Developing social workers to run social enterprises

Purpose: To explore the variables associated with the adaptation of social worker to the role of social entrepreneur. Literature: Literature on the conflict inherent in institutional logics in hybrid organisations mostly focuses on the organisation level. The current research fills a gap in the l...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kee, Chi Hing
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33473/
Description
Summary:Purpose: To explore the variables associated with the adaptation of social worker to the role of social entrepreneur. Literature: Literature on the conflict inherent in institutional logics in hybrid organisations mostly focuses on the organisation level. The current research fills a gap in the literature by studying the conflict within the individual and identifying problematic competencies. Educators in SE programs can then design the curriculum to address these competencies. Method: The financial performance of the social enterprise (SE) is used as an indicator of the adaptation. A quantitative survey was conducted among 42 social enterprise managers. Findings: Years of SE experience and supportiveness for the practice of dismissing employees were associated with the adaptation. Moreover, the pace of adaptation slowed around the end of the third year of SE experience. In those novice participants with less than three years of SE experience, both the year of SE experience and leadership skills were associated with the adaptation. In those experienced participants with three or more years of experience, only their supportiveness for the practice of reviewing productivity was associated with the adaptation. Finally, when comparing the novice group and the experienced group, the mean of the leading skills changed significantly, but no significant change was found in the level of support for the three practices of dismissing employees, leadership skills, and reviewing productivity. Research limitations: The association of these four variables (years of SE experience, dismissing employees, leadership skills, and reviewing productivity) with the adaptation to the role of social entrepreneur may not be generalized to situations outside Hong Kong.