scholarly journals Is Social Entrepreneurship Better for Workers? The Influence of Work Experience in Croatian Social Cooperatives on Perceived Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-30
Author(s):  
Jelena Puđak ◽  
Dražen Šimleša

This paper aims to examine the motivations, values, and job satisfaction among the people employed in the sector of social entrepreneurship that were obtained through a qualitative study of ten Croatian social cooperatives. In our analysis, we interpreted the experiences of working in a social enterprise from the employee perspective. Our findings suggest that the participants/employees of social enterprises favour intrinsic motivation and values related to their jobs, that they describe their working conditions in social enterprises positively, and that they share a perceived increase in the quality of life since having started working at a social enterprise. The described relations between motivation, job experiences, and participatory management allowed us to build upon and extend the existing body of research on motivation and job satisfaction in the social economy sector.

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-25
Author(s):  
Venelin Terziev ◽  
Natalia Bekiarova ◽  
Marin Georgiev

In the last decade the concept of development and promotion of social economy and social entrepreneurship are part of EU policy to tackle the social exclusion of persons in a vulnerable position. Also, the model of social economy is one of the key instruments for achieving social objectives within the framework of the sustainable and inclusive growth. Social benefits are measured by integration and employment of disadvantaged people, the contribution to the process of social inclusion of other vulnerable people, and the economic indicator is expressed by saved public funds for social welfare, on the one hand, and the additional funds compensating the social costs of long-term unemployment. What is important to happen is to create suitable conditions for the development of social enterprises with the widest possible range - vulnerable groups themselves and their problems are diverse and different, and the "answer" to their needs must be flexible in order to be efficient and effective; "way to solutions" is not important (the path may be different, as are diverse and vast opportunities for economic initiatives) that leads to the result itself, the result is important - better integration and sustainable tackling of social exclusion.The Economic and Social Council of the Republic of Bulgaria (ESC) believes that social enterprises in Bulgaria are still an untapped business model. Current social enterprises are mainly non-governmental organizations by applying the relevant legislation creating social enterprises whose business is focused on the realization of the social purpose and mission of the organization. Social enterprises in Bulgaria operate in various sectors, the most serious part are in: the delivery of social services; providing jobs for people with disabilities; mediation in finding employment of unemployed persons; provision of health services; аctivities in the field of education and others.In realizing these activities the leading is not the end product but the achieved social effect on individuals themselves expressed in obtaining the necessary support to integrate into society. In this sense, there are three basic models of social enterprises: The most common model is the one that creates jobs and develops the workforce. By business jobs are created primarily for people with disabilities. Most often the social enterprise is the employer of people with disabilities in order to achieve the integration of persons with disabilities in the labor market and create conditions for a better life. Another popular model of a social enterprise is the one in which the enterprise produces goods and seeks markets, also engaging with their distribution. Most often social enterprises involve persons with disabilities in the form of occupational therapy involved in the production of certain goods. Existing social enterprises in Bulgaria within this model are engaged in the manufacture of certain products by persons who are unemployed or socially excluded. The aim is to enable them to work and improve their social inclusion. The third existing model in Bulgaria is related to the provision of social services generally through payment of external customers, while social enterprise provides social services to its members. Payment is under contract with the state or a municipality. Within this model, services are provided to different users paid directly to social enterprise for direct service.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 175-183
Author(s):  
Irina Atanasova

Social entrepreneurship has to be perceived in the context of social economy. It is the production, supply and / or organization of consumption of goods with a socially significant effect. The objectives of the paper are: to define the essence of the social entrepreneurship, its relation to the other business models and the social enterprise as an organizational subject of social entrepreneursh. The institutional framework and the legal foundations of these processes in the EU and Bulgaria have been outlined. Some specific problems - institutional, legal, economic are concerned and directions are given for solving them.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Gintere ◽  
◽  
Lasma Licite-Kurbe ◽  

