How to stay on the road? A business model perspective on mission drift in social purpose organizations

Sascha Klein, Sabrina Schneider and Patrick Spieth

Journal of Business Research, 2021, vol. 125, issue C, 658-671

Abstract: Hybrid organizations like social purpose organizations (SPOs) frequently innovate their business models (BM) due to environmental constraints aiming to create social value while striving for economic viability. Competing demands may cause the SPO to drift to one mission, jeopardizing hybridity and the mission. However, research on mission drift is still in its infancy and lacks empirical evidence. We rely on a multiple-case study approach, using the BM as a unit of analysis to identify key choices and consequences concerning possible mission drift. Our findings show a complex set of choices and consequences that reinforce social value creation, facilitate and prevent mission drift in SPOs. We outline the role of stakeholders and transparency as key to prevent mission drift and to enhance legitimacy, challenging research on stakeholders’ constraining nature. We argue for investigating business model innovations’ consequences on mission drift and contribute to the literature on SPOs and business model innovation by providing evidence of cycles of choices and consequences, risking the SPO to disregard either the social or economic mission.

Keywords: Social value; Mission drift; Social purpose organization; Business model innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296320300655
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:125:y:2021:i:c:p:658-671

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.053

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().