In this paper, we derive a four-stage process model of how hybrid organizations respond to specific challenges that arise under conditions of value pluralism and institutional complexity. Engaging in exploratory qualitative research of six Australian hybrid organizations, we identify institutional and organizational responses to pluralism, particularly as organizations strive to uphold multiple value commitments, such as social, environmental and/or financial outcomes. We find that by employing a process of separating, negotiating, aggregating, and subjectively assessing the value that is created, our cases demonstrate how they move between logics in a dynamic fashion and address specific challenges of cognitive dissonance, incommensurability, interdependence and aggregation. Our model contributes to the literature by reframing the notion of 'tensions' that arise in conditions of hybridity and characterize specific challenges and sequential responses that may go some way to addressing why some hybrids employ particular responses to pluralism and why some succeed.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the emergence and nature of impact investment in Australia and how it is shaping the development of the social enterprise sector. Design/methodology/approach Impact investment is an emerging approach to financing social enterprises that aims to achieve blended value by delivering both impact and financial returns. In seeking to deliver blended value, impact investment combines potentially conflicted logics from investment, philanthropy and government spending. This paper utilizes institutional theory as a lens to understand the nature of these competing logics in impact investment. The paper adopts a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach to study the emergence of impact investment in Australia. The mixed methods include 18 qualitative interviews with impact investors in the Australian market and a subsequent online questionnaire on characteristics of impact investment products, activity and performance. Findings The findings provide empirical evidence of the rapid growth in impact investment in Australia. The analysis reveals the nature of institutional complexity in impact investment and highlights the risk that the impact logic may become overshadowed by the investment logic if the difference in rigor around financial performance measurement and impact performance measurement is maintained. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for the development of the Australian social enterprise sector. Originality/value This paper provides empirical evidence on the emergence of impact investment in Australia and contributes to a growing global body of evidence about the nature, size and characteristics of impact investment.

This paper explores how diverse stakeholders frame their expectations of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). Using discourse analysis, the authors examine competing expectations in SIB press releases, showing how they differ between stakeholders, between institutional contexts, and how they evolve over time. The paper highlights how the prioritization of social finance and collaboration discourses privileges the role of private investors, which in turn diminishes the role of service providers as innovators. IMPACTThis paper explains the competing rationales of stakeholders from different sectors and jurisdictions engaging in SIBs, and how these rationales shift over time. Policy-makers need to reprioritize the role of service providers in SIB communications as they are often marginalized in the overall public discourse-particularly in the early stages of SIB structuring. The differences the authors found between jurisdictions reveal that institutional contexts shape the nature of SIBs, and that the SIB model should not be transferred in a standardized way to differing contexts.

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Purpose The social economy – including not-for-profits, cooperatives, mutual organisations and social enterprises – is playing a stronger role than ever in the delivery of public policy. Yet, these organisations are often anecdotally viewed as relatively inefficient providers. The purpose of this paper is to compare the profitability and labour productivity of social enterprises in the State of Victoria in Australia with that of small- and medium-sized business enterprises (SMEs) in the same state. This paper found that, although social enterprises generally generated smaller profits and, therefore, could be less profitable, their relative level of labour productivity (value added and income to labour employed) was comparable or higher than that of SMEs. This paper responds to the need for comparative insights about social enterprise performance and considers the implications of these findings for new public governance. Design/methodology/approach The social economy – including not-for-profits, cooperatives, mutual organisations and social enterprises – is playing a stronger role than ever in the delivery of public policy. Yet these organisations are often anecdotally viewed as relatively inefficient providers. Findings This paper found that, although social enterprises generally generated smaller profits and, therefore, could be less profitable, their relative level of labour productivity (value added and income to labour employed) was comparable or higher than that of SMEs. This paper responds to the need for comparative insights about social enterprise performance and considers the implications of these findings for new public governance. Originality/value This is the first work that has been done of this sort that has looked specifically at Australia circumstances.