Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

From Caring Entrepreneur to Caring Enterprise: Addressing the Ethical Challenges of Scaling up Social Enterprises

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper advances the conception of social entrepreneurs as caring entrepreneurs. We argue that the care ethics of social entrepreneurs, implying the pursuit of caring goals through caring processes, can be challenged when they engage in the process of scaling up their ventures. We propose that social entrepreneurs can sustain their care ethics as the essential dimension of their venture only if they are able to build a caring enterprise. Organizational care designates the set of organizing principles that facilitate the embedding of care ethics at an organizational level, beyond the imprinting induced by social entrepreneurs’ personal ethics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, D. (2003). Mentoring others: A dispositional and motivational approach. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62(1), 134–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • André, K. (2013). The ethics of care as a determinant for stakeholder inclusion and CSR perception in business education. Society and Business Review, 8(1), 32–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Austin, J., Stevenson, H., & Wei-Skillern, J. (2006). Social and commercial entrepreneurship: same, different, or both? Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 30(1), 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Battilana, J., Pache, A. C., Sengul, M., & Model, J. (2013). Keeping a foot in both camps: understanding the determinants of social performance in hybrid organizations, Working paper.

  • Bentham, J. (1815/1983). A table of the springs of action. Oxford: Oxford University Press

  • Bhave, M. P. (1994). A process model of entrepreneurial venture creation. Journal of Business Venturing, 9, 223–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, P. N., & Chatterji, A. K. (2009). Scaling social entrepreneurial impact. California Management Review, 51(3), 114–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, P. N., & Skloot, E. (2010). Scaling social impact: New thinking. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, P. N., & Smith, B. R. (2010). Identifying the drivers of social entrepreneurial impact: Theoretical development and an exploratory empirical test of SCALERS. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 1(1), 126–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradach, J.-L. (2003). Going to scale: The challenge of replicating social programs. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2010.

  • Bradach, (2010). From scaling organizations to scaling impact. In P. N. Bloom & E. Skloot (Eds.), Scaling social impact: New thinking (pp. 29–44). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, F. N. (1999). A systematic approach to teaching ethics in business. Journal of Business Ethics, 19(3), 309–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buber, M. (2000). I and Thou. New York: Scribner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, B. K., & Dunn, C. P. (1996). Feminist ethics as moral grounding for stakeholder theory. Business Ethics Quarterly, 6(2), 133–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casson, M. (1982). The entrepreneur: An economic theory. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chell, E. (2007). Social enterprise and entrepreneurship. International Small Business Journal, 25(1), 5–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chowdhury, I., & Santos, F. (2010). Scaling social innovations: The case of Gram Vikas. In P. N. Bloom & E. Skloot (Eds.), Scaling social impact: New thinking (pp. 147–168). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dacin, P. A., Dacin, M. T., & Matear, M. (2010). Social entrepreneurship: Why we don’t need a new theory and how we move forward from here. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(3), 37–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dacin, M. T., Dacin, P. A., & Tracey, P. (2011). Social entrepreneurship: A critique and future directions. Organization Science, 22(5), 1203–1213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Datar, S. M., Epstein, M. J., & Yuthas, K. (2010). Enamored with scale: Scaling with limited impact in the microfinance industry. In P. N. Bloom & E. Skloot (Eds.), Scaling social impact: New thinking. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dees, J. G. (1998). The meaning of social entrepreneurship. Comments and suggestions contributed from the Social Entrepreneurship Funders Working Group.

  • Dees, G. J. (2001). Mobilizing resources. In G. J. Dees, J. Emerson, & P. Economy (Eds.), Enterprising nonprofits (pp. 63–102). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dees, J. G. (2007). Taking social entrepreneurship seriously. Society, 44(3), 24–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dees, J. G., Anderson, B. B., & Wei-Skillern, J. (2004). Scaling social impact. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 1(4), 24–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeMoss, M. A., & McCann, G. K. (1997). Without a care in the world: The business ethics course and its exclusion of a care perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(4), 435–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duflo, E. (2010). Lutter contre la pauvreté : Le développement humain. Paris: Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dutton, J. E., Worline, M. C., Frost, P. J., & Lilius, J. (2006). Explaining compassion organizing. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51(1), 59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebrahim, A., & Rangan, V. K. (2011). The limits of non profit impact: A contingency framework for measuring social performance, HBS Working Paper Series: p 52, Harvard Business School.

  • Elkington, J., & Hartigan, P. (2008). The power of unreasonable people: How social entrepreneurs create markets that change the world. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmanuelli, X. (2012). S’en fout la mort. Editions Les Echappés.

