Legitimation of Social Enterprises as Hybrid Organizations

Ji-Hoon Park and Zong-Tae Bae
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Ji-Hoon Park: School of Business, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Korea
Zong-Tae Bae: College of Business, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 85 Hoegi-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455, Korea

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 18, 1-31

Abstract: On the basis of an inductive multiple case study of ten social enterprises, we explore how social enterprises, which incorporate for-profit and not-for-profit logics as a hybrid form, gain legitimacy. Our analysis suggests the existence of three types of social entrepreneurs’ hybrid identities and shows how these hybrid identities systematically shape legitimation patterns of social enterprises. Furthermore, our findings suggest that social enterprises’ organizational types as hybrids also determine their legitimation patterns. These findings theoretically contribute to the research on hybrid organizing, legitimation of new ventures, and social entrepreneurship.

Keywords: hybrid organization; hybrid identity; hybrid organizational type; legitimation; social enterprise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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