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“Demonstrating” the legitimacy of social enterprise: the role of impression

management in resource acquisition

Simon Teasdale, Third Sector Research Centre s.teasdale@tsrc.ac.uk

Theoretical background

• Institutional theory• The legitimacy paradox

– How can social enterprises accessing start up funding from a variety of resource holders negotiate multiple and conflicting demands?

• Goffman and impression management (IM)• The role of IM in resource acquisition by social

enterprises

Forms of social enterprise

Social Business

Non-profit Enterprise

Community Business

Community Enterprise

SocialEconomic

Collective

Individualistic

Introducing the case

Refugee Support Network

National Arts

Local Arts

Community Group Network

The multi-faceted social enterprise

Ahmed

Laura

Jasmine

GTP within its institutional environment

Ahmed

Laura

Jasmine

National Arts

Refugee Support Network

Local ArtsCommunity Group Network

OIM revisitedFind out about the

resource holder and their

expectations

Meet with resource holder. Use symbolic management

to demonstrate that the organization meets their

goals / values

Listen to response, adjust impression

presented as necessary

Obtain resources

Feed back to resource holder

FindingsP1. The front facing social enterprise differs from the backstage

organisationP2. Social enterprises are multifaceted; they are seen, used and

portrayed in different ways by different internal stakeholders.P3. Social entrepreneurs can exhibit multiple impressions to different

external stakeholders in order to acquire resources P4. Resource holders co-construct the impressions presented by the

social entrepreneurP5. Each resource holder has a strategic interest in the social enterprise

being portrayed in a certain way.P6. Social entrepreneurs can use OIM to resist coercive isomorphic

pressureP7. Social entrepreneurs can use present different organisational

impressions to different stakeholders to negotiate multiple and conflicting demands.

Contribution to the literature(Ceteris Paribus)• The greater the number of external audiences an

organization must satisfy, the greater the potential role of multiple impression management.

• The more homogenous the expectations of the different audiences are, the stronger the likelihood of being able to convey a single strategic impression.

• The more powerful the audience (relative to the actor) the more likely that the actor will attempt to convey the impression of conforming to what the audience expects.