The new competitive environment of social enterprises: an experimental study on perceptions and consumer intentions for social vs. traditional enterprises

The present study compares external perceptions and consumer intentions for social vs. traditional enterprises in order to analyse social enterprises' competitive ability in the market for sustainable products. To this end, an experimental survey was conducted with 222 participants. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance show that social enterprises are perceived as more socially responsible and credible than their traditional counterparts and face higher expectations in terms of sustainable behaviour. However, irresponsible behaviour was not found to yield stronger negative stakeholder reactions to social enterprises than to traditional enterprises. In addition, consumers' willingness to buy and willingness to pay for sustainable products were not higher for the products offered by social enterprises than by traditional enterprises. In sum, the study indicates that it is a difficult undertaking for social enterprises to successfully compete with their traditional counterparts in the market for sustainable products in the long run.