Venture legitimacy and storytelling in social enterprises

Margiono, Ari; Kariza, Alanda; Heriyati, Pantri

doi:10.1080/13215906.2019.1570318

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…The discussion about the dimensions, actors and key elements of a social entrepreneurial ecosystem Volkmann et al (2012) deviates from the characteristics of this specific type of entrepreneurs, the SEs. Despite their legal form, SEs rely on several other players to gain recognition and visibility for their work, their activities and for the solution they try to implement in society (Margiono et al , 2019). Part of the visibility of SEs implies the fact of being recognized as such.…”

Section: How Can the Ecosystem Support Social Entrepreneurs?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystems in support of social entrepreneurs: a literature review

Gonzalez

Dentchev

2021

SEJ

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Purpose Social entrepreneurs (SEs) often face various challenges whereby they rely on the support of others to realize their objectives. In this context, ecosystem thinking is very helpful to understand how various stakeholders can assist SEs. The purpose of this paper is to develop a classification of the different types of support that third parties can provide to SEs. Design/methodology/approach The authors have developed the arguments in this paper based on a literature review of 258 articles on ecosystem thinking and social entrepreneurship. Articles have been retrieved from the Web of Science database, using as search parameters on the one hand publications in top journals, and on the other articles with more than 60 citations. In addition, the authors have received recommendations for relevant good-quality articles following a snowball procedure. Findings This paper contributes by distinguishing three support categories for SEs – fuel, hardware and DNA – based on what we know from ecosystem thinking. This paper elaborates on the building blocks of each support category, points at the relevant actors and discusses the interrelatedness across support categories. Research limitations/implications The three support categories are developed by building on predominantly ecosystem literature. This study implies that the scalability of SEs’ social impact does not only depend on their strengths but also on how well they are supported. Practical implications The three support categories are complementary to the strengths of individual SEs. SEs can therefore start with what they have, and then gradually expand their support structure by surrounding themselves with stakeholders that can assist them with fuel, infrastructure and DNA. Originality/value Social enterprise theories have elaborated on the various challenges that SEs face. Lack of resources, lack of staff, lack of professional management, underdeveloped networks and mission drift are seen as the most pressing. Although the relevant literature does rightly point out the indispensable support of others, it does so without differentiating between the kinds of support that can help SEs increase their social impact. This paper offers to remedy this by creating three separate support categories: fuel, hardware and DNA.

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Section: How Can the Ecosystem Support Social Entrepreneurs?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystems in support of social entrepreneurs: a literature review

Gonzalez

Dentchev

2021

SEJ

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“…Stories are verbal or written expressions that use recognizable and understandable terms through which an audience can make sense of a situation (Lounsbury and Glynn, 2001). Storytelling is an important strategy for SEs to make the “unfamiliar familiar” and explain their “raison d’etre” as a business and charitable organisation (Margiono et al , 2019). As these stories make the hybrid identity comprehensible and meaningful to its audience, the venture gains legitimacy.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting the story right: how second-hand stores use storytelling to gain legitimacy with multiple audiences

Schadenberg

Folmer

2022

SEJ

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Purpose This paper aims to analyse how sustainable second-hand stores (SSHSs) use storytelling as a legitimization strategy. Second-hand stores have traditionally relied on a charity identity to attract customers. More recently, changing market demands, the growing popularity of second-hand shopping, “vintage” and online shopping have opened up new opportunities for these social enterprises (SEs). This study asks how SSHSs can maintain their legitimacy with incumbent stakeholders while also exploiting these new opportunities. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses an abductive approach starting from existing knowledge on how storytelling builds legitimacy in conventional enterprises. The authors collected qualitative data and interviewed owners and managers of second-hand stores in the Netherlands. This paper specifically looked at how second-hand stores are using their web shops to convey stories and build legitimacy with (new) audiences. Findings Contrary to the authors’ expectations, they found that the web shop is not used as a site for storytelling the mission of the store but is rather a stage for specific products that tell a story of trendy and vintage shopping. This attracts a new customer segment to the store that conventionally does not shop there. This paper concludes that second-hand stores use vintage products as symbols in storytelling through their web shop to gain access to a new market. By foregoing to tell the story of their mission on the web shop, the second-hand stores are choosing to keep their charity and business identity separate. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper makes an original contribution by analysing how second-hand stores are actively exploiting new opportunities created by a changing market context and seeking to maintain legitimacy while doing so. This paper argues that legitimacy is not a static “reward,” rather, something that evolves with the enterprise. This research adds to the body of literature on legitimacy and more specifically cultural entrepreneurship, which holds that entrepreneurs can actively gain and maintain legitimacy through storytelling.

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“…The narrative in the SE literature suggests that this type of entrepreneurship is desirable for the society and attributes to it an overvalued capacity to solve a large number of social problems (Dey and Steyaert, 2010;Hockerts, 2015). This view has limited research on the failure of these ventures and the adverse effects that SE can have on their environment (Kachlami, 2016;Margiono et al, 2019;Talmage et al, 2019). The difficulty in measuring the social benefits of these ventures and their actual impact on social change represents a threat to the legitimacy of social ventures in terms of their contribution to the society (Hervieux et al, 2010;Trivedi, 2010;Barraket and Yousefpour, 2013;McMullen and Bergman, 2017;Nason et al, 2018).…”

Section: Evolution Of the Definition Of Social Entrepreneurshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The desirability of SE as a promoter of social development and an ideal solution to various social problems has been highlighted before (Maase and Bossink, 2010;Hockerts, 2015). This idealized vision only exposes the positive aspects of SE; however, social ventures can also negatively impact and fail, just like other businesses (Kachlami, 2016;Margiono et al, 2019;Talmage et al, 2019). Although the dark side of SE has not been thoroughly researched, it cannot be denied that it exists (Corner and Ho, 2010); for example, SE in indigenous communities can produce acculturation of the population, and its environment may consider a negative impact of SE (Martin and Novicevic, 2010).…”

Section: Social Entrepreneur Ship Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social entrepreneurship review: a gap in the Latin American context

Ibáñez

2021

MRJIAM

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Purpose Social entrepreneurship (SE) has been a field of research that has interested researchers for over 30 years. However, there is no consensus on the concept of SE, and research in this field moves in several directions. The purpose of this study is to summarize the definitions of SE, propose a unified definition of SE and describe the state-of-the-art of SE in the Latin American context. Design/methodology/approach This study carries out a literature review on SE from 2010 to 2020 to explore the main topics in the SE field, searching, reviewing and selecting the most representative articles published. Findings The findings of this study suggest agreements and disagreements in the main topics of SE and reveal a significant gap in the SE research in the Latin American scenario. Originality/value This study contributes to the future growth of SE literature under a common umbrella that allows for more and better knowledge in this field and proposes a novel research agenda for the SE field in Latin America.

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Venture legitimacy and storytelling in social enterprises

Cited by 18 publications

References 82 publications

Ecosystems in support of social entrepreneurs: a literature review

Ecosystems in support of social entrepreneurs: a literature review

Getting the story right: how second-hand stores use storytelling to gain legitimacy with multiple audiences

Social entrepreneurship review: a gap in the Latin American context

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