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Data Envelopment Analysis and Social Enterprises: Analysing Performance, Strategic Orientation and Mission Drift

Author

Listed:
  • Matthias Staessens
  • Pieter Jan Kerstens
  • Johan Bruneel

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Laurens Cherchye

    (Center for Economic Studies - UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain)

Abstract

This study endorses the use of data envelopment analysis, which uses benefit-of-the-doubt weighting to evaluate the social, economic and overall performance of social enterprises. This methodology is especially useful for creating composite indicators based on multiple outputs expressed in different measurement units, and allows for enterprise-specific weighting of the different objectives. Applying this methodology on a unique longitudinal dataset of Flemish sheltered workshops suggests that social enterprises may face different types of mission drift. Further, our results show that top-performing social enterprises are more economically and socially efficient than low performers. These top performers also have a stronger economic orientation, which sheds new light on the balance between social and economic orientations in social enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Staessens & Pieter Jan Kerstens & Johan Bruneel & Laurens Cherchye, 2018. "Data Envelopment Analysis and Social Enterprises: Analysing Performance, Strategic Orientation and Mission Drift," Post-Print hal-02111502, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02111502
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-4046-4
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    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Esposito & Spiridione Lucio Dicorato & Emanuele Doronzo, 2021. "The effect of ownership on sustainable development and environmental policy in urban waste management: An explicatory empirical analysis of Italian municipal corporations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1067-1079, February.
    2. Theodor Vladasel & Simon C. Parker & Randolph Sloof & Mirjam van Praag, 2024. "Revenue drift, incentives, and effort allocation in social enterprises," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 630-651, August.
    3. Carlos Serrano-Cinca & Yolanda Fuertes-Callén & Beatriz Cuellar-Fernández, 2021. "Managing for Stakeholders Using Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 581-601, September.
    4. Wai Wai Ko & Gordon Liu, 2021. "The Transformation from Traditional Nonprofit Organizations to Social Enterprises: An Institutional Entrepreneurship Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 15-32, June.
    5. Reeti Kulshrestha & Arunaditya Sahay & Subhanjan Sengupta, 2022. "Constituents and Drivers of Mission Engagement for Social Enterprise Sustainability: A Systematic Review," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 31(1), pages 90-120, March.
    6. Guillermo Casasnovas & Jessica Jones, 2022. "Who Has a Seat at the Table in Impact Investing? Addressing Inequality by Giving Voice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 951-969, September.
    7. Magdalena Kapelko & Lidia Ortiz & Juan Aparicio, 2025. "Comparing groups of units through composite indicators in a non-convex approach: corporate social responsibility for the food and beverage manufacturing industry," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 351(2), pages 1427-1450, August.
    8. Jozef Cossey & Adrien Billiet & Frédéric Dufays & Johan Bruneel, 2025. "How Do Institutional Prescriptions (Fail to) Address Governance Challenges Under Institutional Hybridity? The Case of Governance Code Creation for Cooperative Enterprises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 196(2), pages 451-470, January.
    9. Ratinho, Tiago & Bruneel, Johan, 2024. "Taking stock of research on hybrid organizations: Enriching theoretical perspectives, extending empirical contexts, and expanding practical relevance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    10. Chao Shi & Kenneth C. Land, 2021. "The Data Envelopment Analysis and Equal Weights/Minimax Methods of Composite Social Indicator Construction: a Methodological Study of Data Sensitivity and Robustness," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1689-1716, August.
    11. Ben Lahouel, Béchir & Ben Zaied, Younes & Taleb, Lotfi & Kočišová, Kristína, 2022. "The assessment of socio-environmental performance change: A Benefit of the Doubt indicator based on Directional Distance Function and Malmquist productivity index," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    12. Argiolas, Alessia & Rawhouser, Hans & Sydow, Alisa, 2024. "Social entrepreneurs concerned about Impact Drift. Evidence from contexts of persistent and pervasive need," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).
    13. José Manuel Maside-Sanfiz & María-Celia López-Penabad & Ana Iglesias-Casal & Juan Torrelles Manent, 2024. "Determinants of the profitability of Sheltered Workshops: efficiency and effects of the COVID-19 crisis," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Xiao-Min Yu & Ke Chen & Jin-Tong Liu, 2022. "Exploring How Organizational Capabilities Contribute to the Performance of Social Enterprises: Insights from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, April.
    15. Douglas, Evan J. & Shepherd, Dean A. & Venugopal, Vidhula, 2021. "A multi-motivational general model of entrepreneurial intention," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    16. Anokhin, Sergey & Eggers, Fabian & Kretinin, Andrey, 2025. "Reputation, dynamic capabilities, and the global footprint of corporate venture capital programs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(2).
    17. José Antonio, Palomero-González & Vicent, Almenar-Llongo & Ramón, Fuentes-Pascual, 2022. "A composite indicator index as a proxy for measuring the quality of water supply as perceived by users for urban water services," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    18. A. Blanco-Oliver & A. Irimia-Diéguez, 2021. "Impact of outreach on financial performance of microfinance institutions: a moderated mediation model of productivity, loan portfolio quality, and profit status," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 633-668, April.
    19. Paolo Esposito & Emanuele Doronzo & Spiridione Lucio Dicorato, 2023. "The financial and green effects of cultural values on mission drifts in European social enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 1-29, January.
    20. María-Celia López-Penabad & José Manuel Maside-Sanfiz & Juan Torrelles Manent & Ana Iglesias-Casal, 2020. "Application of the DEA Double Bootstrap to Analyze Efficiency in Galician Sheltered Workshops," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-21, August.
    21. De Beule, Filip & Klein, Martin & Verwaal, Ernst, 2020. "Institutional quality and inclusive strategies at the base of the pyramid," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(5).
    22. Kautonen, Teemu & Schillebeeckx, Simon J.D. & Gartner, Johannes & Hakala, Henri & Salmela-Aro, Katariina & Snellman, Kirsi, 2020. "The dark side of sustainability orientation for SME performance," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    23. María-Celia López-Penabad & José Manuel Maside-Sanfiz & Juan Torrelles-Manent & Carmen López-Andión, 2021. "Performance Evaluation of Sheltered Workshops. Does Legal Status Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, January.

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