Introduction
The paper addresses the issue of governance and democratic participation as a key dimension in social enterprise alongside with the economic and social dimensions. Among others Pestoff (2016) and Pestoff & Hulgård (2015) call out for further research in the governance dimensions of social enterprise.
In as well public policy as the public debate on social enterprise in Denmark, it is primarily the economic arguments in relation to job creation that are in focus.
This paper presents some of the results of a case-study on democratic participation in a number of social enterprises in a Danish medium size municipality Silkeborg (40.000 inhabitants). This case is interesting, because the town council of Silkeborg in 2015 formulated a strategy for social enterprises where the goal is the formation of 20 new social enterprises and 150 new jobs for marginalized people by 2020.
The research project follows this process and the focus of this paper will be on democratic participation and governance primarily from the perspective of the employees and the leaders of social enterprises. The paper contributes to the understanding of the governance dimension of social enterprises.
The paper is focused on the question of the understanding and practice of democratic participation by the actors both on a citizen/employee level and on the intuitional level ie. the network of municipality officials and leaders of social enterprises.
Methods and approach
The research project is a single-case study (Flyvbjerg 2006) and it involves a mixed-methods approach based on a qualitative exploration of documents, interviews, focus-group interviews, participative observations as well as a quantitative survey directed at the employees of social enterprises.
The single-case study is intended to create knowledge about the actors understanding and practice of democratic participation in a specific context. It is based on a constructivist perspective where the concept of ‘democracy’ in this specific field is constructed and given meaning by the actions and understandings of the various actors involved: politicians, municipality officials, managers and employees of social enterprises.
The theoretical approach is based on the EMES research of social enterprise (Defourny & Nyssens 2006) and the question of the governance criteria of social enterprise. (Pestoff & Hulgård 2015, Pestoff 2016)
The theoretical framework for the analysis is based on theory of governance that focuses on institutional framework and creation of political actors in the governance process. (March & Olsen 1995). The network of leaders of social enterprises and municipality officials in Silkeborg will be analyzed from a governance perspective.
In order to obtain an understanding of democratic participation by the employees we look towards the formation of political identity understood through the concepts of empowerment, engagement and action (Bang et al 2000).
Significant findings
The leaders of the social enterprises are seen to have an awareness of their role in creating a participative environment for the employees in their management of the social enterprise.
The practice of the network of leaders of social enterprises and municipality officials is found to have developed from an “information channel” of the municipality towards a governance network.
The employee/citizen perspective on democratic participation is analyzed through the concept of the formation of political identity in the dimensions of empowerment, engagement and action. The preliminary results of the research show signs of the development of a political identity among the employees in terms of:
empowerment, in relations to working condition and job-identity
engagement, in the political issue of social enterprise and
actions, related to the employees increased engagement in civil society organizations.
Conclusion and perspectives
The dimensions of empowerment, engagement, actions and network seems to be an appropriate approach to the understanding of democratic participation and governance as it is understood and practiced by the actors involved in social enterprise. The approach is also seen to be a meaningful perspective for the actors involved.
At the same time, it is important to note that the research project itself is contributing to raise the awareness by the actors of the importance of democratic participation as a significant and crucial criteria for social enterprise.
Main references
Bang, Henrik P., Hansen, Allan Dreyer & Hoff, Jens (2000) Demokrati fra neden: problematikker og teoretiske overvejelser. In Bang, Henrik P. et al (ed) Demokrati fra neden. København
Defourny, Jacques & Nyssens, Marthe (2006) Defining social enterprise. In Nyssens, Marte (ed) Social Enterprise. Routledge
Flyvbjerg, Bent (2006) Five misunderstandings about Case-Study Research. Qualitative Inquiry Volume 12 Number 2
March, J.G. & Olsen, J.P. (1995) Democratic Governance. London
Pestoff, Victor & Hulgård, Lars (2015) Participatory Governance in Social Enterprise. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and NonprofitOrganizations vol. 26 n. 6
Pestoff, Victor (2016) The Devil is (often) in the details: Co-production, Participatory Democracy and Democratic Governance. Paper, IIAS, Tampere, Finland, 13-14 June, 2016.
3. Governance, employment and human resource management
Democratic_participation_in_SE.pdf 