In the persistent growth of health inequalities, societal needs and austerity measures, community-based initiatives and community engagement have gained prominence and they have been seen as an innovative solution for acting on social determinants of health and consequently potentially addressing health inequalities (Marmot, 2010). Among community based initiatives, social enterprise has been presented as a potentially innovative and sustainable vehicle for addressing issues above outlined (Donaldson et al., 2011; Roy et al., 2014). Although it is a contested concept, social enterprise could, in fact, represent a new approach that increases the capacities and ‘assets’ of people, thus having a role in supporting public health (Roy, 2016; Roy et al., 2016). Moreover, in the last couple of decades, governments have actively encouraged social enterprises and non-profit organisations to deliver public services on the basis of their perceived higher levels of innovation, cost-efficiency, and responsiveness (Buckingham, 2009; Hall et al., 2016).
Therefore, since it is important to understand the evidence behind contribution of this vehicle in recent decades, some instruments have been developed in non-profit management, social entrepreneurship and the programme evaluation literature (Bagnoli and Megali, 2009; Frans Leeuw and Vaessen, 2009; Kroeger and Weber, 2014). However, little empirical research concerning social enterprise and its contribution to health and social care has taken place to date (as recognised in the systematic reviews by Mason et al., 2015and Roy et al., 2014). This is likely due to a comparative lack of comprehensive academic rigorous processes and tools for evaluating the contribution of community-based social enterprise (and the broader third sector) to health and social care (Aiken, 2010).
This paper aims to fill this gap, and contribute to the development of these processes through assessing the feasibility of using methods commonly used in analysis of health systems and interventions to the evaluation of social enterprise.
- This research draws upon three phases of research: A systematic review assessing the quality of the existing evidence base;
- A realist evaluation of a community-based, health focused social enterprise initiative; and
- A feasibility retrospective and prospective quasi-experimental investigation
Drawing together the findings (and learning) from undertaking all three phases, recommendations for broadening and developing the evidence base, through the use of research methods and frameworks that are relevant for informing policy makers, practitioners and researchers are presented and discussed.
References
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5. Social impact, value creation and performance
