The Sustainable Path of Social Enterprises toward Hybridity: Insights from a Multiple Case Study of Italian NPOs

Despite the increasing attention to the hybridization phenomenon in the modern social entrepreneurship literature, still little is known regarding the sustainable design of hybrid organizational models of social enterprises. Literature has highlighted the existence of two opposite stereotypes of hybrid organizational models, namely integrated and compartmentalized. Nevertheless, the numerous intermediate structures existing between these ‘pure’ forms have received limited attention yet. In order to fill such a gap, we conducted a multiple case study analysis aiming at deepening knowledge about sustainable stereotypes for hybrid organizations, finding what we label as the ‘semi-integrated’ model. Thanks to in-depth interviews with managers and board members of 9 socially entrepreneurial non-profit organizations (NPOs) operating in the Italian socio-healthcare sector, critical issues for each organizational model emerged. In particular, six factors best describe the sustainability of a hybrid organizational modes: internal and external legitimacy, monetary exchanges, loss of identity risk, organizational structure, and constraints to growth. Comparisons between models are provided, highlighting main advantages and disadvantages in relation to organizational sustainability critical issues.