Citation

Doherty, B. (2016), "", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 2-3. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-02-2016-0005

I am delighted to introduce to you the Social Enterprise Journal’s first edition of 2016 published by Emerald publishers. First, I would like to thank the journal board, the selected reviewers and, of course, the authors for the papers enclosed.

Now to the papers for this issue of SEJ. The first paper by Peter Jenner (University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia) supports prior research, identifying resourcing, organisational capabilities, collaborative networks and legitimacy as influential in the success of social enterprises. However, the research contributes new knowledge by revealing an overarching growth orientation as the dominant factor in the strategic management for the sustainability of social enterprise. This growth orientation is generally associated with the intent to achieve profitability. Thus, social enterprise managers view a commercially focused growth orientation as an overarching strategic factor that underpins organisational sustainability. The second paper by Robbe Geysmans (Ghent University, Belgium) aims to provide a detailed account of the evolution of the fair trade discourse of a Belgian fair trade organisation, with a specific focus on the changes in the combination of the organisation’s trade and social (movement) dimensions over four different periods.

The third paper of this issue is co-authored by Debbie Haski-Leventhal and Ms Akriti Mehra (Macquarie University – Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australia) and aims to extend existing research on impact measurement (IM) in social enterprises by capturing, comparing and contrasting perceptions of IM in social enterprises in both Australia and India. Signalling theory is used to depict how some social enterprises use IM to signal quality to their stakeholders and how information asymmetry can be reduced by measuring and reporting on IM. The fourth paper is an excellent review paper by Rasheda L. Weaver (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) to introduce social enterprise self-employment programs (SEPs) as a two-dimensional human capital investment strategy that can potentially advance economic development. The final paper is by Giovanni Maria Mazzanti, Giulio Ecchia and Tamami Komatsu (School of Economics, Management and Statistics, University of Bologna, Italy); the purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of the third sector in the reuse of confiscated assets as important tools for promoting a sustainable and fair economy.

I would also like to bring your attention to the 8th International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC) in Glasgow, UK, September 2016 (5th-7th September) titled, “Social Innovation in the 21st century: Beyond Welfare Capitalism?” ISIRC is the world’s leading interdisciplinary social innovation research conference. The conference brings together scholars from across the globe to discuss social innovation from a variety of perspectives. ISIRC 2016 will be hosted by The Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University (www.isircconference2016.com/). The International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC) is an open conference that brings together scholars (established and emerging) and leading practitioners from around the globe to discuss the role of innovation in social enterprise, social movements, not-for-profits, state actors and the broader social economy. This is an interdisciplinary conference with conference streams in: health and well-being, regional and geographical aspects, growth and scaling, social investment, politics and ethics, science and technology, food poverty and security (food banks, etc.), housing, critical theory and hybridity and governance, international trade and environmental innovation and economic underpinnings of social innovation. Keynote speakers will include Taco Brandsen’s (Professor of Public Administration at Radboud University Nijmegen and Editor of the journal Voluntas), Pascal Dey (Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Business Ethics, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland), Alex Nicholls (Professor of Social Entrepreneurship within the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford), Ana Maria Peredo (Director of the Centre for Co-operative and Community-Based Economy and Professor of Sustainable Entrepreneurship and International Business at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business), Ute Stephan [Professor at Aston Business School and the Director of the Aston Centre for Research into International Entrepreneurship and Business (ACRIEB)] and, finally, Rafael Ziegler (Head of research of GETIDOS).