From Governance to Action: Measuring the Engagement of Active Stakeholders in the Social Enterprise

Based on stakeholder theory, human resource management\r\nliterature, and the main research streams on engagement, this study aims\r\nto develop and validate a scale of stakeholder engagement specifically\r\nsuitable for the social enterprise domain. Despite the evidence that stakeholder\r\nmanagement is crucial and specific for the social enterprise\r\ndomain, there is not yet an established measure of stakeholder engagement\r\nthat can be used to foster the design of the effective organizational\r\npractices to manage the specific stakeholder relationship in the social\r\nenterprise context.\r\nA survey among 328 social enterprise stakeholders\r\nworking in a variety of enterprises, roles, jobs (i.e., employees,\r\nsocial entrepreneurs, and volunteers) enables us to validate a comprehensive\r\nand multidimensional scale of stakeholder engagement. The new measure includes dimensions of job, enterprise,\r\norganizational formula, professional, and social engagement. Results\r\nadvance some practical and theoretical considerations both for the social\r\nenterprise research and for the engagement literature.