Project 2: A contemporary analysis of social enterprise as a public health intervention

Conceptualising causal pathways to health through the work of social enterprises

Bobby MacaulayYunus Centre of Social Business and Health

Project 2 at a glance…• Causal Pathways to Health

– Analysis of social value reports– In process of compiling and writing-up results

• Social Enterprise and Health Assets– Conceptualising theoretical overlaps– Arranging final interview before compiling results

• Case Studies– Examining the views of different stakeholders

towards a social enterprise– Case Study 1 completed, Case Studies 2 and 3

underway

Causal Pathways to Health• Aim– To investigate potential causal pathways to

health through the work of social enterprises• Objectives– Gather data on the processes undertaken by

social enterprises and what impacts they have– Consider findings in relation to health literature

• Methods– Content analysis of evaluative reports (SAA

+SROI)

Sampling  SAA SROI

Population of qualifying reports

104 online + 4 not online

108 59 online 59

Duplicates and organisations outside UK

41 reports rejected 67 15 reports rejected 44

Organisations outside Scotland

46 reports rejected 21 31 reports rejected 13

Organisations not meeting SENSCOT definition

12 reports rejected 9 5 report rejected 8

Sample to analyse 9 8

Sample• Primary Focus

– Access to employment: 6– Housing: 5– Local economic development: 4– Access to financial services: 2

• Location– Glasgow and surrounding area: 5– Aberdeenshire: 4– Edinburgh and surrounding area: 3– Ayrshire: 2– Fife: 2– Scotland-wide: 1

• Reports published between 2004 and 2014

Identifying Processes• The first element of the content analysis was to

identify what each social enterprise actually does– Activities– Spaces provided– Interaction with different groups

• ACTIVITY 1- Identifying processes– Read through the page yourself– Highlight each distinct process or activity you find– Come together with the rest of your table– Write each one on a post-it note and stick on flip-chart

Processes• Around 200 distinct processes were identified• To make sense of them, they were grouped inductively into the following…– Community engagement– Education and skills development– Facilitate social interaction– Internal institutional activities and policies– Provide or facilitate employment– Provision of a positive space or environment– Provision of services

• Anything that the social enterprise claimed to make/produce/change through its work

• Outcomes were coded verbatim• Then grouped into ‘levels’ and ‘types’ of impact

Outcomes

Social Economic Cultural Environmental

Individual

Community

Systems/Society

• The causal connection between a particular process and a particular outcome (Disclaimer)

• ACTIVITY 2- Identifying causal pathways– Examine whether the previously highlighted

processes are causally linked to an outcome– Write each outcome on a post-it note– Draw a line between process and related outcome

Causal Pathways

• What you come out with are a number of different processes that result in a number of different outcomes– Some processes are ‘lonely’, as are some

outcomes– This research is only concerned with causal

pathways– 330 specific causal claims

Results

ProcessesCommunity engagement

Education and skills development

Facilitate social interaction

Internal institutional activities and policies

Provide or facilitate employment

Provision of a positive space or environment

Provision of services

OutcomesSocial

IndividualCommunity

Systems/Society

EconomicIndividual

CommunitySystems/Society

CulturalIndividual

CommunitySystems/Society

EnvironmentalIndividual

CommunitySystems/Society

• Write publishable paper(s)– Entire project• Consider in relation to health literature

– Analyse impacts of a single process or outcome• Employment?

– Compare and contrast to Case Study results• Anything systematically different between the two

sets of results?

Next steps