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Field emergence poses an intriguing problem for institutional theorists. New issue fields often arise at the intersection of different sectors, amidst extant structures of meanings and actors. Such nascent fields are fragmented and lack clear guides for action; making it unclear how they ever coalesce. The authors propose that provisional social structures provide actors with macrosocial presuppositions that shape ongoing field-configuration; bootstrapping the field. The authors explore this empirically in the context of social impact investing in the UK, 2000–2013, a period in which this field moved from clear fragmentation to relative alignment. The authors combine different computational text analysis methods, and data from an extensive field-level study, to uncover meaningful patterns of interaction and structuration. Our results show that across various periods, different types of actors were linked together in discourse through “actor–meaning couplets.” These emergent couplings of actors and meanings provided actors with social cues, or macrofoundations, which guided their local activities. The authors thus theorize a recursive, co-constitutive process: as punctuated moments of interaction generate provisional structures of actor–meaning couplets, which then cue actors as they navigate and constitute the emerging field. Our model re-energizes the core tenets of new structuralism and contributes to current debates about institutional emergence and change.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This chapter examines how democratic innovations can strengthen participation in the social housing sector. In Denmark, social housing offers affordable housing to a large number of Danes. The sector is grounded in traditions for resident involvement and engagement, and the democratic model in the sector is unique to Denmark. The residents have the majority say in all decision-making boards, which enables them to influence both the physical surroundings and social initiatives. Despite the positive merits, the sector faces challenges concerning increased segregation, municipalities allocating an increased share of socially and economically marginalised people to the sector, and less participation in the residential democracy. This chapter studies two cases of initiatives that experiment with democratic innovations to enhance participation in local housing associations. The two cases are innovative initiatives in the social housing sector and illustrate the potential benefits of increased participation. The chapter concludes that project-based initiatives might be on the rise and seem to hold considerable potential for enhancing participation. The challenge, then, is still to secure the coordination and strategic direction of the initiatives while combining them with the formal resident democracy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the continuing decline of the social rented sector in England implies increased residualisation of the sector, to estimate who is likely to be living in social housing in the future, and to explore the policy implications in terms of the future role of social housing.

The paper addresses these aims by analysing secondary data on the characteristics of current tenants and changes in these as the sector has become smaller. It applies the results of this analysis to demographic projections to determine the likely future profile of social housing tenants and to assess the implications of this for the future management of the sector.

Analysis results suggest that the sector will house three main groups of households in the future: those for whom it provides a secure home for life; those for whom it is a temporary tenure; and a smaller group who enter for the first time in old age.

The main limitation of this approach is that it assumes that the future will be like the past, whereas changes in policy and economic circumstances could produce a different outcome. However, recent trends reflect the outcomes of economic variables and policy changes take time to have an impact, therefore the analysis has practical applications in the short term.

The method, findings and policy implications in this paper all provide value for policy makers, as well as contributing to the wider debate about the role of social rented housing.

English social housing providers are increasingly turning to social impact measurement to assess their social value. This paper aims to understand the contextual factors causing this rise in the practice, specifically within this sector; the mechanisms that enable it to be effectively implemented within an individual organisation and the outcomes of successful implementation for individual organisations and more widely across the sector and beyond.

A realist theory-based approach is applied to the study of a small number of social housing organisations and leaders within the sector to explore the use of social impact measurement. The paper addresses three questions: Why is social impact measurement being adopted in this sector? How is it successfully implemented? And what happens (outcomes) when it is successfully implemented? Addressing these questions necessitates deeper insight into the contextual pressures that have brought to the fore social impact measurement within the sector and the beneficial outcomes the practice provides (or is anticipated to provide) to social housing providers. The methodological approach of Realist Evaluation (Pawson and Tilley, 1997, 2004) is used to structure and analyse the empirical data and findings into a programme theory for social impact measurement. Realist Evaluation provides a programme theory perspective, seeking to answer the question “what works, for whom and in what circumstances?”. In this research, the “whom” refers to English social housing providers and the circumstances are the contextual conditions experienced by the sector over the past decade. The programme theory aims to set out the links between the contextual drivers for social impact measurement, the mechanisms that bring about its implementation and the outcomes that occur as a result. Within this, greater detail on the implementation perspective is provided by developing an implementation theory using a Theory of Change approach (Connell et al., 1995; Fulbright-Anderson et al., 1998). The implementation theory is then embedded within the wider programme theory so as to bring the two elements together, thereby creating a refinement of the overall theory for social impact measurement. In turn, this paper demonstrates its importance (the outcomes that it can achieve for organisations and the sector) and how it can effectively be implemented to bring about those outcomes.

Social housing providers use social impact measurement both internally, to determine their organisational priorities and externally, to demonstrate their value to local and national governments and cross-sector partners then to shape and influence resource allocation. The practice itself is shown to be an open and active programme, rather than a fixed calculative practice.

The intensive nature of the research means that only a limited number of cases were explored. Further research could test theories developed here against evidence collected from a wider range of cases, e.g. other types of providers or non-adopters.

The research makes a strong contribution to practice in the form of a re-conceptualisation of how social impact measurement can be shown to be effective, based on a deeper understanding of causal mechanisms, how they interact and the outcomes that result. This is of value to the sector as such information could help other organisations both to understand the value of social impact measurement and to provide practical guidance on how to implement it effectively.

