Eeva Houtbeckers

The overall aim of this study is to increase the understanding of social entrepreneurship by analysing the social entrepreneurship assumptions in academic discourse, which offer a formula for social change, and the mundane practices of microentrepreneurs. This study brings the attention to the taken-for-granted assumptions of social entrepreneurship through studying how it is practiced.

I followed the notion of social entrepreneurship and the work of people who identify themselves or were identified with social entrepreneurship by others in Finland. Theoretically, I asked how a practice perspective informs the study of social entrepreneurship. Empirically, I asked how microentrepreneurs identifying themselves or identified with social entrepreneurship cope with and solve mundane work related challenges over time. For answering the questions, I first reviewed social entrepreneurship, critical entrepreneurship and practice-based studies. Second, I followed microentrepreneurs' mundane work during 2009-2014. In different essays I focus on the tactics for influencing existing practices (Paper 1), creating social innovation over time in networks of practice (Paper 2), and sustaining 'buzz', a sense of belonging in one social enterprise (Paper 3).

By adopting a practice perspective to social entrepreneurship, research on social entrepreneurship can be more aware of perspectives related to the dichotomies often attached to the phenomenon, for example conventional vs. social entrepreneurship. Understanding that the world consists of practices offers ways to do research when such categorisations are used and problematise them. In general terms, social entrepreneurship can be understood as a texture of practices dependent on the context and subject position. Thus, social entrepreneurs cannot achieve their mission alone without being part of the texture of practices. Although it is hoped that social entrepreneurship as a phenomenon is able to address the contemporary challenges and solve wicked problems, the phenomenon as a construct is part of the very world it is supposed to be changing.

This study finds that although the microentrepreneurs studied tried to influence some existing practices and act upon their concerns, they were limited in their power to affect wide-ranging processes. Yet, social entrepreneurship as a popular concept can be a rational and socially acceptable way to disguise radical social change aims and provide space to experiment with marginal ideas that may challenge the existing ways of doing things.

Design for sustainability transitions is an emerging area of research and practice which integrates and expands theories of sustainability science, design and transition management. Recently sustainability transitions have been framed as design challenges with three main dimensions: creative, technical and political (Gaziulusoy & Ryan, 2017). With references to the multi-level perspective of system innovations, design for sustainability transitions investigates the niche socio-cultural practices and technologies to develop and analyse design scenarios for alternative futures using participatory approaches. Degrowth as a civic movement that challenges the continuous economic growth as a policy making goal, converges design for sustainability transitions in its holistic understanding of a need for systemic change. Yet, recent discussions in degrowth have called for a deeper understanding of actors that would carry out such transitions. This includes taking into consideration questions of power, gender, class, ethnicity and inter-species interactions, which are at times overlooked in analyses. It is our position that there is a need for expansion, diversification and deepening of theoretical groundings of design for sustainability transitions as well. In this article we provide a short history of this research and practice area, frame a theoretical perspective on degrowth integrating the implications of current relevant questions, integrate this theoretical perspective with design for sustainability transitions theories, and discuss implications for design and policy practice as well as degrowth research.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss researcher subjectivity in social entrepreneurship ethnographies. Previous research has highlighted a need for alternatives to the heroic representations of social entrepreneurship. Ethnographic methods have been mentioned as a relevant direction to create such emerging understandings. Design/methodology/approach This paper shows what followed from a decision of a researcher to do an ethnography of a co-working cooperative established for social innovation. Based on the notion of “working the hyphens” in previous research, further developed by other scholars as “working within hyphen-spaces”, the position of the researcher shifted during the research process between a distant outsider and an engaged insider. In addition, a new hyphen-space of hopefulness – hopelessness emerged based on fieldwork. Findings The shifting positions are manifested in the entanglement of stories of the researcher and the people met during the fieldwork in the hyphen-spaces of insiderness – outsiderness, engagement – distance and hopefulness – hopelessness. The stories reveal how for some the co-working space was a place for hope while for others it caused distress and even burnout. Practical/implications The ethnographic understanding of social enterprises go beyond heroic representations, which affects how the phenomenon is represented in academic and public discussions. Social/implications This study concludes that despite its failure in the form of a bankruptcy, the co-working cooperative succeeded in enabling “social innovation” in the form of hope and personal development – also for the researcher. Originality/value This study contributes to the social entrepreneurship literature in showing how ethnographic fieldwork and acknowledging researcher subjectivity bring up alternative representations of social entrepreneurship. The entangled stories of participants and researchers can be a powerful way to reveal situated understandings.

