Abstract
Social enterprises (SEs), hybrid organizations that purportedly seek to reimagine the traditional for-profit organization by putting social impact before profit, are an emerging organizational form many tout as a key solution to the excesses of shareholder capitalism. Yet, SEs are also widely criticized for advancing a neoliberal logic to social impact, in fact entrenching and not addressing neoliberal capitalism. This is the question of whether SEs merely compensate for market gaps or actually transform the market. What gives? The study addresses this paradox by investigating the potential of SEs to challenge and transform market-wide institutional logics. In response to calls to focus on hitherto underexplored micro-level SE phenomena, I propose that the everyday interactions of SE staff with their business stakeholders are an essential mechanism through which transformative outcomes are engendered, and in turn enable a novel form of resistive meaningful work for staff. Through a qualitative approach utilizing semi-structured interviews with 21 SE staff across 16 SEs and 12 industries, I draw on grounded theory and thematic analysis to identify the heterogenous typologies of internal business logics, inter-organizational contestation orientations, institutional outcomes, and meaningful work experiences of SE staff. These insights are integrated into a multi-level model of transformative SEs, which demonstrates the key mechanisms and components that enable SEs to transform their markets. Overall, this study advances the SE literature by addressing the urgent question on their transformative potential, with implications for businesses, policy, and the workforce alike.