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Understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium-sized social enterprises

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2024

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Main Author: Osembo, Simiyu Emmanuel
Other Authors: Myres, Kerrin
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author Osembo, Simiyu Emmanuel
author2 Myres, Kerrin
author_browse Myres, Kerrin
Osembo, Simiyu Emmanuel
author_facet Myres, Kerrin
Osembo, Simiyu Emmanuel
author_sort Osembo, Simiyu Emmanuel
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2024
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/95047
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:13.301Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/95047 Understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium-sized social enterprises Osembo, Simiyu Emmanuel Myres, Kerrin Jankelowitz, Lauren Art of practicing Community embeddedness Dynamic artefacts Small and Medium-sized Social Enterprises Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2024 The ability to manage internal tensions arising from the need to safeguard social mission amidst multiple stakeholder mandates is an important issue for social enterprise research and practice because of the potential to de-rail social enterprises’ effective functioning. This is especially so for small and medium-sized social enterprises (SMSEs) existing in resource-constrained environments. Extant social enterprise literature suggests that organisations’ failure to balance tensions informed by incompatible dual social-commercial logics results in mission drift. Recent literature further acknowledges the complexities of balancing multiple tensions as organisations attempt to align multiple external mandates and core social mission, in the quest to continuously explore and exploit opportunities. Besides, the literature does not describe how practices and routine activities in SMSEs enable the simultaneous alignment of mission and multiple mandates. To bridge this gap, the study investigates how SMSEs in resource-constrained environments simultaneously align multiple mandates and mission. Using a qualitative case study approach, the study examines five identified South African SMSEs using purposive homogenous sampling to understand how they fulfil multiple mandates while safeguarding their missions. The context was chosen due to SMSEs increasingly pursuing multiple funding arrangements. The findings highlight the significance of leveraging community embeddedness, mission agility, and the proactive use of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to balance mission and mandates. These elements anchor the ‘art of practising’ actions and ‘dynamic artefacts’ within SMSEs' activities to ensure simultaneous ambidexterity. The study contributes to the social enterprise literature by introducing a framework for simultaneous internal−external practising that enables SMSEs to align multiple mandates with their mission. It also extends ambidexterity beyond ‘dual’ explore−exploit decisions to the simultaneous management of competing multiple goals at a micro-level, showing how SMSEs' art of practicing and dynamic artefacts facilitate this balance pagibs2024 2024-03-04T08:00:18Z 2024-03-04T08:00:18Z 2023 2023-10-23 Dissertation * A2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/95047 en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Art of practicing
Community embeddedness
Dynamic artefacts
Small and Medium-sized Social Enterprises
Osembo, Simiyu Emmanuel
Understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium-sized social enterprises
title Understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium-sized social enterprises
title_full Understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium-sized social enterprises
title_fullStr Understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium-sized social enterprises
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium-sized social enterprises
title_short Understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium-sized social enterprises
title_sort understanding the management of internal tensions between mandates and mission in small and medium sized social enterprises
topic Art of practicing
Community embeddedness
Dynamic artefacts
Small and Medium-sized Social Enterprises
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/95047
work_keys_str_mv AT osembosimiyuemmanuel understandingthemanagementofinternaltensionsbetweenmandatesandmissioninsmallandmediumsizedsocialenterprises