Legitimacy acquisition of social enterprise in China: a case study of Canyou initiatives

In the special institutional conditions of China, social enterprise faced unfavorable normative and regulatory environments for creating social and economic value under resource-strapped; the growth of social enterprises was essentially equal of the acquisition of legitimacy. More and more social enterprises adopted a hybrid structure including businesses, foundation and NGOs to acquire legitimacy. In this article, employing an in-depth case study, we presented our observations and conceptualization adopted by Canyou initiatives—an 18 years old establish social enterprise to acquire and nurture legitimacy through its Conglomeration in China. The findings highlight how Conglomeration helped the social enterprise to acquire legitimacy throughout three major aspects: the regulative legitimacy, the moral legitimacy and cognitive legitimacy. As an innovation of social enterprises under the external legal constraints, Conglomeration also increases the internal coordination and management performance of the organization.