The institutionalization of 'Work integration social enterprises'

Abstract

The concept of political embeddedness offers a way to analyze the processes of the institutionalization of organizations according to a twofold movement: on the one hand, how did they participate in the development of public policies and, on the other hand, to what extent do such policies influence the publicly recognized organizations? In the field of social enterprises actively involved in the integration of disadvantaged people into the labour market, this movement is quite clear. In Belgium, and in the European countries in general, these enterprises have contributed to the development of active labour market policies, constituting today an implementation tool of such policies. The article aims to examine in what ways this institutionalization affects the objectives, the governance structures and the resources of such enterprises.