How do social enterprises manage business relationships? A review of the literature and directions for future research

Abstract

Social enterprise–business relationships are an emerging unique form of business relationships. Whilst scholars have recently shown a growing interest in investigating the practices that social enterprises adopt to manage their relationships with businesses, the present literature lacks a synthesis of major findings and a reflection on current developments. The purpose of this paper is to critically and systematically review and assess the current status of research on practices through which social enterprise manage business relationships and to provide an organising framework for future scholarship. Adopting a systematic literature review approach, a total of 51 articles were reviewed. The results of our thematic analysis revealed that social enterprises engage in four key practices of initiation, persuasion, conflict resolution, and value creation to manage their relationships with businesses. Our review of literature also sheds light on the determinants and outcomes of these practices and offers avenues for future research.