What Drives Social Enterprises to Form Sustainable Values? The Effects of Normative Identity and Social Performance

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the social enterprises’ normative identity and social performance. Social enterprises are considered hybrid organizations that simultaneously pursue economic value and social value. To meet an SE’s mission and objectives, they need to build a normative identity and normative networks. This study examines how an SE’s normative identity and normative networks influence its performance. In particular, this study focuses on social performance. To test our hypotheses, we used survey data from CESE in Korea. The survey included samples from 1437 social enterprises that are certified by the government as social enterprises. Our dataset was constructed by sampling 300 social enterprises that attained the social incentive from the CSES. Social incentives are the reward for social performance. The findings suggest that while an SE’s normative identity orientation does not affect social performance, normative activity influences social performance. In addition, the legitimacy of an SE moderates the relationship between the normative network and social performance. These findings contribute to our understanding of an SE’s identity and social performance.