RESEARCH

Dehybridization of Social Enterprises: A Process Model

In this paper, I introduce the concept of dehybridization, which I define as a process through which an organization transforms in a way that integrates fewer institutional logics than previously. To examine the phenomenon of dehybridization in the context of social enterprises I draw on the hybridity and hybrid organizations literature. This literature is integral in gaining a theoretical understanding of the challenges of hybrids and their transformations. Building upon this theory, I posit a process model of how dehybridization occurs in hybrid organizations and its influence over time. Illustrating dehybridization through a process model allows theorists and practitioners to recognize the transformational process from a hybrid to a less hybrid form and provides practical strategies for social entrepreneurs.

The Role of Governance in the Dehybridization of Social Enterprises

Job Market Paper with Thomas Lawrence

This paper examines the challenges of organizational governance in the transformation of hybrid organizations. Hybrid organizations, studied in the context of 33,350 Community Interest Companies from 2006-2020 in the United Kingdom, highlight tensions and contradictions arising from pursuing multiple goals. In the world of hybrid organizations, an important problem is how and why hybrid organizations shed one or more logics, which we conceptualize as the process of dehybridization. Dehybridization has implications which can transpire by the hybrid changing form to a dominant logic form, a new hybrid, or dissolution of the organization. Governance in the form of board heterogeneity is examined along eight dimensions—age, gender, title, education, occupation, directorships, tenure, and nationality—to find whether boards that are more heterogeneous are more adaptive in dehybridizing. This paper finds that boards with more overall heterogeneity are 4.5 times more likely to adaptively transform by shedding logics and dehybridizing than any other type of community interest company.

The Relationship Between Hybrid Tensions and Dehybridization of Social Enterprises

In the world of social enterprises, an important and under-examined phenomenon is the process of transforming from a hybrid structure to an organizational form with fewer logics. In this paper, I introduce the concept of dehybridization, which I define as a process through which an organization transforms in a way that sheds institutional logics. To examine the phenomenon of dehybridization in the context of social enterprises, I draw on the hybrid organizations and organizational adaptation literature.
Existing management theory more broadly offers initial insight into understanding hybrid transformations. On the one hand, prior studies have argued that inconsistent or divergent action can lead to weakened stakeholder commitment and reputational damage. On the other hand, scholars have suggested that because environments are complex and dynamic, such action is necessary for ensuring organizational adaptation and thus survival. This paper offers a theory of organizational transformation through dehybridization that specifies how organizations might respond to hybrid tensions and organizational transformations. The resulting conceptual model addresses the theoretical tension and offers novel insight into the relationship between organizational actions and logics.

How social entrepreneurs affect the dehybridization of social enterprises

This qualitative paper studies the effects of social entrepreneur backgrounds and the likelihood of their social enterprise going through an organizational transformation such as dehybridization. This paper continues the examination of thee concept of dehybridization, a process defined by an organization transforming by shedding institutional logics. To examine this phenomenon I draw ono the hybrid organization and founder identity literatures. Existing management theory more broadly offers initial insight into understanding hybrid transformation, however it does not study social founders in this context. This paper studies 179 organizations in the United Kingdom that have transformed from Community Interest Companies to charities or corporations from 2008-2020. Founders were surveyed and interviewed to understand how their backgrounds influenced the organization changes of their Community Interest Companies.

How Exogenous Shocks affect the dehybridization of social enterprises: the 2008 Financial Crisis, Brexit, and the Covid-19 Pandemic in the UK

The world has been immensely disrupted by shocks such as the financial crisis, Brexit, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizations of all sizes and industries have been impacted but research still lacks profound insights into the transformative implications of these shocks. This paper addresses this gap by drawing on a rich body of evidence collected from a longitudinal study of 42,131 Community Interest Companies in the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2021. I develop a framework for understanding how social enterprises adapt to exogenous shocks by either dehybridizing, pivoting, hybridizing, sustaining hybridity, or dissolving. This paper finds evidence that the exogenous shocks are more likely to instigate different outcomes of dehybridization. By providing a quantitative understanding of how the 2008 Financial crisis, the Brexit vote, and the Covid-19 lockdown affects social enterprises, the insights from this study contribute to hybrid organizing research, business practice, and policy-making. More broadly this paper provides hybrid and organizational transformation scholars with a theoretical comprehension of how exogenous shocks can challenge out understanding of organizations' transformative behaviour.