TY - JOUR

T1 - Social Enterprise Referents

T2 - How Social Enterprises Help Organize Nascent Fields to Address Complex Societal Problems

AU - Reinecke, Pauline C.

AU - Wrona, Thomas

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Management Studies published by Society for the Advancement of Management Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2025/9

Y1 - 2025/9

N2 - Addressing societal challenges requires engaging diverse actors, but clashes between social and commercial interests often hinder coordination. In established fields, conflicting social interests can be integrated by challenging dominant commercial positions and rallying powerful actors. However, creating new fields without established actors and coordination mechanisms is more complex, especially when interests conflict. We explore this challenge through the development of reusable containers for takeaway food and beverages, where incompatible perspectives initially led to a field impasse. A pioneering social enterprise blending commercial and social interests emerged as a referent, facilitating collaboration and breaking the impasse. After initial field organizing succeeded, regulatory changes and increased demand exposed the shortcomings of early solutions, leading to setbacks. New social enterprises developed solutions to fill supply–demand gaps, anchoring new models in a market and driving both standardization and innovation. We introduce the concept of ‘social enterprise referents’ to highlight their essential role in organizing nascent fields to address complex societal issues. Without these referents, models for building new fields struggle to take hold. Successfully transitioning from an underorganized to an organized field requires sustained efforts from multiple social enterprise referents to anchor solutions in a market and uphold collaboration with field actors.

AB - Addressing societal challenges requires engaging diverse actors, but clashes between social and commercial interests often hinder coordination. In established fields, conflicting social interests can be integrated by challenging dominant commercial positions and rallying powerful actors. However, creating new fields without established actors and coordination mechanisms is more complex, especially when interests conflict. We explore this challenge through the development of reusable containers for takeaway food and beverages, where incompatible perspectives initially led to a field impasse. A pioneering social enterprise blending commercial and social interests emerged as a referent, facilitating collaboration and breaking the impasse. After initial field organizing succeeded, regulatory changes and increased demand exposed the shortcomings of early solutions, leading to setbacks. New social enterprises developed solutions to fill supply–demand gaps, anchoring new models in a market and driving both standardization and innovation. We introduce the concept of ‘social enterprise referents’ to highlight their essential role in organizing nascent fields to address complex societal issues. Without these referents, models for building new fields struggle to take hold. Successfully transitioning from an underorganized to an organized field requires sustained efforts from multiple social enterprise referents to anchor solutions in a market and uphold collaboration with field actors.

KW - complex societal problems

KW - conflicting interests

KW - nascent field

KW - social enterprises

KW - systems theory

KW - Management studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85209798137&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/joms.13169

DO - 10.1111/joms.13169

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85209798137

VL - 62

SP - 2302

EP - 2328

JO - Journal of Management Studies

JF - Journal of Management Studies

SN - 0022-2380

IS - 6

ER -