Social enterprise governance and labor equity: the emerging role of work-integrated social enterprises in a niche labor market
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 4 April 2024
Issue publication date: 25 April 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes how a national social enterprise policy encourages the social missions of social enterprises and uncovers the relationships between social enterprise governance and labor equity, an area that has been rarely studied in nonprofit governance studies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyzes the effects of four legal requirements for work-integrated social enterprises (WISEs) codified by the Social Enterprises Promotion Act (SEPA, 2007) in South Korea. Then, it relies on panel regression analysis (2020–2022) to examine how the compositions of the governance of WISEs are related to their hiring and wage equity.
Findings
The institutional arrangements required by SEPA have resulted in positive social impacts for most WISEs. However, the results of regression models show that individual participant groups in the WISE governance achieved mixed results depending on the labor issue.
Research limitations/implications
Generally, this research explores the concept of diversity and its utility in nonprofit governance, with a particular focus on targeted diversity policies, demonstrating that governance arrangements influence the success of these policies.
Practical implications
The findings bring new insights for policymakers about “altruistic economic entities.” For practitioners in social enterprises, the results of the regression models underscore the importance of understanding the participant composition of decision-making meetings.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on labor equity, which government-certified social enterprises should achieve from the perspective of nonprofit governance.
Keywords
Citation
Lee, M., Brower, R.S. and Fay, D.L. (2024), "Social enterprise governance and labor equity: the emerging role of work-integrated social enterprises in a niche labor market", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 402-420. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-05-2023-0134
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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