Institutionalized Social Entrepreneurship in Indonesia: A report on the challenges of state-driven social entrepreneurship promotion within the Five Cities' social assistance program

ABSTRACTThe landscape of social entrepreneurship has undergone rapid evolution within business and non-profit sectors in recent years. However, there is a more recent trend in Indonesia, where social entrepreneurship is formally practised in public policy. This new approach represents an initiative related to what we call Institutionalized Social Entrepreneurship (ISE). In this article, we investigate the challenges faced while implementing experimental measures to transform cash transfers into social entrepreneurship programs based on 43 interviews with key stakeholders and end-users spreading over five regions. Our research findings indicate a lack of shared understanding among stakeholders when implementing social entrepreneurship programs. Furthermore, the beneficiaries face difficulties distinguishing between social entrepreneurship programs and regular cash transfers, leading to ineffective program outcomes and significant challenges in achieving community development objectives. This issue is exacerbated by an unbalanced power distribution between government and non-government actors involved in program implementation, which can potentially limit the program’s effectiveness and efficiency. Its unfolding transformation of social assistance and the application of social entrepreneurship in Indonesia highlight a new deal for welfare that responds to uncertain post-pandemic circumstances. This study adds to the literature on social entrepreneurship by highlighting the complexities of the state-society relationship in ISE.KEYWORDS: Social assistanceinstitutionalized social entrepreneurshipcash transfercommunity empowerment Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data available statementThe raw data are not publicly available due to containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.Additional informationFundingThe author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.Notes on contributorsTauchid Komara YudaTauchid Komara Yuda is a Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology and Social Policy, Lingnan University, Hong Kong. His research focus is centred on policies and politics of welfare states changes.Hari Harjanto SetiawanHari Harjanto Setiawan is a senior researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia. His research focuses on social entrepreneurship and development. HabibullahHabibullah is a senior researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia. His research primarily focuses on community development, corporate social responsibility, and welfare policy.Badrun SusantyoBadrun Susantyo is senior researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia. His research is mainly focused on welfare governance and community development.Hempri SuyatnaHempri Suyatna is an Associate Professor at the Department of Social Development & Welfare at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. He is currently researching social entrepreneurship, social movements, and community empowerment. He can be contacted at hempry@ugm.ac.id