Understanding the Process of Knowledge Spillovers: Learning to Become Social Enterprises

Abstract

Through analyzing in-depth interview data obtained from representatives of U.K.-based social enterprises, we explore how traditional third-sector organizations acquire entrepreneurial knowledge via knowledge spillover and use this to transform themselves into more market-driven, businesslike social enterprises. An integrated framework for knowledge spillover is developed to highlight the connection with organizational efforts at each stage of the knowledge spillover process; this framework assists organizations in collecting leaked knowledge and turning it into both organizational action and specific social and human capital that can play an important role in facilitating these connections. This research contributes toward our further understanding of the knowledge spillover phenomenon.