Date
2-2022
Department
Graduate School of Business
Degree
Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Chair
Melissa Connell
Keywords
social enterprise, leadership, challenges, delegate, team, United States
Disciplines
Business
Recommended Citation
Lee, Elizabeth A., "Overcoming Barriers to Social Enterprise Expansion, Growth, and Financial Sustainability: The Leadership Challenges" (2022). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 3386.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3386
Abstract
Social enterprise organizations are emerging worldwide as effective businesses that are willing and able to address major social problems, yet leadership challenges exist that impede long-term survival, financial viability, and positive social impact. The general problem addressed was the failure of leaders within social enterprise organizations to delegate tasks and responsibilities and build strong teams resulting in the inability to expand the business, while achieving growth and financial sustainability. The purpose of this qualitative, flexible design, single case study was to understand the reasons behind the failure of social enterprise organizational leaders to delegate tasks and responsibilities and build strong teams. This larger issue was explored through in-depth interviews that provided rich data about the potential failure of social enterprise organizational leaders in the United States to practice delegation and team building. Four themes emerged through a process of coding the textual data, which included (a) leadership challenges with delegation, (b) leadership challenges with building strong teams, (c) leadership challenges with business expansion, and (d) leadership influence on organizational culture. Two sub-themes, relationships, feedback, and communication and shared knowledge and responsibilities emerged from the themes of leadership challenges with delegation and leadership challenges with building strong teams, respectively. Analysis of these themes, sub-themes, and current academic literature facilitated the development of potential application strategies that organizations can utilize to improve general business practice. This study increased understanding of the direct impact leadership challenges with delegation and team building has on a social enterprise organization’s people, performance, productivity, proficiency, and profitability.
