Investigating learning in social enterprises: a boundary perspective
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further theory development in the field of social entrepreneurship by developing a research agenda for examining organizational learning in social enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper anchors in the interpretive paradigm of learning. It draws on social entrepreneurship literature to identify unique features of social enterprises. These characteristics are then investigated from a situated learning perspective to develop research questions around the following themes: social structures enabling learning, boundaries, boundary objects, boundary roles and boundary interactions.
Findings
Boundaries are identified as loci around which critical learning interactions occur in social enterprises. The significance of studying implicit and explicit boundaries, knowledge brokering, boundary objects and boundary interactions for gaining novel insights into the social enterprise learning process is highlighted.
Originality/value
This paper assists the progression of academic discussion in social entrepreneurship from definitional debates to critical organizational-level phenomena. It brings to attention the importance of studying organizational learning in the unique context of social entrepreneurship for advancing organization theory. It informs practice by highlighting critical social structures, boundaries, agents and objects which need to be identified and managed for promoting learning in social enterprises.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper is a revised version of a conference paper presented at the 4th International Social Innovation Research Conference, Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, UK, in September 2012. The author sincerely thanks the reviewers and the faculty present at the conference for their valuable inputs to this paper.
Citation
Tandon, A. (2014), "Investigating learning in social enterprises: a boundary perspective", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 155-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-05-2013-0022
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited