TY - JOUR A1 - Mair, Johanna A1 - Wolf, Miriam A1 - Seelos, Christian T1 - Scaffolding: A Process of Transforming Patterns of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies JF - Academy of Management Journal N2 - This study advances research on organizational efforts to tackle multidimensional, complex, and interlinked societal challenges. We examine how social inequality manifests in small-scale societies, and illustrate how it inheres in entrenched patterns of behavior and interaction. Asking how development programs can be organizing tools to transform these patterns of inequality, we use a program sponsored by an Indian non-governmental organization as our empirical window and leverage data that we collected over a decade. We identify “scaffolding” as a process that enables and organizes the transformation of behavior and interaction patterns. Three interrelated mechanisms make the transformation processes adaptive and emerging alternative social orders robust: (1) mobilizing institutional, social organizational, and economic resources; (2) stabilizing new patterns of interaction that reflect an alternative social order; and (3) concealing goals that are neither anticipated nor desired by some groups. Through this analysis, we move beyond conventional thinking on unintended consequences proposed in classic studies on organizations, complement contemporary research about how organizations effect positive social change by pursuing multiple goals, and develop portable insights for organizational efforts in tackling inequality. This study provides a first link between the study of organizational efforts to alleviate social problems and the transformation of social systems. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2015.0725 SN - 0001-4273 VL - 59 IS - 6 SP - 2021 EP - 2044 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Seelos, Christian A1 - Mair, Johanna T1 - Eine lohnende Investition mit ungewissem Ausgang JF - Neue Caritas N2 - Innovation in sozialen Organisationen bedeutet vor allem eines nicht: die Garantie auf eine schnelle Lösung von Problemen. Vielmehr ist Innovation ein Prozess, der das Lernpotenzial des Unternehmens steigert und damit auch den gewollten Mehrwert generiert. KW - Innovation Y1 - 2015 VL - 17 SP - 9 EP - 13 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Seelos, Christian A1 - Mair, Johanna T1 - Innovation and Scale: A Tough Balancing Act JF - Stanford Social Innovation Review KW - Social Innovation KW - Scaling KW - Organizational Innovation Y1 - 2013 VL - Spring 2013 IS - Special Supplement: Innovation for a Complex World SP - 12 EP - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Seelos, Christian A1 - Mair, Johanna T1 - Innovation Is Not the Holy Grail JF - Stanford Social Innovation Review KW - Social Innovation KW - Organizational Innovation Y1 - 2012 VL - Fall 2012 SP - 45 EP - 49 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Seelos, Christian A1 - Mair, Johanna T1 - Organizational closure competencies and scaling: A realist approach to theorizing social enterprise T2 - Social entrepreneurship and research methods N2 - Purpose Social entrepreneurs create novel approaches to social problems such as poverty. But scaling these approaches to the dimension of the problem can be a difficult task. In the social enterprise sector, the subject of scaling has become a key dimension of organizational performance. This chapter advances the scholarly literature on the scaling of social enterprises, a literature which is currently in an embryonic stage and characterized by conceptual ambiguity and fragmented perspectives. Methodology/Approach We engage realist philosophy of science to develop mechanism-based causal explanations of the scaling performance of social enterprises. We also develop a coding scheme to guide systematic empirical analysis and highlight the explanatory power of counterfactuals. Counterfactuals have been largely neglected in empirical research as they represent mechanisms that are enabled but remain unobservable – in a state of suppression or neutralization of their effects. Findings We question the ability of organizations to “socially engineer” desired outcomes and introduce a new construct – organizational closure competence. Anchored in realism, this construct provides a basis for productive approaches to social engineering. We elaborate on the importance of organizational closure competencies for scaling, derive a series of propositions, and develop ideas for future research and for practice. Research, Practical and Social Implications Applying a realist lens allows us to add empirical rigor to research on social enterprises and scaling. Our approach constitutes a move from rich narratives to causal models and informs the way we design and evaluate efforts to address important societal challenges. Originality/Value of Chapter This chapter demonstrates how to operationalize realist philosophy of science for causal explanations of complex social phenomena and better utilize its theoretical and practical value. KW - Social entrepreneurship KW - scaling KW - realism KW - causal model KW - mechanism-based research Y1 - 2014 SN - 978-1-78441-142-8 SP - 147 EP - 188 PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited CY - Bingley ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Mair, Johanna A1 - Seelos, Christian T1 - Innovation and Scaling for Impact BT - How effective Social Enterprises do it N2 - Innovation and Scaling for Impact forces us to reassess how social sector organizations create value. Drawing on a decade of research, Christian Seelos and Johanna Mair transcend widely held misconceptions, getting to the core of what a sound impact strategy entails in the nonprofit world. They reveal an overlooked nexus between investments that might not pan out (innovation) and expansion based on existing strengths (scaling). In the process, it becomes clear that managing this tension is a difficult balancing act that fundamentally defines an organization and its impact. The authors examine innovation pathologies that can derail organizations by thwarting their efforts to juggle these imperatives. Then, through four rich case studies, they detail innovation archetypes that effectively sidestep these pathologies and blend innovation with scaling. Readers will come away with conceptual models to drive progress in the social sector and tools for defining the future of their organizations. KW - Social entrepreneurship KW - Social responsibility of business KW - Nonprofit-Organization KW - Management KW - Case studies KW - India KW - Bangladesh Y1 - 2017 SN - 9780804797344 PB - Stanford University Press CY - Stanford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mair, Johanna A1 - Seelos, Christian T1 - When Innovation Goes Wrong JF - Stanford Social Innovation Review N2 - Efforts by social enterprises to develop novel interventions receive a great deal of attention. Yet these organizations often stumble when it comes to turning innovation into impact. As a result, they fail to achieve their full potential. Here’s a guide to diagnosing and preventing several “pathologies” that underlie this failure. Y1 - 2016 UR - https://ssir.org/articles/entry/when_innovation_goes_wrong SN - 1542-7099 VL - 14 IS - 4 SP - 27 EP - 33 ER -