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Do social enterprises walk the talk? Assessing microfinance performances with mission statements

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  • Roy Mersland

    (UIA - University of Agder)

  • Samuel Anokye Nyarko
  • Ariane Szafarz

Abstract

We study mission drift in social enterprises by examining whether these organizations stick to the actual mission enshrined in their mission statements. We use data from microfinance organizations (MFOs), a homogeneous group of social enterprises which have been scrutinized-and sometimes criticized-for mission drift. We focus on three publicly recognized and non-mutually-exclusive microfinance social missions identified by previous studies: poverty alleviation, women's empowerment, and rural financial inclusion. Based on hand-collected data from 199 MFOs worldwide, our results suggest strong coherence between social missions and actual practices. Hence, we argue that, with respect to MFOs' own stated social missions, mission drift is no serious concern. The trustworthiness of social mission statements makes them suitable evaluation tools for social enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Roy Mersland & Samuel Anokye Nyarko & Ariane Szafarz, 2019. "Do social enterprises walk the talk? Assessing microfinance performances with mission statements," Post-Print hal-05221025, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05221025
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2019.e00117
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05221025v1
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