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Organisational Identity of Social Enterprises: A Taxonomic Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Liliana Ávila Open the ORCID record for Liliana Ávila [Opens in a new window]  and
Marlene Amorim
Liliana Ávila*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Marlene Amorim*
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP) and Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
*
liliana.avila@ua.pt
mamorim@ua.pt
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Abstract

This paper describes an exploratory study aiming to investigate the existence of distinct groups of social enterprises according to organisational identity dimensions. A taxonomy was developed with a two-step cluster analysis based on the importance attached to both social and market identity by 111 social enterprises acting in Portugal. ANOVA and Chi-square analyses were employed to investigate differences between groups. The taxonomy provides a parsimonious description of four groups of social enterprises and suggests the existence of a trade-off between the involvement and participation of clients/beneficiaries and the geographical scope. The combination of high levels of social identity and market identity is associated with more satisfactory levels of social and financial performance. However, giving prevalence to the social or the market identity seems to lead to lower levels of financial and social performance, respectively.

Keywords

Social enterprisesTaxonomyOrganisational identityMissionPerformance

Information

Type
Research Papers
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 13 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © International Society for Third-Sector Research 2020

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