Stakeholder Management & The risk of Mission Drift in Social Enterprises -- A case study on the influence of different groups of stakeholders on the “double objective” tensions in a work integration social enterprise --

This MA thesis aims to outline the role and influence of different groups of stakeholders - according to the definition adopted - on the double objective of a social enterprise (both social & commercial), and how they can increase (or alleviate) the tensions linked to the risk of mission drift, or goal displacement. This paper is the continuity of a previous research on the possible tensions & sources of mission drift in a social enterprise, a concept that we have defined as “a situation where a social venture starts to give less priority to either its social or commercial goal” (Roche, 2017). The groups of stakeholders that we will focus on are: the clients and beneficiaries of the organization (being one or two groups of stakeholders), the volunteers, the subsidizing powers, the donors, the investors, and the partners (in the private, public and social sector). After a brief literature review on the general stakeholder management theories in traditional management and the studies that have been conducted on social enterprises more specifically, we completed a case study on a Belgian work integration social enterprise in which we collected data through field observation, individual interviews and corporate documents (annual reports, surveys, etc.).