Erin I-Ping Castellas, Jarrod Ormiston and Suzanne Findlay
This paper aims to explore the emergence and nature of impact investment in Australia and how it is shaping the development of the social enterprise sector.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the emergence and nature of impact investment in Australia and how it is shaping the development of the social enterprise sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Impact investment is an emerging approach to financing social enterprises that aims to achieve blended value by delivering both impact and financial returns. In seeking to deliver blended value, impact investment combines potentially conflicted logics from investment, philanthropy and government spending. This paper utilizes institutional theory as a lens to understand the nature of these competing logics in impact investment. The paper adopts a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach to study the emergence of impact investment in Australia. The mixed methods include 18 qualitative interviews with impact investors in the Australian market and a subsequent online questionnaire on characteristics of impact investment products, activity and performance.
Findings
The findings provide empirical evidence of the rapid growth in impact investment in Australia. The analysis reveals the nature of institutional complexity in impact investment and highlights the risk that the impact logic may become overshadowed by the investment logic if the difference in rigor around financial performance measurement and impact performance measurement is maintained. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for the development of the Australian social enterprise sector.
Originality/value
This paper provides empirical evidence on the emergence of impact investment in Australia and contributes to a growing global body of evidence about the nature, size and characteristics of impact investment.
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Dominance complementarity, which is the tendency for people to respond oppositely to others along the control dimension of interpersonal behavior, is a means by which people…
Abstract
Dominance complementarity, which is the tendency for people to respond oppositely to others along the control dimension of interpersonal behavior, is a means by which people create and perpetuate informal forms of interpersonal hierarchy within social relationships (Tiedens, Unzueta, & Young, 2007b). In the present chapter, I explore the likely effects of such complementarity on group creativity. I propose specifically that expressions of dominance, even those borne not out of formal hierarchy but rather out of such factors as expertise and enthusiasm for the task, are likely to elicit submissive responses from fellow group members when the group is trying to generate creative ideas. As group members behaving submissively are likely to contribute fewer ideas to group discussion, I argue that group members who behave dominantly may, through their influence on other group members, reduce both the number and diversity of ideas generated within the group. I, therefore, propose that dominance complementarity may impair groups' abilities to generate creative ideas.
Educational achievement gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples exist as a critical issue and a policy challenge in most countries. This chapter examines contemporary…
Abstract
Purpose
Educational achievement gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples exist as a critical issue and a policy challenge in most countries. This chapter examines contemporary schooling issues and inequalities experienced by Canadian Indigenous students in order to further understand the challenges that impact their schooling experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
This chapter draws on interviews with 50 participants (26 educators and 24 parents) within four southern Ontario school boards. Of those interviewees, 20 teachers and 20 parents identify as Indigenous (mainly Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Métis). Four non-Indigenous parent interviewees have children with Indigenous ancestry and six non-Indigenous teachers have Indigenous education as an area of specialization.
Findings
Findings suggest that Indigenous students encounter schooling challenges associated with: racial discrimination, feelings of not fitting in, and desires to blend in with the majority student population, as well as inequalities in Indigenous-focused programs and initiatives.
Originality/value
Given the historical context of discrimination against Indigenous Canadians in schooling, Indigenous students are challenged with distinct barriers that shape educational experiences as they advance in their academic careers. Interviewees described how embedding content based on Indigenous cultures, perspectives, and histories into public schools can not only counter negative experiences for Indigenous students, but also facilitate respect for cultural diversity among non-Indigenous students, and serves as a mechanism to combat racism and prejudice in the school community.
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Margaret E. Ormiston and Elaine M. Wong
In this chapter, we argue that beyond the self-enhancement motive (i.e., the desire for a positive identity), other identity motives play a significant, yet underspecified role in…
Abstract
In this chapter, we argue that beyond the self-enhancement motive (i.e., the desire for a positive identity), other identity motives play a significant, yet underspecified role in homogeneous and diverse groups. In particular, we explore how the desire for self-verification, belonging, and distinctiveness offer alternative and, at times, even contradictory explanations for findings typically attributed to self-enhancement. We also consider the ways in which these motives are influenced in homogenous and diverse groups and the effects they have on group processes and performance. Through our examination, we aim to stimulate research on the role of multiple identity motives in homogenous and diverse groups.
Brandon Randolph-Seng, John Humphreys, Milorad Novicevic, Kendra Ingram and Foster Roberts
Scholars have begun calling for broader conceptualisations of moral disengagement processes that reflect the interaction of dispositional and situational antecedents to a…
Abstract
Scholars have begun calling for broader conceptualisations of moral disengagement processes that reflect the interaction of dispositional and situational antecedents to a predilection to morally disengage. The authors argue that collective leadership may be one such contingent antecedent. While researching leaders from the Gilded Age of American business history, the authors encountered a compelling historical case that facilitates theory elaboration within these intersecting domains. Interpreting evidence from the embittered leader dyad of Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, the authors show how leader egoism can permeate moral identity to promote symbolic moral self-regard and moral licensing, which augment a propensity to morally disengage. The authors use insights developed from our analysis to illustrate a process conceptualisation that reflects a dispositional and situational interaction as a precursor to moral disengagement and explains how collective leadership can function as a moral disengagement trigger/tool to reduce cognitive dissonance and support the cognitive, behavioural, and rhetorical processes utilised to justify unethical behaviour.
