Social entrepreneurs as institutional entrepreneurs: evidence from a comparative case study

Purpose This study aims to illuminate the field conditions under which social entrepreneurship can become institutionalized and transform the existing institutional fields. Design/methodology/approach A comparative case study was conducted among three social enterprises, within different regional institutional fields, following a most different systems design: OTELO, in Muhlviertel, ADC MOURA, in Baixo Alentejo and STEVIA HELLAS in Phthiotis. Findings The results indicate some of the field conditions under which an institutionalization of social entrepreneurship can thrive, namely, a high civil approval, a highly institutionalized and decentralized institutional field that allows the social enterprise to remain autonomous, as well the anchoring of the venture to a pre-existing counter-hegemonic narrative or/and to an embedded network that drives the dissemination a new institutional logic forward. Research limitations/implications The institutionalization of the voluntary collective action that social entrepreneurship embodies has significant limitations. The same is true for innovation, which tends to lose its innovative spirit as it becomes institutionalized. Future research has to explore if institutionalized social entrepreneurship can maintain a voluntary perspective and an innovative drift. Originality/value Most studies on institutional entrepreneurship deploy in-depth case studies while multi-case comparative research remains rare. The current comparative study adds significantly to the understanding of institutional entrepreneurship, as it compares different degrees of institutionalization and successful institutional entrepreneurs to non-successful ones.