Employee Motivation in Social Enterprises: Tackling the Dual Mission Dilemma

Abstract

Social enterprises are on a dual mission of creating social value and achieving profitability. This combination of non-profit and for-profit identities within a single entity creates tensions and dilemmas at the organizational level. Tensions may emerge across various domains and the enterprise may, over time, lose focus on the initial social mission in search of increased revenues. Social enterprise management, thus, being at an institutional crossroads, face significant challenges to sustain focus on both the objectives and counter pressure to compromise on social mission. As a result, managers need to devise business models and policies appropriate for this unique context and ensure the continuous involvement of employees with the dual goals of the organization. Employees of social enterprises are to be motivated with the right incentive schemes, the design of which is consistent with the competing objectives, viz., social mission and commercial success. This paper aims to explore and critically examine the mechanisms management use to motivate employees to simultaneously achieve both the objectives by effectively dealing with the dual mission dilemma. An archival research followed by an in-depth best practice case study is proposed to meet the research objectives.