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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond box-ticking
T2 - a study of stakeholder involvement in social enterprise governance
AU - Larner, Justin
AU - Mason, Chris
N1 - This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/beyond-boxticking(4c1e7d14-d6ed-4bd4-89a9-d780cadaccec).html Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Purpose– This paper aims to present the findings from a small study of social enterprise governance in the UK, taking a case study approach to uncover the experiences of internal actors who are involved in their board-level management.Design/methodology/approach– The study took a qualitative constructionist approach, focusing on stakeholder involvement in social enterprise governance. Initial theme analysis of 14 semi-structured interviews with board or senior management representatives revealed key issues in the governance of social enterprise, which were then explored through a comparative case study of two organisations.Findings– The study found that social enterprises surveyed employed a number of mechanisms to ensure appropriate stakeholder involvement in their governance, including adopting a participatory democratic structure which involves one or more groups of stakeholders, creation of a non-executive advisory group to inform strategic direction and adopting social accounting with external auditing. The research also highlighted the potential of the community interest company legal form for UK social enterprise, particularly in developing the role of the asset-locked body in terms of providing CIC governance oversight.Research limitations/implications– This survey was limited to the North West of England; however its findings can potentially support innovation in conceptual developments internationally.Originality/value– This research contributes to the under-researched field of social enterprise governance, potentially enabling these organisations to adopt more effective governance mechanisms that appropriately manage the involvement of beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
AB - Purpose– This paper aims to present the findings from a small study of social enterprise governance in the UK, taking a case study approach to uncover the experiences of internal actors who are involved in their board-level management.Design/methodology/approach– The study took a qualitative constructionist approach, focusing on stakeholder involvement in social enterprise governance. Initial theme analysis of 14 semi-structured interviews with board or senior management representatives revealed key issues in the governance of social enterprise, which were then explored through a comparative case study of two organisations.Findings– The study found that social enterprises surveyed employed a number of mechanisms to ensure appropriate stakeholder involvement in their governance, including adopting a participatory democratic structure which involves one or more groups of stakeholders, creation of a non-executive advisory group to inform strategic direction and adopting social accounting with external auditing. The research also highlighted the potential of the community interest company legal form for UK social enterprise, particularly in developing the role of the asset-locked body in terms of providing CIC governance oversight.Research limitations/implications– This survey was limited to the North West of England; however its findings can potentially support innovation in conceptual developments internationally.Originality/value– This research contributes to the under-researched field of social enterprise governance, potentially enabling these organisations to adopt more effective governance mechanisms that appropriately manage the involvement of beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
KW - Social enterprise
KW - Governance
KW - Stakeholder
KW - Advisory group
KW - CIC
U2 - 10.1108/CG-06-2011-0050
DO - 10.1108/CG-06-2011-0050
M3 - Journal article
VL - 14
SP - 181
EP - 196
JO - Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society
JF - Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society
SN - 1472-0701
IS - 2
ER -