What makes working in social enterprises distinct from NGOs and commercial corporations? Perspectives from employees

Abstract

Various countries across the East Asian region have witnessed the rapid proliferation of social enterprises, especially in the form of Work Integrated Social Enterprises (WISEs) in the recent decade. Yet, little is known about how WISEs are distinct from traditional social service models based on government welfare or charities, or market-based for-profit organizations. Drawing from 12 in-depth qualitative interviews with a sample of disadvantaged employees and middle managers currently working in WISEs in Hong Kong, we examined first, what working in a WISE meant for disadvantaged employees; and second, how such work differs from traditional service delivery organizations or other employment support schemes such as quota systems in for-profit organizations. Three primary emergent themes, namely (1) Meaningful Engagement comprising the subthemes capacity optimization, belongingness, and societal continuity; (2) Individual Empowerment comprising subthemes skills accruement and learning, and self-reliance; and (3) Relational-based Empowerment comprising reciprocal complementarity and family-centred contribution, were identified as critical outcomes for participants. As for the second research question, our findings suggest several key contributions that social enterprises were able to generate in terms of promoting well-being and empowering disadvantaged individuals that are distinct from traditional service delivery models and other employment-support measures. Compared to more traditional forms of service provision, social enterprises were able to appropriate a suitable amount of ‘risks’ for employees to overcome and feel empowered in the process, and to actualize a process of de-commodification. With reference to international literature, discussion pertaining to the role of social enterprise in the production of welfare and practice implications for social enterprises are presented. Specifically, our study contributes to the theorization and conceptualization of social enterprise using the perspectives of WISE employees. Practically, our study highlights the importance of establishing a participatory decision-making process to empower disadvantaged employees working in social enterprises.