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Scaling strategies, organizational capabilities and scaling social impact: An investigation of social enterprises in China

Scaling strategies, organizational capabilities and scaling social impact: An investigation of... Most social enterprises (SEs) face constant challenges to scale up their social impact, especially for those in transforming societies such as China, where the ecosystem of SEs is still immature. Previous literature has examined how and why SEs select specific scaling strategies; however, the scaling performance of different scaling strategies has rarely been empirically explored. Therefore, this study takes a hypothesis‐testing quantitative approach, for the first time, to investigate how different scaling strategies contribute divergently to scaling performance and how their contributions are subject to the moderating role of SEs’ organizational capabilities. The findings show that the three types of scaling strategies positively contribute to scaling performance, and the magnitude and significance of their influences descend from knowledge dissemination, through organizational growth, to contractual partnerships. Meanwhile, when SEs have a higher level of stakeholder engagement capabilities or strategic management capabilities, knowledge dissemination has a stronger effect on scaling performance. Conversely, when SEs have a lower level of marketing capabilities or strategic management capabilities, organizational growth has a stronger effect on scaling performance. These results offer practical implications, suggesting that SEs selecting knowledge dissemination as a scaling strategy should prioritize advancing their stakeholder engagement capabilities and strategic management capabilities. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics Wiley

Scaling strategies, organizational capabilities and scaling social impact: An investigation of social enterprises in China

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Journal compilation © 2023 EMF.
ISSN
1370-4788
eISSN
1467-8292
DOI
10.1111/apce.12418
Publisher site
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Abstract

Most social enterprises (SEs) face constant challenges to scale up their social impact, especially for those in transforming societies such as China, where the ecosystem of SEs is still immature. Previous literature has examined how and why SEs select specific scaling strategies; however, the scaling performance of different scaling strategies has rarely been empirically explored. Therefore, this study takes a hypothesis‐testing quantitative approach, for the first time, to investigate how different scaling strategies contribute divergently to scaling performance and how their contributions are subject to the moderating role of SEs’ organizational capabilities. The findings show that the three types of scaling strategies positively contribute to scaling performance, and the magnitude and significance of their influences descend from knowledge dissemination, through organizational growth, to contractual partnerships. Meanwhile, when SEs have a higher level of stakeholder engagement capabilities or strategic management capabilities, knowledge dissemination has a stronger effect on scaling performance. Conversely, when SEs have a lower level of marketing capabilities or strategic management capabilities, organizational growth has a stronger effect on scaling performance. These results offer practical implications, suggesting that SEs selecting knowledge dissemination as a scaling strategy should prioritize advancing their stakeholder engagement capabilities and strategic management capabilities.

Journal

Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics – Wiley

Published: Mar 1, 2023

Keywords: organizational capabilities; scaling; social enterprises

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