TY - JOUR
T1 - Turning Social Return on Investment on Its Head
T2 - The Stakeholder Impact Statement
AU - Mook, Laurie
AU - Maiorano, John
AU - Ryan, Sherida
AU - Armstrong, Ann
AU - Quarter, Jack
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - This article undertakes a critique of social return on investment (SROI), combining the existing research literature with an analysis of six case studies of supported social enterprises employing people with disabilities and other challenges that affect their access to the conventional labor market. The critique of SROI focuses on its positivist roots and its emphasis on one number, the SROI ratio. It also discusses the technical challenges in producing that number, including concerns about its reliability. The article presents the stakeholder impact statement, an approach that is rooted in interpretivism and attempts to understand the impact of enterprises through the eyes of multiple stakeholders. Unlike SROI, which is a supplement to conventional accounting statements, the stakeholder impact statement integrates financial and social impact data, thereby placing them on the same level of importance.
AB - This article undertakes a critique of social return on investment (SROI), combining the existing research literature with an analysis of six case studies of supported social enterprises employing people with disabilities and other challenges that affect their access to the conventional labor market. The critique of SROI focuses on its positivist roots and its emphasis on one number, the SROI ratio. It also discusses the technical challenges in producing that number, including concerns about its reliability. The article presents the stakeholder impact statement, an approach that is rooted in interpretivism and attempts to understand the impact of enterprises through the eyes of multiple stakeholders. Unlike SROI, which is a supplement to conventional accounting statements, the stakeholder impact statement integrates financial and social impact data, thereby placing them on the same level of importance.
KW - social accounting
KW - social enterprise
KW - social return on investment
KW - stakeholder engagement
KW - stakeholder impact statement
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U2 - 10.1002/nml.21184
DO - 10.1002/nml.21184
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84948172245
VL - 26
SP - 229
EP - 246
JO - Nonprofit Management and Leadership
JF - Nonprofit Management and Leadership
SN - 1048-6682
IS - 2
ER -