IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobuve/v13y2020ics2352673420300159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unintended consequences of scaling social impact through ecosystem growth strategy in social enterprise and social entrepreneurship

Author

Listed:
  • Islam, Syrus M.

Abstract

Scaling social impact is regarded as the main currency in social enterprise and social entrepreneurship. Many social enterprises scale their social impact through ecosystem growth strategy, under which they indirectly address targeted social problems by growing and/or sustaining a supportive social enterprise ecosystem through activities such as organising advocacy campaigns and supporting other social enterprises to grow. However, the existing literature is largely biased towards the success stories of ecosystem growth strategy. Countering this “success bias”, this article presents a framework describing how, under certain conditions, scaling social impact through ecosystem growth strategy can create unintended consequences. In doing so, this paper also challenges the prevailing reductionist view of ecosystem growth as a social impact scaling strategy and provides a more reliable and comprehensive account of this scaling strategy. This article hopes to stimulate future research on greater understanding and management of unintended consequences of ecosystem growth strategy in social enterprise, as well as delineating the boundary conditions of this strategy with regard to scaling social impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Islam, Syrus M., 2020. "Unintended consequences of scaling social impact through ecosystem growth strategy in social enterprise and social entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:13:y:2020:i:c:s2352673420300159
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00159
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673420300159
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00159?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McMullen, Jeffery S., 2018. "Organizational hybrids as biological hybrids: Insights for research on the relationship between social enterprise and the entrepreneurial ecosystem," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 575-590.
    2. Ben Spigel, 2017. "The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 49-72, January.
    3. Sophie Bacq & Kimberly A. Eddleston, 2018. "A Resource-Based View of Social Entrepreneurship: How Stewardship Culture Benefits Scale of Social Impact," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 589-611, October.
    4. Tommaso Ramus & Antonino Vaccaro, 2017. "Stakeholders Matter: How Social Enterprises Address Mission Drift," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 307-322, June.
    5. Kevin André & Anne-Claire Pache, 2016. "From Caring Entrepreneur to Caring Enterprise: Addressing the Ethical Challenges of Scaling up Social Enterprises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 659-675, February.
    6. Vickers, Ian & Lyon, Fergus & Sepulveda, Leandro & McMullin, Caitlin, 2017. "Public service innovation and multiple institutional logics: The case of hybrid social enterprise providers of health and wellbeing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1755-1768.
    7. Zahra, Shaker A. & Nambisan, Satish, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and strategic thinking in business ecosystems," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 219-229.
    8. Madeline Powell & Alex Gillett & Bob Doherty, 2019. "Sustainability in social enterprise: hybrid organizing in public services," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 159-186, February.
    9. Uvin, Peter & Jain, Pankaj S. & Brown, L. David, 2000. "Think Large and Act Small: Toward a New Paradigm for NGO Scaling Up," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 1409-1419, August.
    10. A. Montgomery & Peter Dacin & M. Dacin, 2012. "Collective Social Entrepreneurship: Collaboratively Shaping Social Good," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 375-388, December.
    11. Muñoz, Pablo & Kimmitt, Jonathan, 2018. "Entrepreneurship and the rest: The missing debate," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 100-106.
    12. Zahra, Shaker A. & Gedajlovic, Eric & Neubaum, Donald O. & Shulman, Joel M., 2009. "A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 519-532, September.
    13. Zoltan J. Acs & Erik Stam & David B. Audretsch & Allan O’Connor, 2017. "The lineages of the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 1-10, June.
    14. Ayman Abd el Wahab, 2012. "The January 25th Uprisings: Through or in Spite of Civil Society?," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(1), pages 71-77, January.
    15. Kibler, Ewald & Fink, Matthias & Lang, Richard & Muñoz, Pablo, 2015. "Place attachment and social legitimacy: Revisiting the sustainable entrepreneurship journey," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 24-29.
    16. Babita Bhatt & Israr Qureshi & Suhaib Riaz, 2019. "Social Entrepreneurship in Non-munificent Institutional Environments and Implications for Institutional Work: Insights from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 605-630, February.
