Leadership Responses of Community-based Social Enterprise to Sustainability Challenges: Case study in China and Japan

• In Event: Nonprofit Governance, leadership and strategies

Abstract

The purpose of our study aims to explore the leadership respons--a micro perspective of Community-based Social Enterprise (CBSE) towards the sustainability issues, we attach importance to leadership dynamics such as vision setting, decision-making, resilience, adaptability, etc. In the field of Community-based Social Enterprise (CBSE), sustainability evokes increasing attention from practitioner to scholar. Concerns were raised that since CBSE acts in adverse and complex environment (Koichi, 2022), the sustainability of CBSE is subject to multiple challenges, such as resources shortage, accountability issues, weak social networking, over-dependence on benefits or public subsidy (Darby and Jenkins, 2006; Wallace, 2005), etc.
As the remedy to these issues, previous research unpacked, 1) management and governance strategy towards the sustainability-related issues of Social Enterprise (SE) (Sabella and Eid, 2016; Kleinhans, et al., 2020; Kamaludin et al., 2021), 2) the role of specialist intermediary organization and public actor in enhancing the sustainability of SE (Ho and Yoon, 2022; Hua, 2021; Kudo, 2013). Whereas, research on CBSE sustainability is insufficient, the importance of community ecosystem to SE has not been well interrogated and emphasized. Besides, micro level study, for instance, leadership syste--a decisive factor in CBSE sustainability (Suriyankietkaew et al., 2022) still needs further illustrations.
Hence, by applying a qualitative case study design, we situate our research in two regions--Sichuan province, China, and Miyagi prefecture, Japan. Similar scenario and trajectory of CBSE can be identified, such as disaster and recovery discourse (Tanimoto, 2006; Shi, 2023), rapid expansion of CBSE and community business (Saito, 2020; Feng and Li, 2022), and advantageous institution and governmental advocacy on CBSE (Deng et al., 2023). While we also highlight “sustainability challenges”, for which we render analytic focus on the change and evolvement of sustainability challenges, which offer us dynamic and interactive angles to interpret CBSE leadership response.
We purposively sample CBSE in both regions. Qualitative data is collected through semi-structured interview, field observation and documentary analysis. However, since this research is still in progress, we will collect more data and hone data analysis to further elucidate our findings. Our preliminary findings unpacked two streams of phenomenon. First, we addressed how the context-specific sustainability challenges of CBSE emerged and altered in 4 dimensions--societal, regional, organizational and individual. Second, CBSE leadership strategically coped with the volatile sustainability issues by adjusting value and goal, adsorbing knowledge and expertise, expanding and pluralizing network, acquiring internal and external accountability, and tailoring governance and management remedies.
Our study first fills the research gap includes insufficient SE research in Asian countries, insufficient illustration in community ecosystem on CBSE, and scarce emphasis on leadership dimension of CBSE. Second, this research tests and advances theories, such as community-based venture theory, and SE sustainability, governance and leadership theory. Finally, our research echoes and responds to international concerns of CBSE--also germane to conceptual entities such as community social venture or community enterprise sustainability issues, by demonstrating how leadership strategically respond to sustainability hardship, our findings are instrumental to empower CBSE leaders in other countries.

References

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Authors

• Youxin Feng

• Haruka Minemura, Tohoku University

• SHIQI PENG, The University of Hong Kong

• Yuko Nishide, Tohoku University