Partnerships between Spanish social enterprises and nonprofits: A rich hybridity-based setting for social innovation

Knowledge-based societies are boosting interconnectivity and interdependence, generating an environment characterized by the existence of multiple relationships in which the boundaries between the traditional sectors (for-profit, public, and nonprofit or third sector) are blurred, with ‘hybridity’ becoming a salient consequence. Our research focuses on one particular typology of a hybrid organization, the social enterprise, defined as a firm whose purpose is to achieve a social mission through the use of market mechanisms. The study attempts to analyze whether the development of partnerships between these companies and nonprofits encourages social innovations. Grounded on quantitative-based research with 200 Spanish social enterprises, the results confirm that the presence of social innovations in social enterprises is enhanced when there are also close partnerships embedded within the core goals and activities of the social enterprise. Moreover, insights point to the relevance of these partnerships in fostering the long-term sustainability and transformational impact of the innovation, therefore countervailing the short-term orientation of firms, and balancing the different institutional logics derived from the dual value focus of social enterprises (social versus economic value).