    17. Thomas Bauwens & Benjamin Huybrechts & Frédéric Dufays, 2020. "Understanding the Diverse Scaling Strategies of Social Enterprises as Hybrid Organizations," Post-Print hal-02312322, HAL.
    18. Pablo Muñoz & Jonathan Kimmitt, 2019. "Rural entrepreneurship in place: an integrated framework," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(9-10), pages 842-873, October.
    19. James Austin & Howard Stevenson & Jane Wei–Skillern, 2006. "Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship: Same, Different, or Both?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(1), pages 1-22, January.
    20. J. Barraket & M. Loosemore, 2018. "Co-creating social value through cross-sector collaboration between social enterprises and the construction industry," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(7), pages 394-408, July.
    21. M. Tina Dacin & Peter A. Dacin & Paul Tracey, 2011. "Social Entrepreneurship: A Critique and Future Directions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1203-1213, October.
    22. Shaker A. Zahra & Lance R. Newey & Yong Li, 2014. "On the Frontiers: The Implications of Social Entrepreneurship for International Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(1), pages 137-158, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Syrus M. Islam & Ahsan Habib, 2024. "How impact investing firms use reference frameworks to manage their impact performance: An industry‐level study," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(1), pages 161-184, March.
    2. Islam, Syrus M. & Habib, Ahsan, 2022. "How impact investing firms are responding to sustain and grow social economy enterprises in light of the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    3. Barki, Edgard & de Campos, José Guilherme F. & Lenz, Anna-Katharina & Kimmitt, Jonathan & Stephan, Ute & Naigeborin, Vivianne, 2020. "Support for social entrepreneurs from disadvantaged areas navigating crisis: Insights from Brazil," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    4. Wójcik, Piotr & Obłój, Krzysztof & Buono, Anthony F., 2022. "Addressing social concern through business-nonprofit collaboration: Microfoundations of a firm’s dynamic capability for social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 119-139.
    5. Gamble, Edward N. & Muñoz, Pablo, 2021. "How tax incentives slow down positive change in social impact ecosystems and what can we do about it," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    6. Islam, Syrus M., 2020. "Towards an integrative definition of scaling social impact in social enterprises," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    7. Hadjielias, Elias & Christofi, Michael & Vrontis, Demetris & Khan, Huda, 2022. "Social impact through family firms’ interorganizational relationships within a community and a cooperative: An embedded view of stewardship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 584-601.
    8. Roundy, Philip T. & Lyons, Thomas S., 2022. "Humility in social entrepreneurs and its implications for social impact entrepreneurial ecosystems," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    9. Christian Voegtlin & Andreas Georg Scherer & Günter K. Stahl & Olga Hawn, 2022. "Grand Societal Challenges and Responsible Innovation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 1-28, January.
    10. Song, Tianqi & Deng, Guosheng, 2020. "Technology and scaling up: Evidence from an NGO for adolescents with intellectual disabilities in China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    11. Christian Voegtlin & Andreas Georg Scherer & Günter K Stahl & Olga Hawn, 2022. "Grand Societal Challenges and Responsible Innovation," Post-Print hal-03466563, HAL.
    12. Ignacio Bretos & Millán Díaz-Foncea & Carmen Marcuello, 2020. "International Expansion of Social Enterprises as a Catalyst for Scaling up Social Impact across Borders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-22, April.
    13. Kumudu Jayawardhana & Imali Fernando & Janaka Siyambalapitiya, 2022. "Sustainability in Social Enterprise Research: A Systematic Literature Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    14. Siemieniako, Dariusz & Kubacki, Krzysztof & Mitręga, Maciej, 2021. "Inter-organisational relationships for social impact: A systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 453-469.
    15. Shepherd, Dean A. & Seyb, Stella & Williams, Trenton A., 2023. "Empathy-driven entrepreneurial action: Well-being outcomes for entrepreneurs and target beneficiaries," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    16. Syrus M Islam, 2022. "Social impact scaling strategies in social enterprises: A systematic review and research agenda," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 47(2), pages 298-321, May.
