From Evaluation to Valorising: Three Moments in the Making of Social Impact Value

Abstract

Value creation is central to entrepreneurship. Within social entrepreneurship research, value is discussed in relation to impact assessment as either pertaining to the thing assessed or dependent on the assessor. These are two perspectives that are blind to the value creation effects of the impact assessment process itself. Following pragmatist developments in the sociology of valuation, the article examines social impact evaluation activities and their performative effects. Findings, based on an analysis of a nascent social venture’s efforts to assess impact, suggest that the very acts of evaluating value are implicated in enacting social and organisational value. As a result, the article calls for a shift in focus from merely social value metrics and perspectives to social valuation processes and practices. This analytical shift helps uncover the social and political dimensions inherent in social impact assessment processes.