CONCEPTUALISATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF RURAL SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IN ZAMBIA

Over the past three decades, the concept of social enterprise has gained prominence as an academic field, as researchers and academics attempt to understand its nature and character. This thesis focuses on the conceptualisation and development of social enterprise in Africa. Specifically, this investigation seeks to explore the reciprocal interaction between social enterprises and their local environment in rural regions of Copperbelt Province in Zambia. This comes at a time when research into potential of social enterprise to ameliorate deprivation is emerging in Africa, some parts of which face acute socio-economic challenges. Moreover, prior research on social enterprise development has focused on developed countries. While such scholarship offers valuable insights, the institutional arrangements in developed countries may be different to those of developing countries. Further literature portrays social enterprise as focusing on either influence of agents or context on development of social enterprise with spatial context portraying less information. Therefore, the aim of the study is to conceptualise social enterprise and explore the reciprocal interaction between social enterprises and their local environment in rural regions of Copperbelt Province in Zambia. To achieve this aim, the study utilised a qualitative approach to collecting data, involving: semi-structured interviews of organisations described as social enterprises. Scrutiny of document data analysis and participant observations triangulated and complemented semi-structured interview data. The study employed components of Giddens’s (1984) structuration theory to provide more insight into the agential and the structural perspective of social enterprise. Major findings show different types of organisations in this study, and cooperatives being most practiced. As social enterprise is understudied, most respondents referred to their organisations as ‘community enterprises’ and are heavily reliant on their trading revenue and membership subscription for sustenance. This thesis underlines the importance of spatial context for social entrepreneurial resource practices and multiple value creating. Furthermore, the findings revealed some form of co-evolution of social enterprise like organisations with their local environment. The study makes theoretical, empirical, and contextual contributions to knowledge and has social, economic, practice, and policy implications.