The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of the third sector and mutual aid in supporting vulnerable populations through crisis response.This study asks how community resilience (mobilising resources to cope with crises) is enabled by third sector and mutual aid responses in the United Kingdom. We conducted a realist review of UK peer-reviewed and grey literature using stakeholderagreed search terms. Of 366 records identified, 55 contained sufficient explanatorydetailto develop and test programme theories. Iterative analysis refined initial propositions into three overarching theories, represented through three Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations. Findings emphasise the importance of community solidarity through shared adversity, adaptive capacity drawing on specialist knowledge, cross-sector collaboration and trust-based networks that enable rapid scaling. Collaborative roles were often temporary; without formal recognition and longer-term governance infrastructure, crisis response may remain fragile and fragmented. These theoretical models provide transferable explanations to inform crisis preparedness, adaptation planning, and resourcing of community-based responses.

TThis article explores why revolutionary social movements eventually become part of the state apparatus. Centring upon the case of the historical evolution of Scotland's social enterprise ecosystem using the lens of assemblage thinking, we reframe the ecosystem as a shifting configuration of actors, values, organizations, and policies shaping desire for social change. We demonstrate how heterogeneous coalitions redefine what counts as social enterprise, with consequences for public value. The article advances public management scholarship by problematizing a structural tension between the values of social movements: in our case autonomy and collective self-help and democratic commitments to openness and inclusivity.

Cooperatives as a democratic form of economic organization are an emerging focus in research on the social dimensions of circular economy. However, there is no international database on cooperatives and circular economy, impeding systematic analysis. Drawing on the first international database and survey of cooperatives and circular economy from 12 countries in Europe and the Americas, we explore how cooperatives embed circularity in their business models and governance, including the technology and partnership choices this involves, and how this uptake is currently facilitated. The analysis shows there to be a trend of new, usually small cooperatives that pursue circularity as a core value from inception, that tend to prefer upstream circularity strategies and that look for support from established cooperative networks. Already established, also larger cooperatives tend to explore circularity strategies both internally and by forming networks. There is potential for sectoral and intersectoral federations to facilitate circularity uptake.

How contexts shape organizational phenomena has long been a focus of management and organization studies (MOS), as has how actors influence contexts. This paper deepens this debate using a rhythm perspective, developed against the backdrop of entrepreneurship research, which has made context a priority but not fully clarified how entrepreneurial agency alters contextual conditions. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis , we argue that the everyday provides a privileged vantage point for understanding how contextual forces permeate entrepreneurship and, conversely, how they are affected by it. Specifically, we theorize that the everyday forms a diverse and shifting symphony of rhythms, and suggest that entrepreneurial agency includes the transformative capacity to shape these rhythms to create tangible value. We refine our theorizing through the example of the Brukman textile factory, an entrepreneurial squat taken over by its former workers. The vignette explores how agency is enacted through the cultivation of moments of rupture ( arrhythmia ) and moments of rhythmic harmony ( eurhythmia ). Our contribution is to develop a rhythm perspective to spark new ways of thinking about context, agency, and transformative change. While our theorizing is rooted in entrepreneurship research, we identify ways in which it can stimulate MOS more broadly.

Nonprofits are increasingly involved in collaborative governance mechanisms, on the premise that their proximity to end users and better understanding of the local contexts can lead to better policy outcomes. Although government–nonprofit relations have been theorized and explored by several studies, few studies have examined specifically collaborative governance, instead focusing on other phases of policy development or service delivery. In this article, we present a realist evaluation of data gathered from in-depth semi-structured interviews ( N = 41) and four focus groups with stakeholders involved in collaborative governance arrangements within “Strategic Public Social Partnerships” in Scotland. Our findings indicate that collaborative governance processes involving nonprofits can potentially lead to improved services through mechanisms such as the development of trust and the establishment of new learning dynamics, and when knowledgeable leadership and mutuality drive collaborations. However, this is only true if the long-term sustainability of these processes translates into the mainstreaming of both the resulting services and their underlying collaborative principles.

