Policy drivers and tools influencing the development of social enterprises in Taiwan

Ching Tzu Chang, Sheng Fen Cheng*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Purpose: Taiwan promotes social enterprises with the Social Enterprise Action Plan and Social Innovation Action Plan, focusing on solving social problems and achieving sustainable development goals. This study aims to clarify the impetus for the above policies and determines whether the relevant policy tools can achieve the established policy goals. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts the in-depth interview method and uses the “social impact investment framework” constructed by OEDC and Dunn’s definition of public policy stakeholders to select 22 respondents, who were divided into three groups. Findings: Taiwan’s decision-making in social enterprise policy is mainly driven by the pressure of youth unemployment and the 318-student movement. Intrinsic motivation strategies popularized the concept of social enterprise. Various strategies are used to break the limitations and diversify the organization, trigger more diverse social investments, broaden the goals of investment and complete the social enterprise ecosystem through these. Taiwan’s social enterprise policies are consistent with the global trend of “replacing subsidies with investment.” Originality/value: This study shows that social enterprises generate mutual benefits between investors and social enterprises, that is, achieve free matching through external mechanisms. This study fills the gaps in Oliver’s “behavioral cube” framework of policy instruments. A “behavioral four-dimensional matrix” composed of nudge, shove, budge and reciprocity is proposed to complete the framework for social enterprise policy analysis tools.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)522-539
Number of pages18
JournalSocial Enterprise Journal
Volume20
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024 Jul 4

Keywords

  • Budge
  • Nudge
  • Reciprocity
  • Shove
  • Social innovation
  • Social investment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous)
  • Development
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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