Social Entrepreneurs' Rhetorical Strategies

Journal of Management Studies, 2016

This paper explores how social entrepreneurs use rhetoric to facilitate the pervasive adoption of new, socially focused, industry practices. Our conceptualization proposes that the nature of social entrepreneurs’ rhetoric hinges on perceptions of their relationships to the industry members they seek to influence. We develop a framework that explains the effects of two cognitive structures – identity and power – on social entrepreneurs’ perceptions of industry members and, in turn, the social entrepreneurs’ rhetorical strategies for persuading the industry members to adopt new practices. Our framework specifies mechanisms through which social entrepreneurs facilitate systemic social change and, in doing so, informs theory at the intersection of social entrepreneurship, sustainable social change, and rhetoric.

This paper aims to extend the understanding of the ways in which social entrepreneurs give sense to and legitimize their work by introducing a rhetoric-orientation view of social entrepreneurship (SE). This study uses computer-aided text analysis and computational linguistics to study 191 interviews of social and business entrepreneurs. It offers validation and exploration of new concepts pertaining to the rhetoric orientations of SE. This study confirms prior untested assumptions that the rhetoric of social entrepreneurs is more other, stakeholder engagement and justification-oriented and less self-oriented than the rhetoric of business entrepreneurs. It also confirms that the rhetoric of both types of entrepreneurs is equally economically oriented. This research makes new contribution to the SE literature by introducing three new orientations, namely, solution, impact and geographical, which reflect distinctive rhetorical themes used by social entrepreneurs, and by revealing that social entrepreneurs use terms associated with other, stakeholder engagement, justification, economic, solution, impact and geographical orientations differently than business entrepreneurs

Journal of Business Ethics, 2016

Social entrepreneurship (SE) is perceived as a legitimate and innovative solution to social problems. Yet, when one looks at the literature one finds that the social problems that the SE movement seeks to address and how these problems are identified and defined are not studied. This lack of attention to the defining of social problems in SE has implications for the domain for problems do not exist unless they are recognized and defined, and those that define problems have influence on how these will eventually be addressed. Our paper presents an analysis of framing activities in SE done by the actors involved in the development and promotion of the SE movement. Our analysis reveals that these actors are concerned with creating an ecosystem to support social entrepreneurs. Critical analysis of discourses of these actors reveals a powerful mobilization discourse, one that supports social entrepreneurs as the agents of change. We also find that as the SE movement emerged at the beginning of a cycle of protest against capitalist systems, their framing of SE as system changing of these very systems therefore finds strong resonance with a wide variety of actors.

Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship

Like all entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs construct communication to persuade stakeholders to provide resources. However, unlike conventional entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs must develop a complex message that balances both business and social-good themes. Yet it is unclear precisely how such communication influences entrepreneurs’ success in acquiring resources. To address this topic, this study uses a case-based, partially-inductive design to examine the narratives communicated by social entrepreneurs. Findings reveal that entrepreneurs receiving external investment differed from unfunded entrepreneurs in their narrative tactics, characteristics, and evolution. These insights contribute to work on entrepreneurial resource acquisition and organizational narrative theory and have normative implications for practicing social entrepreneurs.

2006

The Routledge Handbook of Nonprofit Communication, 2022

The differences between social ventures, traditional for-profit businesses, and nonprofit organizations have important implications for social entrepreneurship communication. To create and scale social ventures, entrepreneurs must mobilize resources from stakeholders that span organizational, industry, and sectoral boundaries and navigate ecosystems that are more diverse than purely commercial and social purpose organizations. However, the business and socialimpact messages of social entrepreneurs, combined with hybrid organizational designs that blur business and nonprofit categories, make it difficult for stakeholders to evaluate social ventures. If social entrepreneurs cannot craft coherent and persuasive communication about their ventures, they will struggle to acquire financial, social, and human resources. This chapter provides a state-of-the-literature review that synthesizes research on social entrepreneurship communication with an emphasis on how entrepreneurs create social venture narratives to communicate with their stakeholders. The main insights from the literature are organized to create multi-stage and multi-level frameworks that explain how the content of social venture narratives influences communication practices and outcomes. The frameworks can help social entrepreneurs develop persuasive narratives and assist scholars in identifying research opportunities.

2015

2023

In this article, we trace a rising tide of criticality to highlight three waves in a sea of social entrepreneurship/social innovation (SE/SI) research. Our aim is to draw attention to counter, alternative and critical perspectives in the field and how 'dangerous' their co-option by right wing narratives is. We review what we believe to be three waves in the development of a critical research agenda undertaken by a cohort of academics who, in their loyalty to the field, have sought to unpick the underlying assumptions in the practice of, and academic reflection on, social innovation. We set out the early instrumentalist critique, in which the success and social utility of SE/SI is questioned. We secondly highlight a post-structuralist shift, in which hidden and unheard voices and perspectives are welcomed and celebrated. The third wave, for us, constitutes a dangerous threat to the SE/SI project, threatening to undermine and co-opt the first two waves, as has happened in other related fields of intellectual endeavour. We position this paper to not only engage with scholars who challenge the normative assumptions behind social innovation research, but also to draw attention to the entry of right-wing politics in post-modernist critical theory. It is not that everything in this third wave is bad, but that everything becomes unexpectedly dangerous, especially if we uncritically adopt reflexivity, naturalization and performativity as politically and morally neutral positions. Contra to Foucault, in adopting a critical realist stance, we begin to propose that 'the social', posed as an inherently 'good' thing, is an ontological reality that is knowable, albeit given that our knowledge of what is 'good' is nonetheless limited and partial. In the first Skoll World Forum (2004) some activists put up posters in the toilets of Said Business School warning delegates, 'beware social entrepreneurship: a wolf in sheep's clothes!'

Journal of Business Ethics, 2009

As capitalist economies have shifted their primary focus from providing goods and services for all, to concentrating wealth at the top echelons of societies, social entrepreneurs have been one source of recapturing the original intent of capitalism. Social entrepreneurs have combined the efficiency and effectiveness of business organizations with the social concerns of many non-profit and governmental agencies. As a result, social entrepreneurship is viewed as having significant potential for alleviating many of the social ills we now face. To accomplish this mission, however, will require expansion of social enterprises beyond their current footprints. We explore alternate methods of expansion, scaling and replication, and then examine potential catalysts which can enable social entrepreneurs to attain their goals of social improvement. The catalysts we identify are effectual logic, enhanced legitimacy through appropriate reporting metrics, and information technology. We conclude with two brief case studies that exemplify how these catalysts are currently working to enhance the effectiveness of social start-ups.

Journal of Small Business Strategy, 2014

Despite growing academic interest in social entrepreneurship, a critical challenge facing social ventures has yet to receive attention: how do social entrepreneurs communicate with their diverse groups of stakeholders? This topic is examined using an exploratory, partially-inductive study consisting of semi-structured interviews, ethnographic observation, and a critical review of the practitioner literature. The result is a framework explaining the role played by narratives and emotion in social entrepreneurship communication. The findings contribute to work on organizational narrative theory, new venture communication strategies, stakeholder evaluations of firms, and the marketing and entrepreneurship interface. Moreover, the study produces several practical implications for social entrepreneurs.