Organizational Capabilities and Social Entrepreneurship: A Fuzzy-set Approach

Abstract

Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to identify the leading organizational capabilities of social enterprises and their empirical verification in terms of their simultaneous impact on social entrepreneurship. Design/Methodology/Approach: In this paper, a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fs/QCA) was used to empirically analyze the complex relationships between a set of organizational capabilities and social entrepreneurship. These relationships were analyzed using data from selected social enterprises in Poland. Findings: The results indicated that there was no single condition that necessarily and exclusively contributed to high or low social entrepreneurship. However, the sufficiency analysis performed revealed several configurations of conditions (organizational capabilities) that lead to high and low outcomes for social entrepreneurship. Practical Implications: The main achievement of this research is the discovery of two configurations that lead to a high level of social entrepreneurship and one configuration of a low level of social entrepreneurship. This result is important for practice as it shows managers different combinations leading to social entrepreneurship. Importantly, by focusing on combining different organizational capabilities, it is possible to help formalization and encourage social entrepreneurship. Originality/Value: This paper not only presents the different organizational capabilities that influence social entrepreneurship, but also tries to find out how the interplay of these different capabilities creates alternative configurations that contribute to social entrepreneurship.

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“…For high organizational resilience, the consistency coefficients for all conditions were below 0.9, which indicates that no single condition is necessary for organizational resilience (Ragin, 2008;Schneider, Wagemann, 2012). In the case of fuzzy set variables, it is necessary to apply theoretical and contextual knowledge to determine the most appropriate thresholds for full membership and nonmembership in defined sets (Douglas et al, 2020;Kwiotkowska, 2022). In this study, a direct calibration method was used to calibrate the relevant antecedent conditions and outcomes as fuzzy membership outcomes.…”

Business Model for Scaling Social Impact towards Sustainability by Social Entrepreneurs

“…In this section, we review the literature on core aspects of this paper, SE, BM, and the SSI, highlighting important insights relevant to this study. In particular, we explored recent studies that have introduced systemic perspectives to call attention to the importance of collaboration and partnerships across various sectors and entities [9][10][11][12][13][15][16][17].…”

“…In overcoming SE's constraints, more research has emerged recently on the benefits of social entrepreneurs leveraging their ecosystem (composed of networks of actors and a variety of activities) and relying on the interactions of actors and their support activities [10,24]. This communication and engagement create a better support system for social entrepreneurs to tap into external resources, have a better outreach, and to achieve the SSI [11,12]. Kovanen [16] highlighted that community collaboration can enable social entrepreneurs to better balance their institutional and resource relations and to reach societal change, a major SI sought after by entrepreneurs.…”

“…They achieve this through the BM that diverges from a traditional one, as they are driven by a social mission and not economic pursuit. And in aiming to deliver the highest SI possible, social entrepreneurs face numerous challenges: lack of funding, lack of support and skills, balancing business sustainability and mission, and ultimately, the ability to achieve the Scaling of Social Impact (SSI) [5,[9][10][11][12]. In overcoming Sustainability 2023, 15, 14027 2 of 17 these constraints, SE can stimulate sustainable development, favoring greater achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [3,5].…”

“…The literature shows that SE should rely on its network of stakeholders and actors and on its ecosystem to overcome these constraints [9][10][11][12]. In parallel, a growing body of literature on the BM is also concerned with the systemic perspective, bringing consensus to the importance of incorporating other actors' roles within a BM [13,14].…”