Legitimation Patterns of Social Enterprises as Hybrid Organizations.

On the basis of an inductive multiple case study of ten social enterprises, this study explores how social enterprises, which incorporate for-profit and not-for-profit logics as a hybrid form, gain legitimacy. The analysis suggests the existence of three types of social entrepreneurs' hybrid identities and shows how these hybrid identities systematically shape legitimation patterns of social enterprises. Furthermore, the findings suggest social enterprises' organizational types as hybrids also determine their legitimation patterns. These findings theoretically contribute to the research on hybrid organizing, legitimation of new ventures, and social entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]