirical insights into the agricultural social entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Philippines. The authors captured the narratives and experiences of key ecosystem stakeholders along the process. The authors have confidence that what the authors found can strategically guide policymakers and support organizations, educational institutions and social entrepreneurs to accelerate ecosystem development for greater social impact.

This paper aimed to study business model innovation by a work-integration social enterprise (WISE). Specifically, the study investigated how the organization developed novel value propositions and created and delivered value for multiple stakeholders.

An in-depth qualitative study was conducted at Foreword, a for-profit organization that uses persons with disabilities, mental health conditions and special needs. Data was drawn from semi-structured interviews with stakeholders of the organization and several secondary information sources.

The authors’ inductive analysis revealed the existence of an innovative and powerful business model that is integrated by the organization’s overarching social mission and anchors its ability to deal with multiple conflicting logics such as economic, social, ecological sustainability and community development, to co-create value with and for multiple stakeholders.

The study underscores the need for business model innovation through enhancing value creation for multiple stakeholders for for-profit WISEs. Since the analysis and resulting model in the study are based on a single organization in a geographically small, affluent country with a hands-on government, they may need to be modified before applying in other contexts.

The study identifies several pointers for other social enterprises – specifically the need for managers to build business models appropriate for their organizational and environmental contexts.

The study’s originality stems from the adoption of a stakeholder lens to examine business model innovation. It also proposes an integrative conceptual model of the antecedents and outcomes of business model innovation.

This paper aims to analyse the advancement of social enterprises in Indonesia by providing comprehensive insights into crucial aspects of social enterprises such as stakeholder interests, business models, challenges and future objectives.

Using a case study approach, the study investigates four social enterprises using a narrative methodology to gain a detailed understanding of their operations. By adopting a systems perspective, the research uncovers the dynamics among stakeholders, challenges and the evolution of business models, offering a nuanced view of the social enterprise ecosystem.

The findings demonstrate that social enterprises in Indonesia emerge with a noble mission to address unmet community needs. Notably, effective collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including both the private and public sectors, plays a crucial role in achieving the missions of these social enterprises. The study highlights the significance of social enterprises in bridging gaps left by the government and contributing to positive societal impact.

By deepening the understanding of social enterprise development in Indonesia, this research provides valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners and researchers in fostering their growth and effectiveness. Ultimately, it contributes to the broader knowledge on social entrepreneurship and sustainable development.

This study aims to explore how social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development address various socio-economic challenges in rural communities following Indonesia’s independence in 1945.

Adopting a pragmatic research philosophy, this study uses a historical review and thematic analysis, extending from the PRISMA method to analyse articles and reports concerning social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development in post-independence Indonesia.

This study reveals that social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development programs have advanced hand in hand since Indonesia's independence. Social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development mutually reinforce each other, with social entrepreneurship prominently featured in many rural development projects, promoting socioeconomic changes in rural communities.

While this review has covered the available literature in Indonesia's context and extends the social entrepreneurship concept by showcasing its impact in rural Indonesia, further theoretical models integrating social entrepreneurship and rural development are needed, especially with local or regional context and community-driven approaches to increase the research potential in the field.

This study is beneficial for policymakers in the field to consider the findings of this review on the strong association that social entrepreneurship has had with rural development in Indonesia.

This study highlights the importance of local values and community participation in social entrepreneurship initiatives for rural development. It is also highlighted that social entrepreneurship initiatives enable rural women to participate in entrepreneurial activities.

This study concludes that prior studies consistently demonstrate a strong association between social entrepreneurship initiatives and rural development, with government policies and programs increasingly leveraging social entrepreneurial approaches to tackle rural challenges. Additionally, rural development strategies in Indonesia align with three strategic pillars established by the government’s entrepreneurship programs. These pillars, integral to rural development through the social entrepreneurship approach, are critical for the formulation and future action plans adjustable to the current trends, issues and circumstances.

In today’s business world, adopting social commerce for day-to-day operations has increasingly become an important phenomenon. Several factors have been identified by previous researchers regarding the adoption of social commerce, but academic research is scarce on the relationship between the factors influencing social commerce adoption and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the post-COVID-19 situation. This study aims to identify the impact of technological, environmental and entrepreneurial factors on the adoption of social commerce by SMEs in Sri Lanka.

A quantitative study utilised the deductive approach and collected data through a field survey by distributing a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to conveniently selected respondents from Sri Lankan SMEs. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used for the analysis of 384 responses.

The results revealed that technological factors [technology availability (TA) and cost-effectiveness (CE)], environmental factors [bandwagon effect (BE)] and entrepreneurial factors [attitude (AT), innovativeness (IN) and IT knowledge (IK)] have a significant impact on the social commerce adoption of SMEs in Sri Lanka. This study, as the first of its type, offers insightful information on the influence of variables on the adoption of social commerce after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similar to any research, this study also has inherent limitations. Due to time and financial restrictions, the study’s convenience sampling method was adopted. The study’s possible limitation is its narrow focus, which could mean that it only examines a select few social media (SM) networks. The study’s conclusions might be less generalised since it focused on the western province of Sri Lanka. Future studies should take a cross-cultural strategy to explore the influence of social commerce adoption to improve the generalisability of research findings.

This study provides an in-depth assessment of critical factors, facilitating policymakers, owners, leaders and managers (decision-makers) to gain insight into the real influencing factors on social commerce adoption and the significance of SM. The study helps them comprehend how outstanding governance and knowledge of influencing factors can boost SME success in various ways. For example, research reveals that various factors have a major influence on social commerce adoption.

There has been limited research conducted on social commerce adoption after the COVID-19 pandemic period; thus, this study looked at the variables influencing it amongst SMEs in a South Asian developing country like Sri Lanka after the pandemic lasted for two years. By placing a strong emphasis on the role of entrepreneurial characteristics and the available technology within one single framework in the context of SMEs and their involvement with social commerce adoption, this study contributes to the past literature by emphasising the role of several significant factors in SMEs' adoption of social commerce. Whilst previous studies looked at multiple factors influencing the adoption of social commerce globally, this study focussed on how these factors have a significant impact on SMEs in Sri Lanka.

This study developed a multi-perspective framework combining technological, environmental and entrepreneurial factors influencing SMEs to adopt social commerce. The study provides a contribution to the literature on social commerce adoption from the perspective of SMEs in a developing country like Sri Lanka after COVID-19. Exclusively, it examines the impact of entrepreneur-related factors on social commerce adoption.