Logic Multiplicity in Hybrid Organisations - A comparative case study on how social enterprises manage different logics in their organisational life
(2022) BUSN09 20221Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- In response to complex societal and environmental issues, a growing number of entrepreneurs decide to use the means of markets for transformative change, balancing characteristics of business with a social mission at their core and are therefore commonly termed hybrid organisations. The potential tensions arising from this balancing act can result in the organisation prioritising the market logic over their social mission, a phenomenon denoted as mission drift. In their effort to prevent this, social enterprises were found to employ a variety of coping mechanisms, depending on their organisational design, which, however, are not yet examined in depth by extant research.
To address this gap, the present qualitative study thus examines the... (More) - In response to complex societal and environmental issues, a growing number of entrepreneurs decide to use the means of markets for transformative change, balancing characteristics of business with a social mission at their core and are therefore commonly termed hybrid organisations. The potential tensions arising from this balancing act can result in the organisation prioritising the market logic over their social mission, a phenomenon denoted as mission drift. In their effort to prevent this, social enterprises were found to employ a variety of coping mechanisms, depending on their organisational design, which, however, are not yet examined in depth by extant research.
To address this gap, the present qualitative study thus examines the organisational life of hybrid organisations, how they experience logic multiplicity and how they cope with it. On the basis of a comparative case study, potential differences between an integrated and a differentiated hybrid organisation are investigated. The findings suggest that the former experiences logic conflicts more frequently and is hence exposed to a higher risk of mission drift than the latter. Building on that, we further found that while some of their coping mechanisms were similar, the integrated hybrid overall used more mechanisms in different areas of its organisational life to avoid drifting from its social mission.
The result of the study is hence an enrichment of an emerging stream of literature aiming to support social entrepreneurs in sustaining their hybridity and staying true to their social mission. Based on our findings, we encourage future research in this growing field and thus call for developing a more nuanced definition of social enterprises to distinguish more clearly between those organisations being at risk of mission drift which in turn enables the provision of tailored coping mechanisms. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9084054
- author
- Froemter, Franka LU and Kuehns, Louise Charlotte LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BUSN09 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Hybrid Organisation, Social Enterprise, Institutional Logics, Logic Multiplicity, Inter-Logic Tensions, Mission Drift
- language
- English
- id
- 9084054
- date added to LUP
- 2022-07-01 15:29:12
- date last changed
- 2022-07-01 15:29:12
@misc{9084054,
abstract = {{In response to complex societal and environmental issues, a growing number of entrepreneurs decide to use the means of markets for transformative change, balancing characteristics of business with a social mission at their core and are therefore commonly termed hybrid organisations. The potential tensions arising from this balancing act can result in the organisation prioritising the market logic over their social mission, a phenomenon denoted as mission drift. In their effort to prevent this, social enterprises were found to employ a variety of coping mechanisms, depending on their organisational design, which, however, are not yet examined in depth by extant research.
To address this gap, the present qualitative study thus examines the organisational life of hybrid organisations, how they experience logic multiplicity and how they cope with it. On the basis of a comparative case study, potential differences between an integrated and a differentiated hybrid organisation are investigated. The findings suggest that the former experiences logic conflicts more frequently and is hence exposed to a higher risk of mission drift than the latter. Building on that, we further found that while some of their coping mechanisms were similar, the integrated hybrid overall used more mechanisms in different areas of its organisational life to avoid drifting from its social mission.
The result of the study is hence an enrichment of an emerging stream of literature aiming to support social entrepreneurs in sustaining their hybridity and staying true to their social mission. Based on our findings, we encourage future research in this growing field and thus call for developing a more nuanced definition of social enterprises to distinguish more clearly between those organisations being at risk of mission drift which in turn enables the provision of tailored coping mechanisms.}},
author = {{Froemter, Franka and Kuehns, Louise Charlotte}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Logic Multiplicity in Hybrid Organisations - A comparative case study on how social enterprises manage different logics in their organisational life}},
year = {{2022}},
}