IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v32y2008i4p685-700.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceived Institutional Ambiguity and the Choice of Organizational Form in Social Entrepreneurial Ventures

Author

Listed:
  • David M. Townsend
  • Timothy A. Hart

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship (SE) is emerging as a common approach to meeting social needs. However, SE founders appear to be organizing under both for–profit and nonprofit organizational forms to engage in essentially the same activities. We investigate this lack of consistency regarding the choice of organizational form by examining two possible explanations: a difference in motivational goals among social entrepreneurs or perceived ambiguity regarding trends in core dimensions of the institutional environment. Overall, we argue that founder perceptions of an ambiguous institutional environment are leading to the variance in choice of organizational form for SE ventures. Both theoretical and practical directions for future research are discussed as well.

Suggested Citation

  • David M. Townsend & Timothy A. Hart, 2008. "Perceived Institutional Ambiguity and the Choice of Organizational Form in Social Entrepreneurial Ventures," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(4), pages 685-700, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:32:y:2008:i:4:p:685-700
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2008.00248.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2008.00248.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2008.00248.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven N. Kaplan & Antoinette Schoar, 2005. "Private Equity Performance: Returns, Persistence, and Capital Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1791-1823, August.
    2. March, James G., 1988. "Variable risk preferences and adaptive aspirations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 5-24, January.
    3. Jay B. Barney, 1986. "Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(10), pages 1231-1241, October.
    4. James Austin & Howard Stevenson & Jane Wei–Skillern, 2006. "Social and Commercial Entrepreneurship: Same, Different, or Both?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(1), pages 1-22, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2021. "Unusual investor behavior under tacit and endogenous market signals," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 76-97.
    2. Rui J. P. de Figueiredo, Jr. & Evan Rawley, 2011. "Skill, Luck, and the Multiproduct Firm: Evidence from Hedge Funds," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(11), pages 1963-1978, November.
    3. Francesco Castellaneta & Maurizio Zollo, 2015. "The Dimensions of Experiential Learning in the Management of Activity Load," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 140-157, February.
    4. Nicolai J. Foss & Peter G. Klein & Lasse B. Lien & Thomas Zellweger & Todd Zenger, 2021. "Ownership competence," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 302-328, February.
    5. Ted Hayduk & Matthew Walker, 2018. "Mapping the strategic factor market for sport entrepreneurship," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 705-724, September.
    6. Francesco Castellaneta & Oliver Gottschalg, 2016. "Does ownership matter in private equity? The sources of variance in buyouts' performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 330-348, February.
    7. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    8. Brian H. Boyer & Taylor D. Nadauld & Keith P. Vorkink & Michael S. Weisbach, 2023. "Discount‐Rate Risk in Private Equity: Evidence from Secondary Market Transactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(2), pages 835-885, April.
    9. Steven J. Davis & John C. Haltiwanger & Kyle Handley & Ben Lipsius & Josh Lerner & Javier Miranda, 2021. "The economic effects of private equity buyouts," Jena Economics Research Papers 2021-013, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    10. Muhammad Farooq Islam & Ozge Can, 2024. "Integrating digital and sustainable entrepreneurship through business models: a bibliometric analysis," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    11. Robert P. Garrett Jr. & Jeffrey G. Covin, 2015. "Internal Corporate Venture Operations Independence and Performance: A Knowledge–Based Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(4), pages 763-790, July.
    12. Carolin Bock & Maximilian Schmidt, 2015. "Should I stay, or should I go? – How fund dynamics influence venture capital exit decisions," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 68-82, November.
    13. John M. de Figueiredo & Brian S. Silverman, 2017. "On the Genesis of Interfirm Relational Contracts," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(4), pages 234-245, December.
    14. Ruben Burga & Davar Rezania, 2016. "Stakeholder theory in social entrepreneurship: a descriptive case study," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, December.
    15. Kim, Jongwook & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2008. "A Strategic Theory of the Firm as a Nexus of Incomplete Contracts: A Property Rights Approach," Working Papers 08-0108, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    16. Josh Lerner & Ramana Nanda, 2020. "Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 237-261, Summer.
    17. Colombo, Massimo G. & Garrone, Paola, 1998. "Common carriers' entry into multimedia services," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 77-105, March.
    18. Claudio Vitari & Elisabetta Raguseo, 2016. "Big data value and financial performance: an empirical investigation [Digital data, dynamic capability and financial performance: an empirical investigation in the era of Big Data]," Post-Print halshs-01923271, HAL.
    19. David G. Sirmon & Michael A. Hitt, 2003. "Managing Resources: Linking Unique Resources, Management, and Wealth Creation in Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 27(4), pages 339-358, October.
    20. Nanda, Ramana & Samila, Sampsa & Sorenson, Olav, 2020. "The persistent effect of initial success: Evidence from venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 231-248.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:32:y:2008:i:4:p:685-700. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.