As social entrepreneurs address various socio-economic problems in society, there has also been an increased interest in how social enterprises can support specific regions. In Latvia, social enterprises have been operating for a long time, but only recently the Social Enterprise Law was adopted, which regulates the tasks of social entrepreneurship and the support possibilities. This study highlights the level of entrepreneurship activity in the country as a whole (the number of enterprises and the number of newly established enterprises) and within individual statistical regions in the period from 2018 till 2020, analysing the structure of enterprises and indicators representative of entrepreneurship in Latvia and its regions: the dynamics of the number of enterprises per 100 000 inhabitants. The following hypothesis was made: Social entrepreneurship in the regions of Latvia has a disproportionate impact on socio-economic problems. It was found that social enterprises operate twice as much in Riga region as in any other region of Latvia, which has the lowest poverty index. However, the highest poverty index is found in Latgale region, where proportionally the lowest number of social enterprises operates. Social entrepreneurship can be a successful tool for addressing socio-economic problems in the regions and for regional development. For this development to take place, it would be necessary to develop instruments to support social entrepreneurship with the aim of improving the well-being of all regions, not only the region where the social enterprise operates.


Author(s):  
Isaac Lyne ◽  
Chanrith Ngin ◽  
Emmanuel Santoyo-Rio

PurposeThis paper critically assesses Western views on the social economy in contrast to everyday realities in a low-income country, and challenges ethnocentric epistemologies in the discourse of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship that is prevalent in international development. It charts the changing trajectory of the social economy and different influences.Design/methodology/approachQualitative data is used to explore views of members of social enterprises in Northern Cambodia. Three enterprises with different characteristics were selected. Semi-structured interviews and a group discussion took place in each case, exploring motivation, values, empowerment, participation, equity, innovation and risk appetite.FindingsThe important roles social enterprises play in rural community development are sometimes at odds with the reasoning of Western development agencies. The social economy in Cambodia is undergoing change with the advancement of capitalist market forces. This suits formal businesses but could exacerbate the exclusion of various community actors.Research limitations/implicationsThree case studies are in close proximity in Northern Cambodia, and the situated dynamics may not transfer well to other contexts. Some limitations are offset by the selection of different types of social enterprises.Practical implicationsThe study gives insights of value to the designers of programmes or projects to support social enterprise who work within international development agencies and non-government organisations. For academics, it offers critical insight into assumptions about social enterprise that emanate from Western management literature.Originality/valueThis paper meets the need for close-up inter-disciplinary work on social enterprise development in under-represented contexts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 69-77
Author(s):  
Marta Cisek

Social economy support policy at a regional level. Selected issues concerning social enterprises in Lower SilesiaSocial enterprises develop in regions where they are actively supported by the local government and NGOs. That is why in this paper public social economy support instruments strategic, legal and financial at a regional level are analyzed. The main purpose of this paper is to present the situation of the social economy based on the example of the Lower Silesian social enterprises. Of particular value is the empirical part — results of my own research on the experience of social enterprises in Lower Silesia. Interviews with Lower Silesian social entrepreneurs provided information about the effectiveness of public support instruments, the quality of cooperation with stakeholders, legal and financial situation, areas of destructive social entrepreneurship, and finally allowed me to formulate some conclusions in this field.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Farmer ◽  
Tracy De Cotta ◽  
Katharine McKinnon ◽  
Jo Barraket ◽  
Sarah-Anne Munoz ◽  
...  

Purpose This paper aims to explore the well-being impacts of social enterprise, beyond a social enterprise per se, in everyday community life. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory case study was used. The study’s underpinning theory is from relational geography, including Spaces of Wellbeing Theory and therapeutic assemblage. These theories underpin data collection methods. Nine social enterprise participants were engaged in mental mapping and walking interviews. Four other informants with “boundary-spanning” roles involving knowledge of the social enterprise and the community were interviewed. Data were managed using NVivo, and analysed thematically. Findings Well-being realised from “being inside” a social enterprise organisation was further developed for participants, in the community, through positive interactions with people, material objects, stories and performances of well-being that occurred in everyday community life. Boundary spanning community members had roles in referring participants to social enterprise, mediating between participants and structures of community life and normalising social enterprise in the community. They also gained benefit from social enterprise involvement. Originality/value This paper uses relational geography and aligned methods to reveal the intricate connections between social enterprise and well-being realisation in community life. There is potential to pursue this research on a larger scale to provide needed evidence about how well-being is realised in social enterprises and then extends into communities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 62-66
Author(s):  
Barbara Bradač Hojnik

