Dynamic and Marketing Capabilities as Predictors of Social Enterprises’ Performance

Erica Kim Man Lee, Yanto Chandra*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Social enterprises (SEs) have an increasingly important role in developing more equitable societies worldwide. The capabilities of SEs are an important driver of their performance, but research in this area is still emerging, and the link between capabilities and performance has yet to be examined. By drawing on the dynamic capabilities perspective, it is suggested in this study that absorptive capacity—an organization’s ability to absorb, assimilate, and apply knowledge—affects a SE’s performance indirectly via its marketing capabilities. Using data from Hong Kong and Taiwanese social enterprises (n = 109), a set of hypotheses related to the capabilities–performance linkage were tested. The results show that the marketing capabilities of SEs mediated the relationship between absorptive capacity and financial performance. However, absorptive capacity was not associated with improved social performance via marketing capabilities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings and directions for future research.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)587–600
Number of pages14
JournalVoluntas
Volume31
Issue number3
Early online date3 Sept 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2020

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Business and International Management
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Public Administration
  • Strategy and Management

User-Defined Keywords

  • Absorptive capacity
  • Financial performance
  • Marketing capabilities
  • Social enterprises
  • Social performance

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Dynamic and Marketing Capabilities as Predictors of Social Enterprises’ Performance'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this