An epistemological analysis of organizational strategy within social economy

Abstract

This article presents an epistemological analysis of scientific papers focusing on the study of organizational strategy within social economy enterprises. By combining epistemological studies from two knowledge fields, organizational strategy and social economy, this article aims to grasp whether the set of studies that, today, make up the theoretical framework about the strategy of social economy enterprises might be strong enough to support the development of their own knowledge concerning the strategic particularities of these organizations. The analysis was based on a literature review about the theme, which identified 74 papers on organizational strategy in a database containing more than 3,000 studies in social economy. An analytical form consisting of five elements was prepared through the epistemological attitudes adopted in the branches of strategy and social economy: focus, ideology, strategy evolution, strategy definition, and attitude. As a result, three categories of studies were identified, according to the crucial nature of the strategy definition adopted: strategy as a pragmatic content, strategy as an analytical process, and strategy as a structural choice. The conclusions point out that the study of organizational strategy in social economy shows an evolution whose tendency is conducting studies that increasingly focus on the investigation of specific strategic particularities of these organizations.

Keywords:
Social economy; Organizational strategy; Epistemological analysis; Literature review; Strategic management.