SEDA/SEDA301/Drivers of Social Entrepreneurship

Before we start

In the last Learning Pathway we covered quite a lot of theoretical content about social entrepreneurship, social innovation and social enterprise. Now that you have had some time to process this information, it is time for some reflection.

Reflection

Take a few minutes to reflect upon the following questions:

• Has your understanding of social entrepreneurship changed, and if so, how?
• Why do you think that social entrepreneurs and social enterprises are important?

You are encouraged to comment on our Learning Pathway Discussion Board.

Learning Pathway Overview: Drivers of Social Entrepreneurship 

In this Learning Pathway, we will be further drilling into one aspect of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise identified in the last Learning Pathway - the hybrid nature which falls at the core of their goals and activities. There is a growing focus within academia upon what it truly means to be a hybrid organisation, and what this may look like at an organisational level. It is recognised that the combination of two, often very conflicting value systems, can create many challenges for individuals and organisations. Some even consider the combination of two different institutional logics (or value systems that guide action) is in itself innovative. We cover these issues in greater depth in Lecture 3.

To further develop your understanding of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise, Lecture 4 examines some of the historical, socio-political, cultural and technological factors which have supported the rise and importance of social enterprise as a vehicle for change in our communities.

Pathway Learning Objectives

After reviewing the content and learning activities for this Learning Pathway, you should:

• Understand the hybrid nature of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise
• Understand some challenges associated with managing hybrid objectives
• Identify the key environmental trends and drivers which have supported the rise of social entrepreneurship

Hybrid missions and sustainable social impact

Social enterprises have been referred to as the ideal type of hybrid organisation. In order to be sustainable, social enterprises must incorporate and balance contradictory organisational structures, cultures, practices, processes, goals and objectives associated with a traditional non-profit and for-profit organisational forms. As you can imagine, this at times can be very challenging.

Resources

• Lectures:
  • Lecture 3 - Slides: Managing multiple missions and hybridity

Lecture 3 - Hybridity and Sustainable Social impact

• Readings
  • Battilana et al. 2012 - In Search of the Hybrid Ideal

YouTube videos:

• Understanding Hybrid Organizations
• Food Justice Truck

Pathway Learning Objectives

Review the following

Understanding Hybrid Organisations

Pathway Learning Objectives

Review the following

Social Enterprise in Action

Socio-political, economic, cultural and technological factors related to the growth of social entrepreneurship

In efforts to develop the theoretical underpinnings for social entrepreneurship, many authors have sought to understand the drivers behind the growth in numbers and popularity of social entrepreneurs and their social enterprises. What they determined is that the factors influencing social entrepreneurship activity are highly contextual, which means that social enterprises in different regions develop unique relationships with their socio-political, economic and cultural environments. The activities of the market, government and the community sectors all have a role to play in the need for, and emergence of social entrepreneurship.In Lecture 4, we delve into a number of the influences that these sectors have upon socially entrepreneurial activity, along with other environmental factors such as changes in cultural values and technological advancements.

Resources to review

• Lectures
  • Lecture 4 - Slides: Socio-political, economic, cultural and technological factors related to the growth of social entrepreneurship

Socio-political, economic, cultural and technological factors related to the growth of social entrepreneurship

• Readings
  • Reading 1: Hoogendoorn 2016 - The Prevalence and Determinants of Social Entrepreneurship at the Macro Level
  • Reading 2 (optional): Kemp et al., 2016 - : The Humanization of the Economy Through Social Innovation

Learning Pathway Activities

WEBINAR REMINDER

We will be running an online webinar in in conjunction with our UTAS students in Week 3, in which you will have the opportunity to examine an existing social enterprise.

Webinars will be running at the following times during UTAS's Semester 1 Week 3 (13th of March 2018, 19:00 to 20:30 and 15th March, 19:00 to 20:30). Numbers will be limited to 20 students, so please ensure that you sign-up for a session. We highly recommend you attend the webinar, however, if circumstances prevent your attendance, a recording will be made available for each session.

To maximise your contribution within the webinar sessions, you will be required to review the case study materials prior to signing in. These materials include:

STREAT Case Study Information

To sign into a session, please click HERE.

The Webinar link can be found here

Discussion Board

If you haven't already, please head on over to the OERu Discussion area to say hi, and tell us a bit about yourself. We always love to learn more about our students, and it's great to see students connect with people they know, or have studied with previously.

This Learning Pathway discussion board can be accessed here

Review questions

To help guide your learning throughout this unit, we have developed self-assessment quizzes which cover the content provided in each learning pathway. The quizzes are not assessed, and you can attempt the questions as many times it takes to answer correctly Assess your understanding of this learning pathway by selecting the correct answer for each of the following questions:

• Social enterprises are considered to be a hybrid organisational form because:
  • They utilise hybrid technologies to run their businesses
    • Incorrect: this is not generally a feature that defines a hybrid organisation .
  • They rely upon multiple sources of funding
    • Incorrect: while they often rely upon multiple sources of finance, so do many organisations..
  • They meet the needs of a range of different individuals in society
    • Incorrect: this is a feature of many types of organisations in society, not just social enterprises.
  • They combine both social and commercial values and objectives
    • Correct: hybridity relates to the combination of two parts into one. In the case of social enterprise, these different parts relate to goals regarding social and commercial purposes and sustainability.
• The issues faced by both individuals and organisations are contextual, which means that they are dependent upon the specific environment in which they live and operate.
  • True
    • Well done! You understand the importance of context when understanding social issues and needs.
  • False
    • Try again: perhaps review Lecture 4.