This research explores ways public service ecosystems developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on relationships between community-led mutual aid groups and the state. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and mobile ethnographic methods with 30 participants from the public sector and three mutual aid groups across Scotland. We show how relationships between mutual aid groups and the state - whether complementary, supplementary, or adversarial - shifted over the course of the pandemic. Our findings add nuance to understandings that presuppose mutual aid as antagonistic, highlighting ways that mutual aid groups may be brought into existing public service ecosystems.

The political work of social enterprises (SEs) is often neglected in the 'West; and is almost completely ignored in the 'Global South'. Stimulated by calls for more studies on the political work of SEs and our initial exhibiting this aspect of SEs, we conducted an inductive study of nine SEs from the Global South. We found the SEs, similar to those in the west, engage in different forms of paradoxical political work--simultaneously working outside of and with governments, while also critiquing policy. Notably, the tactics they employ tend to be more subtle and less visible to the western eye.

Social innovation is an umbrella concept that allows space for a diverse range of perspectives to co-exist. In this paper, we explore how practitioners negotiate this complexity. Conducting 19 interviews with stakeholders involved in social enterprise and social care in Scotland, we show that almost anything can be conceived of as a social innovation as defined by the European Union. The EU definition can be a useful tool for organizations to demonstrate to funders how and why they are socially innovative. However, in failing to interrogate the power dimension of social innovation, the EU definition neglects any transformative potential.

Research Summary: Critical scholars recognize a disjuncture between the problems identified by social entrepreneurs and the solutions they propose. Existing theory treats this as a problem to be rectified at the organizational level. In this essay, we widen attention to the macro-oriented systems change strategies of social entrepreneurs. We develop a dynamic typology showing how strategies are reassembled over time to stimulate or deflect desire for systems change. Deriving inspiration from Goffman, we theorize the ways that different types of systems change actor perform systems change via interaction with their environments. Drawing on illustrative cases on the boundaries of social entrepreneurship, we show how the collective action frameworks developed by systems change actors can be adapted and repurposed by their (systems) audiences: effectively turning rebellion into money. Managerial Summary: Social entrepreneurs often call for systems change to tackle wicked problems such as poverty or climate change. However, the strategies they propose for tackling these problems, such as lending money to poor people are considerably less radical. In this essay, we identify three types of systems change actor distinguished by the degree of systems change they call for. We trace their ideas over time to illustrate how strategies are mediated, and subsequently repurposed through interaction with the systems they seek to change. In conclusion, we call upon researchers and social entrepreneurs to widen their perspectives to incorporate more radical ideas and potentials for systems change, and for greater attention to be devoted to scrutinizing and protecting the integrity of systems change strategies.

This article aims to investigate the scientific literature on the management of tensions and trade-offs in hybrid organizations. These can arise from the hybrid nature of these organizations and involve diverse aspects relevant for their management. From our corpus of 16 papers, we assessed as being of 'high quality', we categorized different types of tensions and the solutions put forward to manage or mitigate those tensions. The systematic literature review is subdivided into five categories: (1) framing the question(s); (2) identifying relevant works; (3) collecting data; (4) analyzing evidence; (5) interpreting the findings. An iterative process of discussion about codes helped us to compose the final categories for analysis. Our results explain how hybrid organizations go through a constant process of balancing various logics, and how this balancing works to address issues that are both endogenous and exogenous to the organization. We identify two strategies that organizations employ to manage hybridity-decoupling logics and logic shifting-and each strategy has different effects at different levels of the institutional context. Because we focus only on the literature assessed as being of 'high quality' this inevitably leads to many excluded articles.

The dominant conception of the circular economy presents it as a politically neutral, technology-driven process of efficiency improvements and green market expansion. However, it does not consider the social embedding of circularity and thereby risks undermining the transition out of de facto linear economies. This paper begins with a critique of the dominant conception of the circular economy and its shortcomings in relation to allocation, justice, and sustainable scale. Second, the paper contributes toward theorizing an alternative, social economy-based embedding of circularity. We theorize how the social economy embeds circularity through: (1) business models reflecting the needs and interests of their stakeholders and, with them, a primacy of social value creation; (2) production and consumption based on active citizen involvement in deliberation and decision-making; (3) an approach to technology that seeks to empower technology users; and (4) the promotion of regional economies and circular value chains based on a sense of place. Our theory propositions are inspired by prior empirical research at the intersection of the circular economy and the social economy. We discuss the potential and the challenges of a social economy embedding of circularity against the background of vested interests and incumbents profiting from low circularity and unsustainability.