Previous research highlights that ecopreneurship helps to live within planetary limits and influence existing practices. Yet, the tactics of ecopreneurs aiming to do this is rarely covered. This study follows three ecopreneurs in urban planning, food, and clothing sectors during four years while they tried to influence existing practices. Over the years their activities changed, decelerated, or stopped. Owing to the difficulties and opposition they faced, their tactics included resource bricolage, and giving in to opposition and finding detours. These findings present ecopreneurship as a mundane process evolving over time.

The overall aim of this study is to increase the understanding of social entrepreneurship by analysing the social entrepreneurship assumptions in academic discourse, which offer a formula for social change, and the mundane practices of microentrepreneurs. This study brings the attention to the taken-for-granted assumptions of social entrepreneurship through studying how it is practiced. I followed the notion of social entrepreneurship and the work of people who identify themselves or were identified with social entrepreneurship by others in Finland. Theoretically, I asked how a practice perspective informs the study of social entrepreneurship. Empirically, I asked how microentrepreneurs identifying themselves or identified with social entrepreneurship cope with and solve mundane work related challenges over time. For answering the questions, I first reviewed social entrepreneurship, critical entrepreneurship and practice-based studies. Second, I followed microentrepreneurs' mund...

We have seen an emergence of transformative food studies as part of sustainability transitions. While some scholars have successfully opened up their experiences of pursuing transformation through scholar-activism, assumptions underlying researchers' choices and how scholars orient to and go about their work often remain implicit. In this article, we bring forth a practice theoretical understanding of knowledge production and advocate that researchers turn to examining their own research practice. We ask how to make our own academic knowledge production/research practice more explicit, and why it is important to do so in the context of transformative food studies. To help scholars to reflect on their own research practice, we mobilize the framework of practical activity (FPA). We draw on our own experiences in academia and use our ethnographic studies on self-reliant food production and procurement to illustrate academic knowledge production. Thus, this article provides conceptu...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss researcher subjectivity in social entrepreneurship ethnographies. Previous research has highlighted a need for alternatives to the heroic representations of social entrepreneurship. Ethnographic methods have been mentioned as a relevant direction to create such emerging understandings. Design/methodology/approach This paper shows what followed from a decision of a researcher to do an ethnography of a co-working cooperative established for social innovation. Based on the notion of “working the hyphens” in previous research, further developed by other scholars as “working within hyphen-spaces”, the position of the researcher shifted during the research process between a distant outsider and an engaged insider. In addition, a new hyphen-space of hopefulness – hopelessness emerged based on fieldwork. Findings The shifting positions are manifested in the entanglement of stories of the researcher and the people met during the fieldwork in the hyphen-spaces of insiderness – outsiderness, engagement – distance and hopefulness – hopelessness. The stories reveal how for some the co-working space was a place for hope while for others it caused distress and even burnout. Practical/implications The ethnographic understanding of social enterprises go beyond heroic representations, which affects how the phenomenon is represented in academic and public discussions. Social/implications This study concludes that despite its failure in the form of a bankruptcy, the co-working cooperative succeeded in enabling “social innovation” in the form of hope and personal development – also for the researcher. Originality/value This study contributes to the social entrepreneurship literature in showing how ethnographic fieldwork and acknowledging researcher subjectivity bring up alternative representations of social entrepreneurship. The entangled stories of participants and researchers can be a powerful way to reveal situated understandings.

The aim of this paper is to use a framework developed by Di Domenico et al. (2010) for analysing bricolage in one social entrepreneurship organisation, namely Hub Helsinki: In what ways is bricolage used and visible in the everyday organisational life of Hub Helsinki?

31 Tasapainoilua Sue Ellenin vai omalla äänellä: nuoren tutkijan neljä skenaariota akateemisesta menestyksestä Eeva Houtbeckers Johdanto Olen jo pitkään tiennyt, että haluan olla yhtenä toimijana muiden mukana osoittamassa, että nykyinen elämäntapamme on kestämätön ja ...

Previous research highlights that ecopreneurship helps to live within planetary limits and influence existing practices. Yet, the tactics of ecopreneurs aiming to do this is rarely covered. This study follows three ecopreneurs in urban planning, food, and clothing sectors during four years while they tried to influence existing practices. Over the years their activities changed, decelerated, or stopped. Owing to the difficulties and opposition they faced, their tactics included resource bricolage, and giving in to opposition and finding detours. These findings present ecopreneurship as a mundane process evolving over time.

