Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Background/objectives: To prepare a plan for the support and management of social enterprise from the viewpoint of government and to establish a method to evaluate social enterprises for sustainability by applying Social Return on Investment (SROI). Methods/statistical analysis: The Delphi first and second surveys for the development of evaluation model for social enterprises using SROI were conducted with 50 social enterprise CEOs and experts. To produce the results of this study, the SPSS 20.0, AMOS 24 and Expert Choice 11 programs were used, and a pairwise comparison was performed to analyse the importance and priority of criteria found in the data and chosen for the present study. Findings: The results of the Delphi and AHP analyses showed that employment was the most important factor in social enterprises, with the highest share of newly hired personnel indicating so. Employment-type social enterprises have the highest priority in terms of employment, income (income increase for vulnerable workers), and community contribution (affordability of social services), whereas the social service type was the preferred option in regards to employment, community contribution, and income (income increase for the vulnerable workers). On the other hand, the mixed type’s preference was employment (newly hired personnel), income (income increase of vulnerable workers), employment (social work participants’ switch to similar work after contract expiration), and community contribution (affordability of social services). Improvements/ applications: This study makes efforts to form social capital by raising the public’s awareness of social value with efficient management through various evaluations of social enterprises and the emergence of various social enterprises. This study also emphasises the need to better understand social enterprises as a multi-scholar and multi-dimensional organisation that includes a multi-faced mechanism of social, economic, and environmental community development, away from understanding social enterprises as a specific business model.
Keywords: Social Return on Investment (SROI), Sustainable Social Enterprises, Delphi, AHP