  • Fischer, B., & Tronto, J. (1991). Towards a feminist theory of care. In E. Abel & M. Nelson (Eds.), Circles of care: Work and identity in women’s lives. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

  • Foote, D. (2001). The question of ethical hypocrisy in human resource management in the U.K. and Irish charity sectors. Journal of Business Ethics, 34(1), 25–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler, A. (2000). NGDOs as a moment in history: Beyond aid to social entrepreneurship or civic innovation? Third World Quarterly, 21(4), 637–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. E., & Liedtka, J. (1991). Corporate social responsibility: A critical approach. Business Horizons, 34(4), 92–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French, W., & Weis, A. (2000). An ethics of care or an ethics of justice. Journal of Business Ethics, 27(1/2), 125–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaylin, W. (1976). Caring. New York: Alfred A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Boston: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, C. (1995). Hearing the difference: Theorizing connection. Hypatia, 10(2), 120–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gittell, J. H., & Douglass, A. (2012). Relational bureaucracy: Structuring reciprocal relationships into roles. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 709–733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goetz, J. L., Keltner, D., & Simon-Thomas, E. (2010). Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(3), 351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, A. M. (2012). Giving time, time after time: Work design and sustained employee participation in corporate volunteering. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 589–615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamington, M. (2006). Socializing care: Feminist ethics and public issues. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Pub.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamington, M., & Sander-Staudt, M. (2011). Applying care ethics to business (1st ed.). Berlin: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, J. D., Sapienza, H. J., & Bowie, N. E. (2009). Ethics and entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(5), 407–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt, S., & Marques, J. (2011). Empathy in leadership: Appropriate or misplaced? An empirical study on a topic that is asking for attention. Journal of Business Ethics, 105, 95–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joyner, B. E., Payne, D., & Raiborn, C. A. (2002). Building values, business ethics and corporate social responsibility into the developing organization. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 7(1), 113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, W. A. (1993). Caring for the caregivers: Patterns of organizational caregiving. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 539–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kittay, E. F. (2001). When caring is just and justice is caring: Justice and mental retardation. Public Culture, 13(3), 557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1981). The philosophy of moral development: Moral stages and the idea of justice. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolvereid, L. (1996). Organizational employment versus self-employment: Reasons for career choice intentions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 20, 23–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kopp, W. (2003). One day, all children: The unlikely triumph of Teach for America and what I learnt along the way. New York: Public Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, P. R., & Lorsch, J. W. (1967). Differentiation and integration in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 12, 1–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, T. B., & Maitlis, S. (2012). Care and possibility: Enacting an ethic of care through narrative practice. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 641–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liedtka, J. M. (1996). Feminist morality and competitive reality: A role for an ethic of care? Business Ethics Quarterly, 6(2), 179–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lilius, J. M. (2012). Recovery at work: Understanding the restorative side of “depleting” client interactions. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 569–588.

  • MacIntyre, A. C. (1984). After virtue. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madden, L. T., Duchon, D., Madden, T. M., & Plowman, D. A. (2012). Emergent organizational capacity for compassion. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 689–708.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mair, J., & Marti, I. (2006). Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight. Journal of World Business, 41(1), 36–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAllister, D. J., & Bigley, G. A. (2002). Work context and the definition of self: How organizational care influences organization-based self-esteem. The Academy of Management Journal, 45(5), 894–904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyerson, D. E., Berger, A., & Quinn, R. (2010). Playing the field: Implications of scale in the California charter school movement. In P. N. Bloom & E. Skloot (Eds.), Scaling social impact: New thinking (pp. 29–44). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, T. L., Grimes, M. G., McMullen, J. S., & Vogus, T. J. (2012). Venturing for others with heart and head: How compassion encourages social entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 616–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molinier, P., Laugier, S. & Paperman, P. (2009). Qu’est-ce que le care ?: Souci des autres, sensibilité, responsabilité. Payot.

  • Morris, M. H., Schindehutte, M., Walton, J., & Allen, J. (2002). The ethical context of entrepreneurship: Proposing and testing a developmental framework. Journal of Business Ethics, 40(4), 331–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulgan, G. (2010). Measuring social value. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 8, 38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noddings, N. (1984). Caring, a feminine approach to ethics & moral education. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noddings, N. (2002). Educating moral people: A caring alternative to character education. Williston: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ocasio, W. (1997). Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 18(S1), 187–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pache, A. C., & Chalencon, G. (2007). Changer d’échelle: Vers une typologie des stratégies d’expansion géographique des entreprises sociales. Mutualistes et Associatives (RECMA): Revue Internationale des Etudes Coopératives.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pache, A. C., & Chowdhury, I. (2012). Social entrepreneurs as institutionally embedded entrepreneurs: Toward a new model of social entrepreneurship education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(3), 494–510.