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The starting point of this paper is a recognition of the need for transitions to sustainability. This exploratory paper is a stepping stone for development of a theoretical framework for ways of imagining and acting upon ecofeminist degrowth futures based on design for sustainability transitions (DFST). The aim of the framework is to conceptualise the role paid and un(der)paid work in and for such transitions. In this paper, we bring together previous research of design for sustainability DFST, degrowth, and ecofeminist understandings of care as gendered work. With references to the multi-level perspective of system innovations, DFST investigates the niche socio-cultural practices and technologies to develop and analyse design scenarios for alternative futures using participatory approaches. Degrowth as a civic movement that challenges the continuous economic growth as a policy making goal, converges with DFST in its holistic understanding of a need for systemic change. Recent discu...

This short essay is based on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork that focuses on post-growth work in the global North. Some of the people I have met during my fieldwork are in the process of altering their life according to their understanding of more affirmative ways of living. Here the focus is on households that strive for self-sufficiency in terms of food. However, in order to cultivate land, one needs to access it. This essay focuses on describing self-sufficiency households’ everyday needs for private land ownership and its implications for the households. It seems to be hard to completely rid oneself of owning land because of the institutional arrangements beyond one’s immediate influence. For discussions concerning transitions toward more sustainable societies, projects exploring other ways of organising land ownership are important.

Design for sustainability transitions is an emerging area of research and practice which integrates and expands theories of sustainability science, design and transition management. Recently sustainability transitions have been framed as design challenges with three main dimensions: creative, technical and political (Gaziulusoy & Ryan, 2017). With references to the multi-level perspective of system innovations, design for sustainability transitions investigates the niche socio-cultural practices and technologies to develop and analyse design scenarios for alternative futures using participatory approaches. Degrowth as a civic movement that challenges the continuous economic growth as a policy making goal, converges design for sustainability transitions in its holistic understanding of a need for systemic change. Yet, recent discussions in degrowth have called for a deeper understanding of actors that would carry out such transitions. This includes taking into consideration questions of power, gender, class, ethnicity and inter-species interactions, which are at times overlooked in analyses. It is our position that there is a need for expansion, diversification and deepening of theoretical groundings of design for sustainability transitions as well. In this article we provide a short history of this research and practice area, frame a theoretical perspective on degrowth integrating the implications of current relevant questions, integrate this theoretical perspective with design for sustainability transitions theories, and discuss implications for design and policy practice as well as degrowth research.

Yhteiskunnallisella yrittajyydella viitataan toimintaan, jossa liiketoiminnan keinoin edistetaan yhteiskunnallista hyvaa. Yhteiskunnallinen yrittajyys ei ole ongelmaton kasite, mutta silti se herattaa monissa toivoa nykyisten monimutkaisten globaalien ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi. Suomessa yhteiskunnallinen yrittajyys laajana kattokasitteena pitaa sisallaan monia erilaisia toimijoita, joista osan juuret ulottuvat 1800-luvun lopulle. Tassa artikkelissa esitellaan yhteiskunnallisen yrittajyyden toimijoita Suomessa ja kuvataan viimeisimpia toimijoita, joihin kirjoittajan oma tutkimus keskittyy.

There is an increasing amount of practice-based entrepreneurship studies that advance the emerging field of entrepreneurship-as-practice (EAP). In this paper, we examine the practices of doing practice-based entrepreneurship studies by drawing from our own fieldwork experiences based on a framework developed for this study. Based on this, we make three suggestions for developing EAP: 1) the need to account for the interconnectedness of practices, 3) the need to develop ethnographic studies and 3) the need to change the methodological vocabulary. If in EAP studies it is considered that practices are interconnected and value is given to ethnographic fieldwork, these should be reflected in the way we document entrepreneurship-as-practice research. We argue that EAP research benefits from staying open to advancements in practice-based studies in other disciplines, especially in the field of organisation and management studies. We conclude by an invitation to consider the practices of doing EAP research.

tsensätyöllistäminen sosio-ekologisten kriisien ratkaisemiseksi on osa laajempaa trendiä, jossa palkkatyö ja palkkatyöhön perustuva yhteiskunta ovat murroksessa. Seurasin tutkimuksessani kahta itsensätyöllistäjää ja yhtä osuuskuntaa vuosina 2009–2014. Heitä yhdisti huoli maailman tilasta, kuten kasvavasta vaatejätemäärästä ja voimakkaasta kaupungistumisesta. Huolet kanavoituivat yrityksen perustamiseen ja itsensätyöllistämiseen. Itsensätyöllistäjät sekä osa osuuskuntatoimijoista identifioituivat yhteiskunnalliseen yrittäjyyteen, jossa yrittäjyyden keinoin haetaan ratkaisuja sosiaalisiin ongelmiin ja ympäristöongelmiin. Kuitenkin heidän työtään leimasi itsensätyöllistäjille tyypillinen epävarmuus toimeentulosta ja toiminnan jatkumisesta.

