Perception of Competition Among Social Enterprises

Abstract

This paper examines how social enterprises – organizations that use marketplaces to create both social and economic value – compete with one another and how they perceive of other social enterprises. I conducted a study in which I interviewed key executives of social enterprises in the second-hand textile marketplaces within North America and examined their perceptions of rivalry. My findings suggest that social enterprises categorized and developed mental models for how they perceived rivalry with other social enterprises. Specifically, the categorization of the type of social value that another social enterprise creates, and a subsequent identity comparison and orientation, led to different rivalrous responses: compassionate, marketplace, and ideological. My study builds upon perceptions of rivalry and examines a growing form of organizing: social enterprises.