Research on the Transformation Path of Social Organizations under the Two-Way Empowerment Mechanism: A Practical Analysis Based on the K Social Work Center
Jul 2026· Asia Pacific Economic and Management Review· Vol 3· 0 citations· 6 references
Abstract
Against the backdrop of local fiscal austerity, social organizations that are overly reliant on government procurement of services are facing a systemic survival crisis. Data shows that as of the end of 2023, the total number of social organizations in China had dropped to 881,600, a decrease of 9,700 from the previous year, representing a growth rate of -1.09%. This change not only exposes the industry's deep dependence on policy resources but also reflects the state's underlying intention to drive social organizations from quantitative expansion towards qualitative improvement. Through a case study of the K Social Work Center, this research finds that the key for social organizations to break free from resource constraints lies in leveraging the dual forces of government institutional guidance and market value orientation to build a sustainable ecosystem characterized by "compliance as a foundation, professional breakthrough, value feedback, and efficiency enhancement." Specifically, by implementing a "dual-end optimization" strategy—on one hand, adhering to the government end to solidify regulatory baseline, and on the other hand, expanding the market end to activate self-sustaining capabilities—the organization has successfully driven a triple transformation in governance modernization, service productization, and diversified self-financing capacity. This pathway ultimately facilitates a role shift from a passive policy-dependent entity to an active value co-creator in social governance.
The Protetoras da Leste collective is a social mobilization network made up of more than 200 women from the eastern periphery of São Paulo. The group operates by transforming women’s networks of care and solidarity into a driving force for territorial change, providing support, facilitating access to rights, and offering assistance in times of crisis, such as the recurrent floods that affect the territory where they live. Created during the Covid-19 pandemic to address its impacts on vulnerable families, the collective gained strength and legitimacy through its community-based actions. Its success led a local civil society organization to support and foster new initiatives developed by the group. With financial and institutional backing, the collective expanded its scope of action and established its own headquarters. As the group transitions from an organic support network to a more formalized structure, it faces the challenge of professionalizing its management and accessing public funding opportunities without losing active grassroots participation, while dealing with technical bureaucracy and the emotional burden placed on its leadership. The case thus explores the tensions and challenges involved in the collective’s institutionalization process.
Inácio Dias de Andrade, Débora Cajé Yamamoto· Revista Brasileira de Casos...· 0 citations
Driven by the dual drive of digital technology empowerment and industrial structure reshaping, the platform economy has become the core carrier for absorbing employment and ensuring people's livelihood in China, and the scale of flexible employment it covers has exceeded the 200 million mark. However, while this group enjoys employment flexibility, they also face a serious lack of social security. The traditional social security system based on industrial standard labor relations shows obvious exclusion effect in the face of fragmented and decentralized labor under the control of algorithms. Based on the perspective of collaborative governance, this paper analyzes the practical dilemmas such as ambiguous identification of labor relations, imbalance in the distribution of responsibilities and ineffective regulatory coordination. By comparing JD.com's "full guarantee", Meituan and Ele.me's "selective guarantee", and Lala's "de-wages" governance model of foreign Uber, the efficiency differences in the allocation of rights and responsibilities of multiple subjects are discussed. The research shows that building a collaborative governance network with the participation of the government, platforms, trade unions and workers is the key to breaking the situation. This paper advocates realizing the multi-party sharing of social security responsibilities by innovating "order/proportional" flexible payment, promoting occupational injury protection pilots, and strengthening digital supervision methods. This study not only has important academic discussion value, but also directly responds to the policy demand of improving the insurance rate of flexible employment personnel in the national "15th Five-Year Plan", and has clear practical relevance.
