Creativity in Context: Update to "The Social Psychology of Creativity"

Previous research highlights the tensions that social hybrids face by spanning categories. This paper explores the emergence of legislation to support a new category for social hybrids, focusing on Benefit Corporation legislation in the United States. We present quantitative analysis of the state-level factors that make a state suitable for a social hybrid category (attractiveness for for-profit business and non-profits, existing social hybrid organizations, legislative intensity, political leanings) followed by qualitative analysis of the arguments marshaled for the creation of the Benefit Corporation legal form. Our findings raise important insights for research on social hybrids and suggest a range of practical implications.

Benefit Corporation Legislation and the Emergence of a Social Hybrid Category

\"\"The Limits of Liberty\" is concerned mainly with two topics. One is an attempt to construct a new contractarian theory of the state, and the other deals with its legitimate limits. The latter is a matter of great practical importance and is of no small significance from the standpoint of political philosophy.\"-Scott Gordon, \"Journal of Political Economy\" James Buchanan offers a strikingly innovative approach to a pervasive problem of social philosophy. The problem is one of the classic paradoxes concerning man's freedom in society: in order to protect individual freedom, the state must restrict each person's right to act. Employing the techniques of modern economic analysis, Professor Buchanan reveals the conceptual basis of an individual's social rights by examining the evolution and development of these rights out of presocial conditions.

The Limits of Liberty. Between Anarchy and Leviathan.

A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective citizen initiatives arising in response to hard economic times, such as solidarity-based exchanges and networks, cooperative structures, barter clubs, credit unions, ethical banks, time banks, alternative social currency, citizens' self-help groups, neighbourhood assemblies and social enterprises. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, scholarly attention on novel, alternative, resilient structures has increased, especially in regions that have been most affected. A comprehensive literature review is therefore needed on these initiatives which usually aim to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, health and education at the community level, or build and envision autonomous communities. This paper has four aims. First, it proposes a new, all-encompassing conceptual framework, alternative forms of resilience, to embrace all issues and groups related to such initiatives, during the new millennium and its economic and political challenges, while taking into account the impact of the 2008 crisis. Secondly, it offers a comprehensive literature review on collective citizen initiatives studied through different theoretical, methodological and conceptual understandings. Thirdly, it provides a new typology of several approaches on novel, collective and solidarity-oriented critical resilience initiatives which take into account political issues, be they policy or social-movement related. Finally, it points to future research areas which would aim to systematically address the political and non-political features of citizen-collective responses.

Alternative forms of resilience: a typology of approaches for the study of citizen collective responses in hard economic times

This research investigates collective social entrepreneurship as a collaborative strategy to reduce poverty in Nigeria. The Nigerian government, particularly since the structural adjustment programme of mid 1980s, have put in place policies and programmes aimed at entrepreneurship development, as a means of employment generation, poverty alleviation and rapid economic development, it seems as if all the strategies applied in the past to fight poverty have proved ineffective. Collective social entrepreneurship (CSE) is useful for the part it plays in the process of capital accumulation, innovation and poverty reduction.

Collective Social Entrepreneurship as a Collaborative Strategy to Reduce Poverty in Nigeria

Although scholars of the nonprofit sector have looked at the theoretical implications of social enterprises (SEs), more details and clarification are desirable. In particular, most previous theoret...

Unconditional Reciprocity and the Case of Italian Social Cooperatives

The last few years witnessed theoretical and practical contributions to the field of social innovation and social enterprise. However, analysis of the interplay between these two different realms is still limited. This article aims to fill some gaps in this respect. We deal with historical reconstruction of the concept of Social Enterprise and Social Innovation, and their conceptual premises. We consider the process of creation of social innovation in social enterprises. As members’ motivations, ownership rights and governance rules in social enterprises create a new relational context and new routines, which are germane to the production of social knowledge and deliberation, social innovation can be considered one of the main outcomes of this setting. Social motivations, collective action of a cooperative kind, multi‐stakeholder governance and socialization of resources, and their interplay are singled out as main drivers of innovation. Social innovation is seen as akin to novelty in social interaction, a non‐standardized and non‐standardizable outcome of the operation of this organizational form.

Why are social enterprises good candidates for social innovation? Looking for personal and institutional drivers of innovation

Italian social enterprises are not a new topic in literature. Several aspects e.g. theoretical frameworks, quality of work and job satisfaction, networking strategies, and the impact of the recent financial crisis, have been studied from many different perspectives in the last twenty years. Most of these contributions focus in particular on social cooperatives, as the most representative legal form of social enterprise in Italy. Therefore, the idea that has been spreading in literature and among scholars is that social cooperatives are the only example of social enterprise existing in Italy. Conversely, in recent years, new forms of non-profit organizations, that were traditionally based on volunteer and donor support, have started to operate as social enterprises, employing people and running commercial activities. 
This article, which is one of a very few works that explore this topic, is intended to answer the following research questions: “How many different types of SEs are there in Italy?”; “How many SEs of each type are there?”; “In what ways and to what extent do they differ from each other?”.

Social Enterprise in Italy: Typology, Diffusion and Characteristics

The purpose of this paper is to explore how bonding (i.e. tightly knit, emotionally close social relationships) and bridging social capital (i.e. outward looking open social relationships) affect opportunity recognition and innovation implementation in a cultural network of firms, investigating the main benefits of and drawbacks to both bonding and bridging social capital.,The paper is based on a case study of a cultural network of firms which share the same norms, principles and values. The method adopted is content analysis of qualitative data.,The authors find that in cultural network bridging social capital facilitates experimentation and combination of ideas from distant sources, while bonding social capital, which underpins the need for more conformity, is more effective for supporting innovation implementation. Innovation results from the interplay between the two dimensions of social capital, and each dimension contributes to the final outcome in a distinct and unique way.,There are some limitations which arise from the case study methodology; the limited set of industries analysed affects the generalizability of the findings.,The research has some practical implications for firms that belong to cultural networks. It offers suggestions about how to manage social relationships in different stages of the innovation process.,The authors examine the effects of bonding and bridging social capital on innovation in a cultural network of firms. The authors show that in a cultural network, different moments in the innovation process require different efforts related to the firm’s network relationships.

How social capital affects innovation in a cultural network: Exploring the role of bonding and bridging social capital

Abstract This article aims at delivering new theoretical interpretation and quantitative evidence concerning the emergence and development of social enterprises (SEs) in Italy. Where the former is concerned the article seeks to provide the core features necessary to identify when an organization can be defined as a SE. In particular, the analysis retraces the steps back to the intersection between “classical” studies on entrepreneurial non-profit organizations and the more recent literature on entrepreneurial action and social responsibility for the business enterprise. The institutional and quantitative analysis then focuses on the development of SEs in Italy, discussing the institutional evolution of the new legal forms, and the principal area of activity of SEs in Italy. This country represents a key player in the evolution of SEs as it pioneered legislation and practice in Europe and the emerging new frontier for modeling different types of SEs.

Simone Poledrini

Papers

Unconditional Reciprocity and the Case of Italian Social Cooperatives

Why are social enterprises good candidates for social innovation? Looking for personal and institutional drivers of innovation

Social Enterprise in Italy: Typology, Diffusion and Characteristics

How social capital affects innovation in a cultural network: Exploring the role of bonding and bridging social capital

Social Enterprises: Evolution of the Organizational Model and Application to the Italian Case