Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/288026 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Citation: 
[Journal:] Nonprofit Management and Leadership [ISSN:] 1542-7854 [Volume:] 33 [Issue:] 4 [Publisher:] Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [Place:] Hoboken, USA [Year:] 2023 [Pages:] 755-781
Publisher: 
Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Hoboken, USA
Abstract: 
Social enterprises follow the dual mission of achieving social aims as well as attaining financial sustainability and therefore elude easy categorization into either a non‐profit or for‐profit organization. Consequently, social enterprises might struggle with their image since external stakeholders (e.g., job applicants and customers) could hold back their support when the enterprise's dual aims seem unusual to them. Despite the importance of the image to gain stakeholder support, factors that determine how individuals perceive social enterprises are underexplored, especially in their early life stages before they have developed reputational capital and brand recognition. Following human value theory, we propose that stakeholders' self‐transcendence (“other‐oriented”) versus self‐enhancement (“self‐centered”) values explain how they evaluate social versus commercial enterprises. In a vignette study with 945 individuals, we reveal that social enterprises are more likely to attract self‐transcendent individuals whereas individuals with stronger self‐enhancement values are less likely to feel attracted to social enterprises. Moreover, our findings show that individuals' values were more strongly related to the image of social enterprises than to the image of commercial enterprises. Thus, external individuals' values lead to stronger and more contrasting reactions regarding social compared to commercial enterprises. The findings indicate that the image of social enterprises is more equivocal and distinct compared to commercial enterprises and therefore might require a different theoretical understanding and careful management as it depends on stakeholders' deep‐seated values.
Subjects: 
enterprise image
external perceptions
human value theory
self‐enhancement
self‐transcendence
social enterprises
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.