• JOHANNA MAIR : PROFESSOR OF ORGANIZATION, STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP HERTIE SCHOOL OF GOVERNANCE CODIRECTOR OF THE GLOBAL INNOVATION FOR IMPACT LAB STANFORD CENTER ON PHILANTHROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY

• DANIELLE LOGUE : ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF INNOVATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP & MANAGEMENT UTS BUSINESS SCHOOL

Increasingly, private initiatives are called upon to tackle “grand challenges”, i.e. social and environmental problems that established government and market actors struggle to solve on a global scale (Ferraro et al., 2015; Marti, 2018). This seminar focuses on two such initiatives that have received greater attention from both researchers and practitioners: philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. Philanthropy consists in “private giving for public purposes” (Salamon, 1992) and includes all types of voluntary aid from individuals and private organizations to good causes. Far from being limited to wealthy donors and charitable foundations, philanthropy encompasses innovative and diverse phenomena such as cause-related marketing, street fundraising, and crowdfunding. Social entrepreneurship entails “the innovative use of resource combinations to pursue opportunities aiming at the creation of organizations and/or practices that yield and sustain social benefits” (Mair & Noboa, 2006). To do so, social entrepreneurs develop innovative organizational models known as “social enterprises” that use market mechanisms to generate long-term social impact (Battilana & Lee, 2014; Defourny & Nyssens, 2010). Once fringe topics in management and social sciences, philanthropy and social entrepreneurship were initially met with a mix of enthusiasm, skepticism, and confusion. Lasting definitional debates led scholars to label these terms as “essentially contested concepts” (Choi & Majumdar, 2014; Daly, 2011). However, over the last decade, both philanthropy and social entrepreneurship have become increasingly researched, and a growing number of articles have been published in leading academic journals (e.g. Battilana et al., 2015; Cobb et al., 2016; Cuypers et al., 2015; Hehenberger et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2020; Wry & Zhao, 2018).

While much progress has been made regarding the motivations, the processes, and the outcomes of both philanthropy and social entrepreneurship, knowledge remains scarce on several key dimensions. In particular, the interaction between philanthropy and social entrepreneurship, between “funding” and “operating” for the common good, while tangible in practice, has received little scholarly attention so far. Recent studies on impact investing constitute a promising exception (Hehenberger et al., 2019).

This seminar aims to support doctoral students doing research in the fields of social entrepreneurship and philanthropy – and at the crossroads of these fields. The seminar is integrated within a range of dynamics on social entrepreneurship and philanthropy in which the three sponsoring institutions frequently engage. It is also connected to international research networks in these domains such as EMES (social enterprise/entrepreneurship) and ERNOP (philanthropy).

All doctoral students in social and management sciences interested in the theme are welcome. A previous class related to social entrepreneurship or philanthropy is useful but not compulsory. Each doctoral student will have the opportunity to present a research project or a paper and receive feedback from other participants and guest speakers. For doctoral students interested in validating ECTS credits for the seminar, it is possible to receive a course certificate issued by HEC Liège, Liège University, provided that the course evaluation is positive. Students who wish to receive the ECTS validation should mention it when applying for the seminar. They will then receive more information regarding the final evaluation, consisting of the submission of a full paper and the presentation of their research project.

Interested candidates should send a sample research paper or a 2-page outline of their research in attachment to an email motivating their participation. The application should be sent by 1st March 2021 to Shoaib Ul-Haq: suhaq@uliege.be. Organizers will accept as many applications as possible, up to 20 participants.

Bacq, S., & Janssen, F. (2011), “The multiple faces of social entrepreneurship: A review of definitional issues based on geographical and thematic criteria”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 23:5, 373-403.

Battilana, J., & Lee, M. (2014), “Advancing research on hybrid organizing – Insights from the study of social enterprises”, Academy of Management Annals, 8:1, 397–441.
Battilana, J., Sengul, M., Pache, A.-C., & Model, J. (2015), “Harnessing productive tensions in hybrid organizations: The case of work integration social enterprises”, Academy of Management Journal, 58:6, 1658–1685.

Bekkers, R., & Wiepking, P. (2011), “A literature review of empirical studies of philanthropy: Eight mechanisms that drive charitable giving”, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40:5, 924–973
Choi, N., & Majumdar, S. (2014), “Social entrepreneurship as an essentially contested concept: Opening a new avenue for systematic future research”, Journal of Business Venturing, 29:3, 363–376.

Cobb, J. A., Wry, T., & Zhao, E. Y. (2016), “Funding financial inclusion: Institutional logics and the contextual contingency of funding for microfinance organizations”, Academy of Management Journal, 59:6, 2103-2131.

Cuypers, I., Koh, P.-S., & Wang, H. (2015), “Sincerity in corporate philanthropy, stakeholder perceptions and firm value”, Organization Science, 27:1, 173–188.
Daly, S. (2011), “Philanthropy as an essentially contested concept”, VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 23:3, 535–557.