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Over the last several decades, businesses have faced mounting pressures from diverse stakeholders to alter their corporate operations to become more socially and environmentally…
Abstract
Over the last several decades, businesses have faced mounting pressures from diverse stakeholders to alter their corporate operations to become more socially and environmentally responsible. In turn, many firms appear to have responded by implementing more sustainable practices — measuring, documenting, and publishing annual CSR or sustainability reports to showcase how they are addressing important issues in this area, including: resource stewardship, waste management, greenhouse gas emission reductions, fair and safe labor practices, amongst other stakeholder concerns. And yet, research in this domain has not yet systematically examined whether businesses have, on the whole, changed their practices in tandem with the important changes in its institutional context over time. Have corporate CSR initiatives, in fact, been growing over the last 25 years or has the increased attention to CSR actually been much ado about nothing? In this chapter, we review the empirical literature on CSR to uncover that common measures of CSR such as the KLD do not support the concept that CSR practices have increased substantively over the last 25 years. We supplement this historical review by modeling the growth curves of CSR implementation in practice and find that the pace of positive change has indeed been glacial. More alarmingly, we also look at corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) and find that, contrary to expectations, businesses have become more, not less, irresponsible during this same time period. Implications of these findings for theory are presented as are suggestions for future research in this domain.
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Fernanda Golbspan Lutz, Natalia Aguilar Delgado and Maira Petrini
The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion surrounding impact measurement on social enterprises (SEs). The findings provide a more nuanced perspective on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion surrounding impact measurement on social enterprises (SEs). The findings provide a more nuanced perspective on tensions that often emerge from SEs journeys by presenting the complexities which social entrepreneurs and investors should be attentive to.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used grounded theory as the means to explore how stakeholders accomplish the requirements for impact measurement, overcoming the challenges that arise in the process. Through 18 semi-structured interviews, the authors develop a conceptual model to better understand how a practice that is often taken for granted might compromise SEs achievements and sustainability in the long term.
Findings
The proposed model uncovered an unintended consequence of impact measurement: mission drift. The requirements to assess the social impact raise expectations on different actors and create challenges that affect the true purpose of SEs, the delivery of their social mission.
Practical implications
This study contributes to research and practice. First, the authors develop a theoretical model for social entrepreneurs and social investors to shed light on the hidden consequences of impact measurement. Second, the authors strengthen the knowledge in the field by conducting a study on SEs outside the mainstream Western-centric context.
Originality/value
The authors enrich the literature by exploring the tensions related to impact measurement in SEs in the Global South and unravel new perspectives on the subject.
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Bruce T. Teague and William B. Gartner
This chapter uses the expertise literature (e.g., Ericsson et al., 2018; Ericsson & Pool, 2016) to explore ways that entrepreneurship education might be enhanced through the…
Abstract
This chapter uses the expertise literature (e.g., Ericsson et al., 2018; Ericsson & Pool, 2016) to explore ways that entrepreneurship education might be enhanced through the deliberate practice of specific entrepreneurial behaviors and cognitive skills. What is appealing about the use of expertise methods and theory is the application of very rigorous standards for improving behavioral and cognitive skills that are correlated to better outcomes. The authors suggest that an expertise approach challenges entrepreneurship educators to identify what aspects of the entrepreneurial process might be “deliberately practiced” and to consider modifying aspects of training entrepreneurs to better develop their entrepreneurial capabilities.
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Rohit Raj, Arpit Singh, Vimal Kumar and Pratima Verma
Recent technological advancements, often linked to Industry 4.0, require organizations to be more agile and innovative. Blockchain technology (BT) holds immense potential in…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent technological advancements, often linked to Industry 4.0, require organizations to be more agile and innovative. Blockchain technology (BT) holds immense potential in driving organizations to achieve efficiency and transparency in supply chains. However, there exist some insurmountable challenges associated with the adoption of BT in organizational supply chains (SC). This paper attempts to categorically identify and systematize the most influential challenges in the implementation of BT in SC.
Design/methodology/approach
This study resorts to an extensive literature review and consultations with experts in the field of supply chain management (SCM), information technology and academia to identify, categorize and prioritize the major challenges using VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and Combined Compromise Solution method (CoCoSo).
Findings
The top three classes of challenges revealed in this study are privacy challenges (PC), infrastructure challenges (IC) and transparency challenges (TC). Maintaining a balance between data openness and secrecy and rectification of incorrect/erroneous input are the top two challenges in the PC category, integration of BT with sustainable practices and ensuring legitimacy are the top two challenges in the IC category, and proper and correct information sharing in organizations was the top most challenge in the TC category.
Originality/value
Future scholars and industry professionals will be guided by the importance of the challenges identified in this study to develop an economical and logical approach for integrating BT to increase the efficiency and outcome of supply chains across several industrial sectors.