Value-driven institutional formation of green social enterprises: Focusing on the Designated Preliminary Social Enterprise cases in South Korea

A key rationale for constant growth of the social economic sector has been pursuing environmental and social values (Defourny and Nyssens (2010). Yet, there have been few studies on the value-driven institutional development... [ view full abstract ]

A key rationale for constant growth of the social economic sector has been pursuing environmental and social values (Defourny and Nyssens (2010). Yet, there have been few studies on the value-driven institutional development of Green Social Enterprises (green SEs hereafter) in East Asian context (See Vickers and Lyon (2012) for European cases). Within this background, this paper aims to explore how the values of the green social economy have been cultivated by key actors during the institutional development in South Korea. 

This paper argues that the values expressed as social purposes of social enterprises are significant to understand 'green SEs' as institutions. There have been theoretical studies attempts to modify Ostrom’s Institutional Development and Analysis (IAD) Framework (Ostrom et al. 1994) by acknowledging roles of discourses in the process of institutional development (Rydin 2003; Kim 2012). According to this approach, the values of green SEs are rules-in-use, which have been adopted by the participants in making green SEs. In this, making a green social enterprise as an institution is taken place in an action arena, where key actors interact with other stakeholders. The institutional development of the Designated Social Enterprises in South Korea since 2012 is to be examined by qualitative methodology, case studies and content analysis. Content analysis is used to explore the data collected through the semi-structured interviews of stakeholders and the public documents related to the PSEs.
The first part of the paper attempts to draw the detailed values, enveloped in the definition of the notion of ‘green social economy’. A review of social economy studies and environmental management works addresses a critical discussion of related concepts such as sustainable community development, green/ low-carbon economy and social-green jobs (Stern et al. 2006). A list of the values embedded in the green social economy is drawn from the literature review. This normative list will be compared with the values emphasized in the institutional development of Designated Preliminary SEs (PSEs hereafter). Along with academic studies on Korean SEs (Bidet and Eum 2011), statistical and documentary data on the green social economy in South Korea is summarized here in order to contextualize the notion of green social economy. 
In the next section, case studies on green SEs will follow with emphasis on the value-driven institutional development. Three different types of green SEs are selected for case studies: recycle and waste management, alternative energy enterprise and community business organization. This paper is to provide a rich picture of how institutional development has been shaped. Empirical findings of this study will contribute to better understanding about how environmental value, promoted as an institutional goal, has been embedded in the development processes of green social enterprises.