Social enterprise growth and development in South Korea: a qualitative study of hybridity across macro, meso, micro levels

Park, Ji Won (2024). Social enterprise growth and development in South Korea: a qualitative study of hybridity across macro, meso, micro levels. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Around the world, social enterprises have been increasingly recognised for their roles in dealing with social issues. In South Korea, social enterprises play a crucial role in the social service delivery, especially in the creation of employment opportunities. The number of social enterprises has been increasing rapidly; however, the nature of the growth and forces behind it must be carefully examined to enable them to be sustainable and function successfully.
The social enterprise has rarely been discussed from the perspective of multiple-level hybrid dynamics. However, hybridity makes social enterprises into a ‘political arena’ of conflicting logics inside at the micro-level, makes social enterprises interact with heterogeneous actors at the meso-level by attracting organisations from different sectors, and puts the social enterprises under the influence of macro-level forces that want to utilise those organisations for different purposes. In this sense, the development of social enterprises would best be understood by taking the perspective of multiple-level hybrid dynamics.
Thus, this research aims to deepen the understanding of how social enterprises are shaped, survive and develop from the perspective of multiple-level hybrid dynamics. The overarching question of the study is ‘how do the macro-, meso- and micro-levels of hybridity-related dynamics shape the development of social enterprises in Korea?’ Under this question, answers for the three sub-questions of ‘how does the political, ideological, and socio-economic environment shape the development of social enterprises in Korea?’, ‘how do meso-level inter-organisational relationships shape the development of social enterprises in Korea?’ and ‘how do micro-level inner-organisational dynamics shape the development of social enterprises in Korea?’ are explored.
To do so, this thesis provides an original contribution to the field through the development of a theoretical framework of social enterprise hybridity-related dynamics, based on a comprehensive and holistic multiple (macro-meso-micro) level approach. With this framework, the study explores each level of dynamics through empirical qualitative case study research involving interviews with social entrepreneurs, policymakers and support agents. The study presents how the dynamics of macro-level factors such as economic, political and social forces form the social enterprise sector, how meso-level inter-organisational relationships are related to the resource attainability of social enterprises, and how inner-organisational micro-level dynamics influence individual social enterprises’ management.
As a result of the analysis, the study answers the research questions on each level of dynamics and the overarching question. At the macro-level, the economic, political, and social forces and discourses have had social enterprises contribute to the economy by hiring vulnerable people, counterbalance market and state failure by providing needed social services and solving social problems, and promote democracy by bringing about societal change. These dynamics have intervened in the construction of the social enterprise sector as well as the environment for social enterprises that is the domain of meso-level dynamics. Further, the macro-level political dynamics has influenced micro-level dynamics by encouraging individuals to favour certain values.
At the meso-level, social enterprises interact with other actors including the central government, local governments, KoSEA, local support agencies, private companies, and third-sector organisations to secure necessary resources. Social enterprises face institutional pressures in the relationships and deploy strategies such as isomorphism, impression management, resource diversification, cooperation, and networking to enhance their stable resource-achievability. The meso-level dynamics are under the influence of macro-level dynamics that influence the actors around the social economy sector, and also have impacts on the micro-level inner-organisational dynamics of a social enterprise by forming the conditions such as the resource-richness inside and outside the organisation that should be considered when making decisions. The strategies adopted for meso-level relationships often include the inseparable effects on the goals and structures of social enterprises.
At the micro-level, hybrid tensions and dynamics are observed and dealt with around founding motivations and aims, dual goals, diversification, internal standardisation, decision-making, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB), Public Service Motivation (PSM), internal motivation, and management of organisational culture.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):