  • Pache, A. C. & Hansen, M. T. (2006). Scaling social enterprises: the case of ENVIE and ACTIF in France, INSEAD teaching case.

  • Pache, A.-C., & Santos, F. (2010). When worlds collide: The internal dynamics of organizational responses to conflicting institutional demands. Academy of Management Review, 35(3), 455–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, D. E., & Stoll, M. L. (2011). Moving toward a more caring stakeholder theory: Global business ethics in dialogue with the feminist ethics of care. Applying Care Ethics to Business, 34, 111–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paperman, P., & Laugier-Rabaté, S. (2006). Le souci des autres: Ethique et politique du Care. Paris: Editions de l’Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrini, F., Vurro, C., & Costanzo, L. A. (2010). A process-based view of social entrepreneurship: From opportunity identification to scaling-up social change in the case of San Patrignano. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 22(6), 515–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. New York, NY: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratt, M., Skoe, E., & Arnold, M. L. (2004). Care reasoning development and family socialisation patterns in later adolescence: A longitudinal analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28(2), 140–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puka, B. (2011). Taking care of business: Caring in competitive corporate structures. In M. Hamington & M. Sander-Staudt (Eds.), Applying care ethics to business (pp. 175–199). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Santos, F. M. (2012). A positive theory of social entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Ethics, 111(3), 335–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarason, S. B. (1977). Caring and compassion in clinical practice: Issues in the selection, training, and behavior of helping professionals. Northvale: Jason Aronson Incorporated.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A. (1934). The theory of economic development: An inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest and the business cycle (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sezgi, F., & Mair, J. (2010). To control or not control: a coordination perspective to scaling. In P. Bloom & E. Skloot (Eds.), Scaling social impact: New thinking (pp. 29–44). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Shane, S., Locke, E. A., & Collins, C. J. (2003). Entrepreneurial motivation. Human Resource Management Review, 13(2), 257–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. The Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simola, S. (2005). Concepts of care in organizational crisis prevention. Journal of Business Ethics, 62(4), 341–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skoe, E. E. (2010). The relationship between empathy-related constructs and care-based moral development in young adulthood. Journal of Moral Education, 39(2), 191–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skoe, E. E., Pratt, M. W., Matthews, M., & Curror, S. E. (1996). The ethic of care: Stability over time, gender differences, and correlates in mid-to late adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 11(2), 280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slote, M. A. (2007). The ethics of care and empathy. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stievenart, E., Pache, A.C.(2013) Evaluer l’impact social d’une entreprise sociale : points de repères, working paper, ESSEC Business School

  • Stinchcombe, A. (1965). Social structure and organizations. In J. G. March (Ed.), The handbook of organizations. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tracey, P., & Phillips, N. (2007). The distinctive challenge of educating social entrepreneurs: A postscript and rejoinder to the special issue on entrepreneurship education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 6(2), 264–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tronto, J. C. (1993). Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care. London: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trougakos, J. P., & Hideg, I. (2009). Momentary work recovery: The role of within-day work breaks. In S. Sonnentag, P. L. Perrewe, & D. C. Ganster (Eds.), Current perspectives in job-stress recovery (pp. 37–84). Bingley: Emerald Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ucbasaran, D., Westhead, P., & Wright, M. (2001). The focus of entrepreneurial research: Contextual and process issues. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 25(4), 57–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valéau, P. (2003). Différentes manières de gérer les associations. Revue Française de Gestion, 29(146), 9–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. (1997). The theory of social and economic organization. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wei-Skillern, J. & Battle Anderson, B. “Social Enterprise Series no. 27: Nonprofit Geographic Expansion: Branches, Affiliates, or Both?” Harvard Business School Working Paper Series, No. 04-011, 2003.

  • Wicks, A. C., Gilbert, D. R., & Freeman, R. E. (1994). A feminist reinterpretation of the stakeholder concept. Business Ethics Quarterly, 4(4), 475–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahra, S. A., Gedajlovic, E., Neubaum, D. O., & Shulman, J. M. (2009). A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(5), 519–532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ESSEC Business School, Avenue Bernard Hirsch, 95000, Cergy-Pontoise, France

    Kevin André & Anne-Claire Pache

Authors
  1. Kevin André
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anne-Claire Pache
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kevin André.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

André, K., Pache, AC. From Caring Entrepreneur to Caring Enterprise: Addressing the Ethical Challenges of Scaling up Social Enterprises. J Bus Ethics 133, 659–675 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2445-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2445-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation