Emerging Structures for Social Enterprises Within Nonprofits: An Institutional Logics Perspective

In: Nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly: journal of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Band 47, Heft 3, S. 474-492

Abstract

The development of social enterprise initiatives within nonprofit organizations is a complex activity and the disruptive challenges of accommodating commercial processes within social organizations are often underestimated. This article is based on research that tracks four nonprofit organizations as they endeavor to develop their first social enterprise activities. Using a lens of institutional logics with the emerging empirical findings, six discernible differences are identified between nonprofits and for-profits which usefully inform our understanding of the challenges of accommodating both commercial and social logics. Building upon existing theory, this article offers a typology of structural options for a social enterprise that nonprofits might consider, with illustrative examples from the research findings.