Tarkastelemme artikkelissamme, miten tyoelaman ja ymparistokysymysten yhtymapintoja on kuvattu Kansainvalisen tyojarjesto ILO:n vihrean tyon raporteissa. Esitamme, etta raporteissa on kayttokelpoisia jasennyksia siita, miten tyoelaman teemat ja ymparistokysymykset nivoutuvat yhteen. Listaamme ILO:n julkisesti verkossa saatavilla olevat vihrean tyon raportit ja kuvaamme, millaisista teemoista raporteissa on kirjoitettu. Keskitymme tarkemmin kahteen keskeiseen raporteissa esille nousevaan teemaan: (1) ilmastonmuutoksen ja (2) kestavyyssiirtyman vaikutuksiin tyohon ja tyollisyyteen. Tarkastelemme vihrean tyon raportteja tukeutuen aikaisemmassa tutkimuksessa tunnistettuun eroon heikon ja vahvan kestavyysajattelun valilla. Lisaksi esitamme, etta raporttien teemoihin perehtyminen antaa tyoelaman tutkijoille ja kehittajille valineita oikeudenmukaisen siirtyman ymmartamiseksi ja edistamiseksi. Johtopaatoksena esitamme, etta tyoelaman tutkimusta ja kehittamista tulisi yha enemman tarkastella...

Let me take you on a tour from rainforests to waste tips, from animal farms to urban streets. Imagine rainforest in front of you. If this is difficult, you can imagine a forest that you know. Imagine machines or people that cut down trees one after another until it is all cut down. They leave noting growing or living. Biodiversity is diminishing in front of you. Perhaps a species that we did not know existed is now extinct because those hectares were felled. Some plants and species would return quite quickly, if allowed, but now there is no time for that. This land is to be used for growing soybeans, year after year, until the soil is eroded. The grown soybeans are harvested, packed, shipped, sold, and resold. The soybeans end up in front of a pig, a cow or poultry. These animals are farmed to die by billions for humans to eat and use in products. The tour continues. Think of what you wear, at this very moment. How was that piece of clothing produced? What was required to grow cotto...

This position paper presents a prototype research agenda for design for sustainability transformations (DfST) in the (post-)pandemic context. COVID-19 has made visible vulnerabilities, structural dysfunctions, inequalities and injustices across health, environmental, social, economic, provisional and political systems. In response to the crisis, rapid, adaptive, technological and social innovations have started to emerge across all levels of society, opening up a multiplicity of alternative futures. This is an opportune time to address long-standing and urgent sustainability challenges in ways that move beyond the ineffective and business-as-usual approaches of ecological modernism. The authors used a co-creative process to identify weak signals relevant to sustainability transformations. In alignment with the deep leverage points framework, the identified weak signals are presented under two main headings: first, social structures and institutions; and second, values, goals and wor...

tsensätyöllistäminen sosio-ekologisten kriisien ratkaisemiseksi on osa laajempaa trendiä, jossa palkkatyö ja palkkatyöhön perustuva yhteiskunta ovat murroksessa. Seurasin tutkimuksessani kahta itsensätyöllistäjää ja yhtä osuuskuntaa vuosina 2009–2014. Heitä yhdisti huoli maailman tilasta, kuten kasvavasta vaatejätemäärästä ja voimakkaasta kaupungistumisesta. Huolet kanavoituivat yrityksen perustamiseen ja itsensätyöllistämiseen. Itsensätyöllistäjät sekä osa osuuskuntatoimijoista identifioituivat yhteiskunnalliseen yrittäjyyteen, jossa yrittäjyyden keinoin haetaan ratkaisuja sosiaalisiin ongelmiin ja ympäristöongelmiin. Kuitenkin heidän työtään leimasi itsensätyöllistäjille tyypillinen epävarmuus toimeentulosta ja toiminnan jatkumisesta.