Social innovation practices, entrepreneurial ecosystems and sustainable performance of social enterprises in Kenya
| dc.contributor.author | Kyaka, C. M. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-12-16T09:16:17Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-12-16T09:16:17Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description | Full - text thesis | |
| dc.description.abstract | Social enterprises in Kenya face growth and sustainable performance challenges with more than 50% not attaining their third birthday after inception. Besides, most social enterprises lack involvement of beneficiaries or stakeholders in decision-making, fail to serve the intended target population or marginalized groups and engage in activities that result in excessive waste production, energy consumption, or water usage without efforts to reduce or offset these negative impacts. The purpose of the research was to determine the influence of social innovation on the sustainable performance of social enterprises in Kenya. The study’s objectives were to examine the influence of co-creation, impact investing, community-led development, and open innovation on the sustainable performance of social enterprises in Nairobi, Kenya. The research also assessed the moderating influence of entrepreneurial ecosystems on the association between social innovation practices and the sustainable performance of social enterprises in Nairobi, Kenya. The research was based on the social innovations’ theory, cluster theory and triple bottom-line framework. This study used the post-positivism philosophy and a quantitative research design which values scope, statistical description, and generalization. The population for this study was 51,000 social enterprises in Nairobi Kenya and a sample of 394 enterprises selected using quota sampling. Data was gathered during the months of March and April 2025 using a questionnaire and analysis was through descriptive statistics, correlation, and ordinal regression analysis. The research findings determined that the main social innovations practices by social enterprises in Nairobi Kenya were impact investing, community led development, open-innovation, co-creation, and partnerships. Those that were rarely practiced included behavioural insights, collaborative consumption. crowdfunding and crowdsourcing. The findings also determined that co-creation, impact investing, community-led development and open innovation have a significant effect on the sustainable performance of social enterprises in Nairobi, Kenya. The study however, determined that entrepreneurial ecosystems have no significant moderating influence on the link between social innovation practices and the sustainable performance of social enterprises in Nairobi, Kenya. The study recommends to management in social enterprises to enhance their interaction with universities, research labs, and even rivals. Further, social enterprises should keep emphasising communities as the centre of their creations by including beneficiaries in the design and execution of solutions to guarantee relevance and ownership but also foster long-term sustainability and confidence inside the society. For policymakers, the study recommends that they should have programs for capacity-building that should concentrate on improving localised development plans and participative innovation. Further a policy framework should support knowledge sharing platforms with regular forums, innovation centres, and digital platforms which help to promote peer learning, copy-on-demand of successful models, and cross-sector alliances. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11071/15962 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Strathmore University | |
| dc.title | Social innovation practices, entrepreneurial ecosystems and sustainable performance of social enterprises in Kenya | |
| dc.type | Thesis |