Table 1. Comparative overview of... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1.

Comparative overview of organizational tensions in social enterprises

Tension	Description	Key challenges	References
Performing	Conflict between social objectives and financial goals and difficulty measuring social performance	Defining appropriate indicators; risk of mission drift	Smith et al. (2013); Civera et al. (2020)
Organizing	Dilemmas around organizational structure, culture and human resource management	Hiring profiles (technical vs social); internal governance	Smith et al. (2013); Battilana and Dorado (2010)
Belonging	Issues of organizational identity and legitimacy among diverse stakeholders	Aligning expectations; internal cohesion vs subgroup formation	Smith et al. (2013); Tracey and Phillips (2007)
Learning	Tension between short-term financial outcomes and long-term social impact horizons	Strategic planning; continuous adaptation; scalability challenges	Smith et al. (2013); Hoffman et al. (2012)

Tension	Description	Key challenges	References
Performing	Conflict between social objectives and financial goals and difficulty measuring social performance	Defining appropriate indicators; risk of mission drift	Smith et al. (2013); Civera et al. (2020)
Organizing	Dilemmas around organizational structure, culture and human resource management	Hiring profiles (technical vs social); internal governance	Smith et al. (2013); Battilana and Dorado (2010)
Belonging	Issues of organizational identity and legitimacy among diverse stakeholders	Aligning expectations; internal cohesion vs subgroup formation	Smith et al. (2013); Tracey and Phillips (2007)
Learning	Tension between short-term financial outcomes and long-term social impact horizons	Strategic planning; continuous adaptation; scalability challenges	Smith et al. (2013); Hoffman et al. (2012)