Social enterprises are organizations that pursue economic self-reliance while realizing social purposes such as employment of vulnerable groups, provision of social services, revitalization of local communities, and environmental protection. Since a s...
Social enterprises are organizations that pursue economic self-reliance while realizing social purposes such as employment of vulnerable groups, provision of social services, revitalization of local communities, and environmental protection. Since a significant number of these social enterprises are operated on a small scale, they continue management in a situation where the company’s capital strength and technological capability, professional personnel, marketing competence, and management know-how are somewhat insufficient. Accordingly, many social enterprises are promoting various forms of collaboration with for-profit and non-profit organizations in order to overcome the limitations of internal resources while at the same time achieving sustainable growth. In particular, after the COVID-19 pandemic, as the non-face-to-face environment has expanded, there are increasing cases where the forms of collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations are carried out on an online basis.
Against this background, this study aimed to empirically analyze which organizational characteristic factors have the greatest influence on domestic social enterprises in selecting types of online-based collaboration with other for-profit and non-profit organizations, and how the performance of collaboration differs accordingly.
The specific research objectives of this study are as follows.
First, by using two major dimensions of online-based collaboration types for collaboration between social enterprises and other for-profit and non-profit organizations—namely, “collaboration partner organization (for-profit organization, non-profit organization)” and “collaboration target activity (inbound activity, outbound activity)”this study classified the types, and identifies the organizational characteristic factors that have the greatest influence on these collaboration types.
Second, this study empirically verifies whether collaboration performance appears differently according to the types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other for-profit and non-profit organizations presented above.
Third, this study analyzes how the relationship between the types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other for-profit and non-profit organizations and collaboration performance differs depending on the certification type of social enterprises.
In order to achieve the research objectives, this study conducted an in-depth review of existing literature, and through this, derived detailed measurement items for the main research variables of this study: organizational characteristics, types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations, and collaboration performance. In addition, based on the results of this literature review, this study designed a research model and established related research hypotheses to test them.
The organizational characteristics set as research variables in this study were composed of strategy, management and support systems, organizational structure, organizational culture, and IT infrastructure, and the types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations were defined into four major types—non-profit organizations· inbound activities, non-profit organizations·outbound activities, for-profit organizations·inbound activities, and for-profit organizations·outbound activities—according to the combination of collaboration partner organizations (for-profit organizations, non-profit organizations) and collaboration target activities (inbound activities, outbound activities). In addition, in this study, collaboration performance was set as the dependent variable affected by the types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations, and the certification type of social enterprises was included as a research variable that moderates the relationship between types of online-based inter-organizational collaboration and collaboration performance.
The research subjects of this study were limited to domestic social enterprises that are carrying out inter-organizational collaboration activities based on “STORE 36.5,”a representative platform that is substantially supporting the online collaboration of domestic social enterprises.“STORE 36.5,”which is included in the research subjects of this study, is a nationwide online platform operated by the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency, and it provides a digital ecosystem in which social enterprises can collaborate in real time with various entities such as public institutions, private companies, and non-profit organizations.
In order to conduct empirical statistical analysis, this study conducted a survey targeting domestic social enterprises, and the questionnaire respondents were composed mainly of representatives and executives of domestic social enterprises and practitioners who actually perform online-based collaboration tasks. In particular, in this study, among social enterprises registered in the National Integrated Information System for Social Enterprises, the sample was selected focusing on enterprises that conducted online collaboration based on “STORE 36.5” within the last three years.
In this study, a total of 280 questionnaires were distributed to the selected sample from August 25 to September 29, 2025, and 254 were collected; among these, a final 231 questionnaires, excluding those that were insincere or not completed, were used for statistical analysis and hypothesis testing.
If the main statistical analysis results and the contents of the research hypothesis testing in this study are summarized, they are as follows.
First, in this study, as a result of analyzing the organizational characteristic factors (strategy, management and support systems, organizational structure, organizational culture, IT infrastructure) that most importantly influence social enterprises in determining the types of online-based collaboration with other organizations, IT infrastructure was identified as the strongest factor, and next, management and support systems, strategy, and organizational culture were found to have a high influence at a statistically significant level. In contrast, among the organizational characteristic factors, organizational structure was found not to have an influence at a statistically significant level in determining the types of online-based collaboration with other organizations by social enterprises. This suggests that, in determining the types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations, factors such as the digital capabilities possessed by social enterprises, management systems, strategic direction, and the openness of organizational culture should be actively considered.
Second, as a result of analyzing whether differences exist in collaboration performance by types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations, it was confirmed that collaboration performance shows differences at a statistically significant level. That is, among the types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations selected by social enterprises, the for-profit organization·outbound activity type showed the highest level of performance in most collaboration performance items such as “information sharing,” “work efficiency,” and “inter-organizational relationships,” and next, it was found that the for-profit organization·inbound activity type showed a high level of performance. In contrast, among the types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations selected by social enterprises, the non-profit organization·inbound activity type and the non-profit organization·outbound activity type showed relatively low performance.
Third, as a result of testing whether there is a moderating effect according to the certification type of social enterprises in the relationship between the types of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations and collaboration performance, it was confirmed that the certification type of social enterprises does not show a moderating effect at a statistically significant level.
This study has academic significance in that it systematically classified and typologized the forms of online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other for-profit and non-profit organizations, while empirically analyzing the relationships among these collaboration types, various organizational characteristic factors, and collaboration performance. Along with this, based on the results of empirical statistical analysis and research hypothesis testing, this study comprehensively presented collaboration strategies and directions, as well as policy suggestions related to online-based collaboration between social enterprises and other organizations, thereby providing useful practical implications regarding how executives and practitioners working in domestic and international social enterprises should select types of online-based collaboration with other organizations suitable for their organizational characteristics, and furthermore, what approach strategies should be taken to create collaboration performance through this.