Hiring strategies in social enterprises

: a tool to address social and commercial objectives

Abstract

Nowadays, social enterprises are proliferating worldwide. They combine elements derived from the social and the commercial logics, thus falling into the definition of hybrid organizations. As such, they are characterized by internal tensions and conflicts, which can negatively affect their dual performance and must be addressed by social enterprises’ managers. Scholars have therefore highlighted the importance of leaders in social enterprises. They are often central to all decision-making processes, thus directly shaping the direction of the organization. Among their most delicate responsibilities, it is worth mentioning hiring: it is one of the areas where the above-mentioned tensions arise, and the leader has to manage it properly.! However, from an academic perspective, this field is yet to be explored extensively, thus offering plenty of opportunities for insightful research. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how hiring strategies can contribute to the pursuit of social and commercial objectives in social enterprises. Therefore, an inductive, qualitative study was conducted on SEED PPM, a work integration social enterprise based in Brisbane, Australia. Firstly, this research provides a detailed overview of this social enterprise and the context where it operates, to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the organization. Secondly, it provides an in-depth analysis of SEED PPM hiring strategies: it shows that they have gone through a dynamic evolution over time to meet organizational needs and guarantee commercial viability and social impact.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Tommaso Ramus (Supervisor)