This study aims to examine how institutional pressures and organisational capabilities jointly shape digital transformation (DT) trajectories in work integration social enterprises (WISEs). While digitalisation promises efficiency gains and expanded social impact, it may also deepen digital exclusion and trigger mission drift in organisations designed to support vulnerable workers.
This study integrates institutional theory and the resource-based view (RBV) to analyse how external legitimacy pressures and internal dynamic capabilities influence DT processes in WISEs. Empirically, this study draws on five national focus groups and one transnational focus group involving 35 managers and practitioners across Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Romania. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
The findings reveal three distinct DT trajectories in WISEs: proactive transformation, where strong dynamic capabilities enable strategic and inclusive innovation; adaptive alignment, where moderate capabilities support gradual integration of digital tools while preserving organisational mission; and symbolic compliance, where limited capabilities result in superficial or project-driven digital adoption aimed primarily at maintaining legitimacy. This study demonstrates that DT in hybrid organisations is not a linear technological process but a socially embedded negotiation between institutional expectations and organisational agency.
This study is based on qualitative focus group data collected across four European countries and focuses primarily on organisational and managerial perspectives. Future research could incorporate longitudinal approaches and include the experiences of workers and beneficiaries to examine the long-term social implications of digitalisation in WISEs.
The findings highlight the importance of sustained organisational learning, participatory implementation practices and stable institutional support systems for achieving inclusive digitalisation in WISEs. Policymakers and funders should prioritise long-term digital capacity-building rather than short-term project-based interventions.
This study contributes to social enterprise and hybrid organisation research by developing a contextual model of DT trajectories in WISEs. By integrating institutional theory and the RBV, this study explains how hybrid organisations translate external digitalisation pressures into divergent organisational responses under varying institutional conditions.