As the practice of impact measurement continues to develop, practitioners will need to be aware of any changes to these contextual factors and consider questions such as: is the context still supportive of impact measurement? Does the practice need to be adjusted to meet the needs of the current context? For instance, the recent tragedy at Grenfell Tower has led to a reconsideration of the role of social housing; a new Green Paper is currently being drafted (Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2018). This may have a number of implications for social impact measurement, such as a rebalancing of emphasis on outcomes relating to environmental improvements, towards outcomes relating to the well-being of tenants.

Existing literature is largely limited to technical guides. This paper links theory-based evaluation to practice contributing to social housing practice.

The paper aims to understand the different motivations / reasons for engaging in CSR initiatives by the organizations. In addition, the study also examines the relationship between CSR motivations and corporate social performance (CSP).

The data were collected from two power sector organizations: one was a private sector firm and the other was a public sector firm. A comparative analysis of the variables with respect to private and public sector organizations was conducted. A questionnaire survey was administered among 370 employees working in the power sector, with 199 executives from public sector and 171 from private sector.

“Philanthropic” motivation emerged as the most dominant CSR motivation among both the public and private sector firms. The private sector firm was found to be significantly higher with respect to “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest” and “normative” CSR motivations when compared with the public sector firms. Findings suggest that public and private sector firms differed significantly on four CSR motivations, namely, “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest”, “normative” and “coercive”. The CSP score was significantly different among the two power sector firms of public and private sectors. The private sector firm had a higher CSP level than the public sector undertaking.

Further studies in the domain need to address differences in CSR motivations and CSP across other sectors to understand the role of industry characteristics in influencing social development targets of organizations. Research also needs to focus on demonstrating the relationship between CSP and financial performance of the firms. Further, the HR outcomes of CSR initiatives and measurement of CSP indicators, such as attracting and retaining talent, employee commitment and organizational climate factors, need to be assessed.

The social issues are now directly linked with the business model to ensure consistency and community development. The results reveal a need for “enlightened self-interest” which is the second dominant CSR motivation among the organizations. The study makes a novel contribution by determining that competitive and coercive motivations are not functional as part of organizational CSR strategy. CSR can never be forced as the very idea is to do social good. Eventually, the CSR approach demands a commitment from within. The organizations need to emphasize more voluntary engagement of employees and go beyond statutory requirements for realizing the true CSR benefits.

The fair wage potential (FWP) is a social assessment method that can serve as an important measure to estimate the related social impacts along a product's life cycle; however, it does not admit a direct relation to the functional unit. This research presents the weighted fair wage potential (WFWP) method that relates the functional unit to the FWP. It is a simplified method to connect the material inventory to social data. This study aims to develop an approach to assess and choose the best construction typology for buildings based on the social sustainability of workers involved in the sectors.

The study is presented in phases. Phase 1 selected and identified two Brazilian house projects, which were considered for the following processes: extraction of raw materials, manufacture of building materials and housing construction. Phase 2 assembled the social life cycle inventories and executed them using the social life cycle assessment (SLCA). The inventory of materials followed the functional unit: “1.0 m² of the built housing”, and the social inventory observed data extracted from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD). The study considered the stakeholder category “worker” and analysed the impact subcategory “fair salary”. The study also divided the social data into categories: worker gender, worker race/colour, worker union and worker formality to analyse the impact of subcategories: “equal opportunities/discrimination”, “freedom of association and collective bargaining” and “social benefits/social security”. Phase 3 compared the projects according to the results from the SLCA. The FWP considers the wage paid at supply chain sectors, and the WFWP relates the functional unit to the social data.

The results proved that the wages paid by the construction supply chain are fair. However, there are differences between the FWP of male and female workers, white and non-white workers, unionised and non-unionised workers and formal and informal workers. The study of the actual Brazilian minimum wage indicated that the FWP is sensitive to the reference wage to which the analysed wages paid are related. Considering the WFWP, the constructive typology employed in Project B can generate increased positive social impacts than Project A. The proposed study provides excellent results, and it can be adapted to different data to assess the social conditions of other countries and sectors.

There is not enough primary data available for the variables real wages and real working time; for this reason, these variables received secondary data. Another limitation is the data used for the year range, since Brazilian microdata do not include years before 2002 and years beyond 2015.

The WFWP differs from the existing social sustainability studies because it relates the material information to social data; also, it defines the best option among the analysed alternatives, taking into consideration social sustainability, which enables the project design to go beyond technical aspects. The constructive typology and materials take into account the social sustainability of the construction supply chain, generating more sustainable projects and improving the circumstances of affected stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to present new evidence on the reasons for and consequences of residualisation of the social rented sector in the UK.

The paper uses a new analysis of data from the 2001 Census at a small spatial scale (lower level super output areas) to produce estimates of the proportion of social housing in each area. The second piece of evidence is an analysis of who enters and leaves the social sector in England, drawing on survey data and an exit survey of tenants leaving social housing which asked their reasons for moving. The survey included people not normally captured by the main household surveys because they do not remain a reference person.

The analysis shows that very few places are still dominated by social renting. It suggests that in so far as the sector is becoming more residualised, this is caused by the differing profiles of those moving into and out of social housing.

While the small numbers in the exit survey mean that it is not statistically significant, it nevertheless suggests that leaving the social sector is largely a result of positive choices, whereas entering social housing is much more the result of constrained choices.

The paper concludes that it is poverty rather than tenure residualisation that needs to be addressed.

This paper presents two new pieces of evidence that together contribute to the residualisation debate in the UK and more widely in countries with a shrinking or small social rented sector.