The contested concept of social entrepreneurship has gained particular prominence in academic literature over the last few decades. To explore how patterns of understandings relating to social entrepreneurship have emerged and shifted over time, we undertook a critical historical review focusing on the most highly cited social entrepreneurship articles in each of five time periods over the last 30 years. We identify four thematic areas—conceptualization, theoretical approaches, the search for data, and social change outcomes—characteristic of each period, allowing us to plot the terrain of social entrepreneurship scholarship over time. We show how patterns emerge across these themes over time and relate our analysis to wider developments in the field. In concluding, we discuss how the concept has been theoretically and conceptually enriched by an ability to accommodate critique.

Place-based creative programmes can help alleviate the structural and place-related problems that affect older adults' health. However, it is unclear why these programmes achieve positive outcomes, and how these may vary across contexts. This critical realist review aimed to address these gaps. We were able to evidence why these programmes may work for older people's mental, social and physical health. Place-based creative programmes impact on health because they support social relatedness, motivation, self-continuity and self-efficacy. However, the circumstances under which and for whom these programmes work remain hidden since existing studies do not report sufficiently on context. We set out some of the general aspects of context that could form the basis of minimum standards for reporting.

Recent policy focus is on the ‘non-obvious’ role of community-based organisations in tackling causes of poor health, such as social exclusion. Men’s Sheds are a type of community-based organisation offering health and wellbeing benefits to men, despite this not being the explicit reason they exist. A qualitative study was conducted in Scotland to identify sustainability challenges that impact on the ability of Sheds to become a formal healthcare service. Findings showed that a reliance on ageing and retired volunteers to undertake operational tasks and generate income to fund activities affected the ability of Sheds to sustain and develop. Further, members preferred their Sheds to remain informal and flexible to fit their specific needs. Although Sheds are recognised for their health and wellbeing benefits to men, policymakers must recognise that formalising their activities might detract from the Shed’s primary aims. This paper summarises specific policy implications and recommendations, taking into consideration tensions between the expectations placed on Sheds to expand into formal healthcare delivery, and the needs of Shed users. Highlights: Men’s Shed are known for their ability to contribute to men’s health and wellbeing. The potential of Shed to take on a formal healthcare role is questionable because of a reliance on ageing and retired volunteers and a preference to remain informal. Policymakers must recognise that although Sheds might be well placed to offer formal health care this may detract from their primary aims.

The term 'social innovation' has come to gather all manner of meanings from policymakers and politicians across the political spectrum. But while actors may unproblematically unite around a broad perspective of social innovation as bringing about (positive) social change, we rarely see evidence of a shared vision for the kind of social change that social innovation ought to bring about. Taking inspiration from methods that recognise the utopian thinking inherent in the social innovation concept, we draw upon Erik Olin Wright's concept of 'real utopias' to investigate the moral underpinnings inherent in the public statements of Ashoka, one of the most prominent social innovation actors operating in the world today. We seek to animate discussion on the moral principles that guide social innovation discourse through examining the problems that Ashoka is trying to solve through social innovation, the world they are striving to create, and the strategies they propose to realise their vision.

This article seeks to appraise the state of the art of the intellectual development of social entrepreneurship (SE) scholarship in the Greater China Region. We conducted a scoping review and critically analysed 46 peer-reviewed articles published on SE in the Greater China. Overall, we found that the Greater China SE scholarship lacks novelty and follows the similar 'style and taste' of SE research in the West. As a remedy, we propose a new framework for SE research by, among others, broadening the scope of SE, localizing theoretical lenses and concepts, and exploring new contexts.