In this paper, social entrepreneurship as a developing type of entrepreneurship is analyzed. On the level of the European Union (EU), social entrepreneurship is widely supported by different initiatives which aim to develop a suitable legal, administrative, and financial environment for social enterprises, but also allowing member states to regulate them individually. This paper focuses on the social entrepreneurship in Slovenia, where it is strictly shaped by the legislation. Consequently, social enterprises need to meet the legislation’s requirements which hinder their quantity and development. Additionally, the scope of social enterprises is narrowed to those companies that received the formal status of social enterprise. In the paper provided will be the data on social enterprises in Slovenia with some recommendation for further development of the framework for social entrepreneurship in the country.


Author(s):  
Steve Coles

This chapter examines how social enterprises can improve the well-being of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). NEET or NEETs refer to young people aged 16–24 who are not in education, employment or training. There are two subcategories of NEETs: unemployed young people (those who are actively seeking work) and economically inactive young people (those who have not actively sought work recently and/or are unable to start work imminently). The chapter first explains what we mean by ‘NEET’, ‘well-being’ and ‘social enterprise’ before providing an overview of the prevalence and make-up of the NEET population. It then considers the risk factors of becoming NEET and the consequences of NEET status, along with the social impact of social enterprises. It also uses the case of the Cambridgeshire County Council in Scotland to show how budget cuts adversely affect NEETs and concludes by emphasising the importance of entrepreneurship for NEETs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-216
Author(s):  
Michał Czuba

The main problem of this article is the possibility of using social entrepreneurship related to the provision of communal services to strengthen the sense of social security in people threatened by social exclusion. This problem is important because ensuring social security in a direct and indirect way is the task of the state. This task also ap-plies to people who are socially excluded or at risk of this phenomenon. Its implemen-tation may take place with the participation of social economy entities, supported by the state in a financial manner as well as through appropriate legislation in the scope of shaping the conditions for the development of the social economy. The aim of this study is to get to know the scope of social economy enterprises in the municipal services and their impact on people employed in this type of institutions, including the possibility of increasing the sense of social security of this people and confirming or denying that the majority of people working in this type social economy entities are people who are socially excluded or threatened with this phenomenon.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-126
Author(s):  
Young Soo Park

Social-economic entities, such as village enterprises and cooperatives, have appeared in addition to social enterprises since the ‘Social Enterprise Promotion Act’ was enacted, and local governments have established ordinances to support them. However, the ordinances have not been generalised and applied as there is no specific definition of ‘Social Economy’ in the applicable parent Act - Social Enterprise Promotion Act. This research aims to revitalise the social economy in local cities and counties in Gyeonggi-do. Thus, the paper has conducted a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the local authorities’ ordinances. The study has identified complex problems of the local ordinances and suggests potential directions for further developments for the ‘Social Economy Ordinances’. The results of the exploration are as follows. Firstly, 27 out of 31 cities and counties in Gyeonggi-do have established and implemented the ‘Social Economy Ordinances’; however, most of them have not specified ‘parent laws’ of the ordinances. Secondly, although, the definitions of ‘Social Economy Ordinances’ are varied in individual local governments in Gyeonggi-do, they have been using similar keywords. Thirdly, the target scopes of the policies under the current ‘Social Economy Ordinances’ operated by local authorities are inconsistent and incoherent in terms of the system of norm and effectiveness. Thus, the ordinances are needed to be collectively reorganised and modified when the Basic Act on Social Economy are enacted. Although the scopes of support are proper in terms of the system of effectiveness, it is necessary to improve the post-management sections for the policy of supporting the social economy.


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