Sustainability in social enterprise : hybrid organizing in public services

It is commonly assumed that Social Enterprises (SEs) are able to meet social outcomes and also be financially viable, however, little research supports this claim. Using hybrid organizing as a lens to analyse case study interview data from ten SEs delivering adult day care services, we identify three factors which affect a SEs ability to simultaneously achieve social outcomes and financial sustainability and thus create value-spillovers for society. These are: diverse income streams to strengthen financial viability and reduce reliance on service-level agreements and grants; delivering social quality (quality of social impact) as well as service quality, and a hybrid workforce.