    17. Siqueira, Erica H.S. & Fischer, Bruno Brandão & Bin, Adriana & Kickul, Jill, 2023. "Entrepreneurial ecosystems’ readiness towards knowledge-intensive sustainable entrepreneurship: Evidence from Brazil," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Syrus M Islam, 2022. "Social impact scaling strategies in social enterprises: A systematic review and research agenda," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 47(2), pages 298-321, May.
    2. Pradeep Kumar Hota, 2023. "Tracing the Intellectual Evolution of Social Entrepreneurship Research: Past Advances, Current Trends, and Future Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 637-659, January.
    3. Islam, Syrus M., 2020. "Towards an integrative definition of scaling social impact in social enterprises," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    4. Gupta, Parul & Chauhan, Sumedha & Paul, Justin & Jaiswal, M.P., 2020. "Social entrepreneurship research: A review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 209-229.
    5. Hota, Pradeep Kumar & Bhatt, Babita & Qureshi, Israr, 2023. "Institutional work to navigate ethical dilemmas: Evidence from a social enterprise," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(1).
    6. Ronit Yitshaki & Fredric Kropp & Benson Honig, 2022. "The Role of Compassion in Shaping Social Entrepreneurs’ Prosocial Opportunity Recognition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 617-647, August.
    7. Rohit Bhardwaj & Saurabh Srivastava & Sunali Bindra & Sumit Sangwan, 2023. "An ecosystem view of social entrepreneurship through the perspective of systems thinking," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 250-265, January.
    8. Dorobat, Carmen-Elena & McCaffrey, Matthew & Topan, Mihai Vladimir, 2024. "Exploring the microfoundations of hybridity: A judgment-based approach," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4).
    9. Sophie Bacq & Kimberly A. Eddleston, 2018. "A Resource-Based View of Social Entrepreneurship: How Stewardship Culture Benefits Scale of Social Impact," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 589-611, October.
    10. Busch, Christian & Barkema, Harry, 2022. "Align or perish: Social enterprise network orchestration in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(2).
    11. Singaram, Raja & Radu-Lefebvre, Miruna & Gartner, William B., 2023. "Gordian knot uncut: Understanding the problem of founder exit in social ventures," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    12. Claudia Savarese & Benjamin Huybrechts & Marek Hudon, 2021. "The Influence of Interorganizational Collaboration on Logic Conciliation and Tensions Within Hybrid Organizations: Insights from Social Enterprise–Corporate Collaborations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(4), pages 709-721, November.
    13. Wai Wai Ko & Gordon Liu, 2021. "The Transformation from Traditional Nonprofit Organizations to Social Enterprises: An Institutional Entrepreneurship Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 15-32, June.
    14. Adélie Ranville & Marcos Barros, 2022. "Towards Normative Theories of Social Entrepreneurship. A Review of the Top Publications of the Field," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 407-438, October.
    15. Theodoraki, Christina & Dana, Léo-Paul & Caputo, Andrea, 2022. "Building sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: A holistic approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 346-360.
    16. Rocío Aliaga-Isla & Benjamin Huybrechts, 2018. "From “Push Out” to “Pull In” Together : An Analysis of Social Entrepreneurship Definitions in the Academic Field," Post-Print hal-02312230, HAL.
    17. Pradeep Kumar Hota & Balaji Subramanian & Gopalakrishnan Narayanamurthy, 2020. "Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Social Entrepreneurship Research: A Citation/Co-citation Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 89-114, September.
    18. Claudia Savarese & Benjamin Huybrechts & Marek Hudon, 2020. "The Influence of Interorganizational Collaboration on Logic Conciliation and Tensions Within Hybrid Organizations: Insights from Social Enterprise–Corporate Collaborations," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/311573, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Tippmann, Esther & Ambos, Tina C. & Del Giudice, Manlio & Monaghan, Sinéad & Ringov, Dimo, 2023. "Scale-ups and scaling in an international business context," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(1).
    20. Koehne, Florian & Woodward, Richard & Honig, Benson, 2022. "The potentials and perils of prosocial power: Transnational social entrepreneurship dynamics in vulnerable places," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:13:y:2020:i:c:s2352673420300159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-business-venturing-insights .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.