Jun-Ru Tao· Asia Pacific Economic and Ma...· 0 citations
This research investigates the discrepancies between e-governance policies and their practical implementation at the Lao Social Security Organization (LSSO) Headquarters located in Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR. The study is framed by a comprehensive theoretical model that combines the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, and the Information Systems Success Model (ISSM). Utilizing a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach, the research team gathered quantitative data from 206 participants, with 109 active users of LSSO digital services completing the entire survey that assessed 11 constructs. Additionally, qualitative insights were obtained through semi-structured Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with six LSSO employees from the IT, Public Relations, and Legislation departments. The internal consistency of all eleven constructs was found to be acceptable to excellent (Cronbach's alpha = 0.717-0.917). The results indicate that the digital transformation of LSSO is not primarily hindered by technical failures or user distrust but rather by three interconnected gaps: 1) an awareness and communication gap, where low user awareness, rather than lack of trust, poses the main obstacle to adoption; 2) a service quality gap, wherein negative experiences at partner hospitals under the Ministry of Public Health diminish user satisfaction with LSSO's platform; 3) an informal sector coverage gap, exemplified by a 47.1 percent non-user rate among informal and voluntary workers. Furthermore, the detailed findings reveal that ease of use and system quality are significant predictors of user satisfaction, while awareness and trust influence service utilization. Although facilitating conditions and social influence both partially predict continued usage intentions, social influence emerges as the strongest single predictor of both usage behavior (r = 0.728) and satisfaction (r = 0.737). This study contributes empirical insights into institutional-level e-governance implementation in Lao PDR, highlighting cross-ministerial service spillover as an overlooked aspect of the policy-practice gap. Practical recommendations are categorized according to the level of institutional authority necessary for their implementation.
Pathoumphone Ounnaphao, Thanousorn Vongpraseuth· International Journal of Res...· 0 citations
This paper offers a theoretical synthesis explaining why family firms in institutionally fragile environments often prove resilient - a pattern that contradicts standard economic theory, where the family is typically treated as a source of inefficiency. The objective is to build an integrative model of strategic decision-making that brings together the concept of Family Social Capital (FSC), insights from behavioural economics, and the new institutionalist framework. From this, a "socio-cognitive filter" model is proposed, showing that FSC is inherently ambivalent. In settings where formal institutions are weak - as the case of Moldova illustrates - FSC can act as a substitute for missing market mechanisms and reduce transaction costs. At the same time, it can lock inefficient practices in place, driven by loss aversion and the tendency toward system closure. The novelty lies in shifting away from a linear reading of FSC as purely a positive resource toward understanding it as a structural filter.
Ivan Stamov· Development Through Research...· 0 citations
Social entrepreneurship has gained prominence over the past few decades as a means of driving potentially transformative societal improvements. These ventures typically aim to support economically disadvantaged groups who are unable to improve their circumstances without help. However, the endeavours should be financially sustainable, as there is no guarantee that subsidies from taxpayers or charitable donors will continue indefinitely. The importance of financial outcomes as a resource for achieving greater social impact is often underestimated, particularly by social entrepreneurs who prioritize social goals over financial success. Previous research findings were systematically synthesized to provide insights into the specific factors that enhance the performance of social enterprises. This paper especially employs business perspectives to understand the self-sustaining mechanism for social good. The framework suggests that Entrepreneurial Orientation is a predictor that maximizes financial returns (mediating variable) for the social performance of social enterprises. A moderating variable of Social Orientation was adopted to reflect the relationship between the predictor and the level of financial performance. This offers new insights into the strategic management of social enterprises.
Q. L. Nguyen, Jeffrey S. S. Cheah, A. Amran· Albukhary Social Business Jo...· 0 citations
The purpose of this article is to argue that for business schools to regain social license, their teaching and research must create positive social impact. The study adopts the perspective of an applied business schools, based in a capital city. It discusses a strategy to regain public support and to attract new students and new research partners.
This study’s strategy is based on economic analysis and concepts of social license, using a balanced scorecard approach. The implementation of the strategy is informed by co-design principles and behavioural economics, in particular the UK BIT EAST framework.
The study identifies three channels for achieving social impact to restore social license. Firstly, through the fields of research conducted – the application of business knowledge to social enterprise and government delivering social services; secondly, through broadening participation of students in business studies; and thirdly, taking an active role in informing public policy decisions. The study illustrates how co-design principles and behavioural economic approaches can be used to implement the strategy.
This is a conceptual paper providing a process to develop a social impact strategy for a business school in an applied university. While the authors are confident that early signs indicate the success of the strategy, the study does not have or can present conclusive data. In this sense the study is speculative.
This study provides two sets of questions – “check lists” – that allow business schools to design their contributions to social impact in a bid to rebuild social license and help to attract students and research partners.
The study identifies three channels through which business schools can provide value to society.
This study outlines channels for creating social impact by business schools in applied universities based in capital cities to restore social license and illustrates how such a strategy can be implemented.
U. Dulleck, Bill Shorten· Journal of Social Impact in...· 0 citations
