engleski

TOWARD SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: AN INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP ORIENTATION, BRAND IMAGE, AND PERFORMANCE OF NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

In this paper, a social entrepreneur is defined as an organization that pursues its main purpose – social mission, while at the same time strives to be financially sustainable and independent by creating social value through innovation. Even though the Strategy for the development of social entrepreneurship in Croatia is adopted in 2015, there is still no official and reliable database on social entrepreneurs available. In the Republic of Croatia, social entrepreneurs take legal forms as NGOs, cooperatives, companies, and institutions. In this paper, a classification of social entrepreneurs in Croatia presented by Ivo Pilar Institute is used, but also a further investigation on the past trends and current state in the sector of NGOs and cooperatives is provided since they account for more than 80% of all social entrepreneurs in Croatia. Moreover, these forms of social entrepreneurs are especially vulnerable in terms of survival and growth in the context of budget restraints and are more than ever forced to explore alternative funding sources. It is argued that social entrepreneurship as a vehicle for value creation is a condition sine qua non for NGOs and cooperatives in Croatia, and that internal pool of creativity isn’t quite enough for viable results ; better public image and reputation and stronger brand will facilitate social entrepreneurship efforts and will ensure that the ultimate goal is reached: fulfilling the social mission, creating social value through innovation and being sustainable. Additionally, COVID-19 pandemic effects are included since its far-reaching economic consequences have gravely wounded the Croatian economy and made the position of social entrepreneurs even more challenging/difficult. For the purposes of this paper, an indepth investigation of two NGOs comparable by all attributes, except for the brand is provided. The qualitative methodology and in-depth case study analysis are used to investigate the main research question – can social entrepreneurship orientation, brand image, and performance provide a viable framework for the assessment of social entrepreneurship potential of NGOs? Results suggest that proposed framework can be a vantage point in distinguishing NGOs potential of becoming successful or less successful social entrepreneurs, measured by a set of key performance indicators, even in a crisis (COVID-19 pandemic) setting.

social entrepreneurship potential ; NGOs ; brand value ; sustainability

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