IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobuve/v18y2022ics2352673422000452.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How impact investing firms are responding to sustain and grow social economy enterprises in light of the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Islam, Syrus M.
  • Habib, Ahsan

Abstract

The COVID-19-induced disruptions have hardest hit social economy enterprises. While impact investing is considered a promising vehicle to stimulate and grow social economy enterprises, little is known about how impact investors are actually responding to sustain and grow social economy enterprises amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that impact investors sacrifice additional financial returns in pandemic-focused impact investments where they see the potential for attaining significantly higher than usual social impact by protecting hundreds of vulnerable social economy enterprises and beneficiaries amidst the pandemic. We also find that guarantees are introduced as an innovative impact investment instrument to tackle the pandemic, although they have remained heavily underutilized. Furthermore, debt instruments tend to dominate in pandemic-focused impact investments. Finally, in response to the pandemic, impact investors emphasize developing and strengthening a supportive social impact ecosystem to protect both portfolio and non-portfolio social economy enterprises and their beneficiaries. We also explain how the impact investing market has evolved during pandemic times and how it might evolve post-pandemic to support social economy enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:18:y:2022:i:c:s2352673422000452
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2022.e00347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673422000452
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbvi.2022.e00347?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. Chen, Suwen & Harrison, Richard, 2020. "Beyond profit vs. purpose: Transactional-relational practices in impact investing," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    2. Seelos, Christian & Mair, Johanna, 2005. "Social entrepreneurship: Creating new business models to serve the poor," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 241-246.
    3. 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).
    4. Eline L. Ingstad & Mirjam Knockaert & Yves Fassin, 2014. "Smart money for social ventures: an analysis of the value-adding activities of philanthropic venture capitalists," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 349-378, October.
    5. Smith, Brett R. & Bergman, Brian J., 2020. "The other side of the coin: Investor identity and its role in resource provision," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    6. 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.
    7. Anna Höchstädter & Barbara Scheck, 2015. "What’s in a Name: An Analysis of Impact Investing Understandings by Academics and Practitioners," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 449-475, December.
    8. 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).
    9. Muñoz, Pablo & Kimmitt, Jonathan, 2019. "A diagnostic framework for social impact bonds in emerging economies," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 12(C).
    10. Bacq, Sophie & Geoghegan, Will & Josefy, Matthew & Stevenson, Regan & Williams, Trenton A., 2020. "The COVID-19 Virtual Idea Blitz: Marshaling social entrepreneurship to rapidly respond to urgent grand challenges," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 705-723.
    11. Farhoud, Mohamed & Shah, Sheeza & Stenholm, Pekka & Kibler, Ewald & Renko, Maija & Terjesen, Siri, 2021. "Social enterprise crowdfunding in an acute crisis," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    12. Islam, Syrus M., 2020. "Towards an integrative definition of scaling social impact in social enterprises," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    13. Syrus M. Islam, 2022. "Impact investing in social sector organisations: a systematic review and research agenda," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 709-737, March.
    14. Alex Nicholls, 2010. "The Institutionalization of Social Investment: The Interplay of Investment Logics and Investor Rationalities," Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 70-100, March.
    15. 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).
    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. Eduardo da Silva Fernandes & Inês Hexsel Grochau & Carla Schwengber Ten Caten, 2023. "Impact Investing: Determinants of External Financing of Social Enterprises in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Marta Szczepańczyk & Paweł Nowodziński & Adam Sikorski, 2023. "ESG Strategy and Financial Aspects Using the Example of an Oil and Gas Midstream Company: The UNIMOT Group," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-24, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Nachyła, Pola & Justo, Rachida, 2024. "How do impact investors leverage non-financial strategies to create value? An impact-oriented value framework," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    5. Syrus M. Islam & Asheq Rahman, 2023. "Impact investment deal flow and Sustainable Development Goals: “Mind the gap?”," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 3797-3813, December.
    6. Gimede Gigante & Emiliano Sironi & Caterina Tridenti, 2023. "At the Frontier of Sustainable Finance: Impact Investing and the Financial Tradeoff; Evidence from Private Portfolio Companies in the United Kingdom," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-21, February.
    7. Sofia Karagiannopoulou & Nikolaos Sariannidis & Konstantina Ragazou & Ioannis Passas & Alexandros Garefalakis, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility: A Business Strategy That Promotes Energy Environmental Transition and Combats Volatility in the Post-Pandemic World," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-21, January.

    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. "Impact investing in social sector organisations: a systematic review and research agenda," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 709-737, March.
    2. Laura Toschi & Elisa Ughetto & Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, 2023. "The identity of social impact venture capitalists: exploring social linguistic positioning and linguistic distinctiveness through text mining," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1249-1280, March.
    3. 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).
    4. Kaushik, Vineet & Tewari, Shobha & Sahasranamam, Sreevas & Hota, Pradeep Kumar, 2023. "Towards a precise understanding of social entrepreneurship: An integrated bibliometric–machine learning based review and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Tongyu Meng & Jamie Newth & Christine Woods, 2022. "Ethical Sensemaking in Impact Investing: Reasons and Motives in the Chinese Renewable Energy Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 1091-1117, September.
    6. Kirsten Andersen & Rebecca Tekula, 2022. "Value, Values, and Valuation: The Marketization of Charitable Foundation Impact Investing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 1033-1052, September.
    7. Nachyła, Pola & Justo, Rachida, 2024. "How do impact investors leverage non-financial strategies to create value? An impact-oriented value framework," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    8. Andreas Kuckertz & Leif Brändle, 2022. "Creative reconstruction: a structured literature review of the early empirical research on the COVID-19 crisis and entrepreneurship," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 281-307, June.
    9. Ritesh Shahi & Nadiya Parekh, 2022. "Financing Social Enterprises: An Upper Echelon Perspective," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 11(2), pages 235-250, June.
    10. Brett R. Smith & Amanda Lawson & Jessica Jones & Tim Holcomb & Aimee Minnich, 2022. "Trying to Serve Two Masters is Easy, Compared to Three: Identity Multiplicity Work by Christian Impact Investors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 1053-1070, September.
    11. Vineet Kaushik & Shobha Tewari, 2023. "Modeling Opportunity Indicators Fostering Social Entrepreneurship: A Hybrid Delphi and Best-Worst Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 667-698, August.
    12. 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).
    13. Nesij Huvaj, M. & Darmody, Aron & Smith, Robert S., 2023. "Psychological ownership and disownership in reward-based crowdfunding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Saurav Chandra Talukder & Zoltán Lakner, 2023. "Exploring the Landscape of Social Entrepreneurship and Crowdfunding: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, June.
    15. Islam, Syrus M., 2020. "Towards an integrative definition of scaling social impact in social enterprises," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    16. Elisabet Ferri & David Urbano, 2010. "Environmental Factors and Social Entrepreneurship," Working Papers 1003, Departament Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, revised Sep 2010.
    17. Viviani, Jean-Laurent & Maurel, Carole, 2019. "Performance of impact investing: A value creation approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 31-39.
    18. Karin Kreutzer, 2022. "On the Discursive Construction of Social Entrepreneurship in Pitch Situations: The Intertextual Reproduction of Business and Social Discourse by Presenters and Their Audience," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 1071-1090, September.
    19. Shome, Samik & Hassan, M. Kabir & Verma, Sushma & Panigrahi, Tushar Ranjan, 2023. "Impact investment for sustainable development: A bibliometric analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 770-800.
    20. Thomas André, 2015. "Managing Societal Performance of Impact Investing: An Action Research Inquiry," Working Papers hal-01211725, HAL.

    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:18:y:2022:i:c:s2352673422000452. 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.