Profit with Purpose? A Theory of Social Enterprise with Experimental Evidence

Timothy Besley and Maitreesh Ghatak

STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series from Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE

Abstract: When social benefits cannot be measured, a hybrid organization which selects managers based on motivation can be used to balance profi…ts with a social purpose. This paper develops a model of social enterprise based on selection of citizen-managers with this goal in mind. It develops the implications of matching between founders and managers based on their preferences for the mission. The main trade-offs suggested by the theory are tested experimentally and these are used to calibrate a matching outcome. This makes precise the parameter range in which social enterprises based on selection will be observed in a market setting; we show that they achieve gains in proficiency of around 10% over non-pro…fit enterprise.

Keywords: Social enterprise; motivated agents; non-profits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Working Paper: Profit with purpose? a theory of social enterprise with experimental evidence (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:stieop:047

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