Why do some social enterprises flourish in Vietnam? A comparison of human and ecosystem partnerships

Abstract

Purpose Social enterprises can be found across Vietnam. However, little is known about how these organizations contribute to the country’s broader efforts to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper aims to explore whether and to what extent differences in social impacts by social enterprises may be explained by the psychological characteristics of social entrepreneurs and cross-sector “ecosystem” partnerships in training, networking, consultation and funding. Design/methodology/approach A survey of N ≈ 352 Vietnamese social entrepreneurs explored relationships between individual entrepreneurial orientation (EO), social identity, self-construal and personality, with elements of ecosystem partnerships (access to training, networking, consultation and funding) and social impacts over the previous three years (growth/jobs created and people helped, termed efficiency and generosity, respectively). Findings Ecosystem partnerships factored into frequency and quality of partnerships. Frequency predicted social enterprise efficiency (p < 0.05) and quality predicted generosity (p < 0.01). Frequency of partnerships further moderated (boosted) significant links between EO (risk innovation, p < 0.05) and efficiency; and between social identity (communitarianism, p < 0.01) to efficiency; plus, quality of partnerships moderated a link between EO (risk innovation) and efficiency (p < 0.05). Practical implications Ecosystem partnerships may foster social enterprise development through at least two pathways (equifinality), i.e. frequency and quality. The former is linked to efficiency and the latter to generosity, signaling interrelates but distinguishable outcomes. Direct links between EO and communitarian social identity leading to social enterprise development were additionally boosted (p < 0.05) by the frequency and quality of partnerships. Thus, ecosystem partnerships brought about both direct and indirect benefits to social enterprises in Vietnam. Social implications Social impacts of efficiency and generosity support both decent work (SDG-8) and poverty eradication (SDG-1), through ecosystem partnerships in development (SDG-17). Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to show that social enterprises in Vietnam may enhance social impacts through a combination of effects from social entrepreneurs and ecosystem partnerships. Current models of social enterprises in low-income countries like Vietnam can be expanded to include ecosystem partnerships and social outcomes relating to SDGs 1 and 8, and especially the multiple path benefits that ecosystem partnerships (under SDG-17) bring to social enterprise development.

Fitting Social Enterprise for Sustainable Development in Vietnam

“…Such a focus is important because in contexts such as Kenya, for example, where social enterprises contribute 45% to the GDP [9]. More research is also needed to extend present understandings of the role of leadership and cultural considerations regarding the functioning of these enterprises both within and across diverse settings [7,8,10]. Correspondingly, this article considers cultural motivators for the development, leadership, functioning and pro-social missions of social enterprises in Vietnam.…”

“…What is clear is that these enterprises reflect the core values, experiences, and knowledge of their founding entrepreneurs [14,15], who offer strategic leadership and generally embrace ethical responses to the needs of a range of stakeholders, rather than just their shareholders [16]. Both the entrepreneurs and their enterprises are immersed within societal and cultural ecosystems that play important roles in shaping what the organizations are seeking to achieve and how they are led to achieving their missions [10,13]. Although emerging, research on the influences of culture and other contextual factors on the leadership of these organizations remains nascent [7,8,17].…”

“…This emerging leadership focus speaks to issues of fit between social entrepreneurs, their enterprises and the eco-systems within which they are operating [10,18]. Personenvironment fit theory comprises a prominent line of theorizing and inquiry within management and organizational psychology that offers fruitful insights for extending current research agendas on social entrepreneurship [19][20][21].…”

“…In the most relevant study we know of, Nguyen, Carr, Hodgetts and Fauchart [10] conducted a quantitative survey of social entrepreneurs in Vietnam, whose responses suggested that the fit between participants and their enterprises, and the broader societal eco-system was significant in terms of organizational performance: Efficiency (revenue, cost, profit, job creation) and generosity (contribution to the society, change in the quality of work-life for employees). Further, the perspectives and decision-making practices of social entrepreneurs were found to result from their distal (e.g., institutional and cultural environment) as well as proximal contexts (e.g., family, personal situation) [17,27,28].…”

“…Building on the scholarship of Nguyen, Carr, Hodgetts and Fauchart [10], the present article explores multi-layered forms of fit as these relate to the social enterprise sector, which prioritizes poverty eradication and socio-economic inclusion through the leadership of social enterprises in an emergent economy, Vietnam. In doing so, we draw on and extend existing conceptualizations of fit to consider the dynamics of social entrepreneurship as these relate to the nexus of fit between social entrepreneurs, their enterprises, the broader social cultural context and their pro-social social performance in Vietnam.…”