| Abstract [eng] |
This Master thesis examines how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations are enacted, oriented, and embedded in daily and strategic practices of social businesses operating within the Baltic social entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem (SEIE). While ESG is increasingly institutionalized through formal frameworks and reporting mechanisms, its relevance and application in small, resource-constrained social businesses remain underexplored. The aim of the thesis is to develop a practice-based understanding of the bidirectional relationship between ESG practices and strategies in Baltic social businesses. The study is grounded in practice-based theoretical perspectives, primarily Entrepreneurship-as-Practice, and adopts a Constructivist Grounded Theory Analysis approach. Empirical data were collected through 21 semi-structured interviews with founders, co-founders and CEOs from social businesses operating in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Inductive data analysis followed iterative coding, constant comparison, memo writing, and engagement with theory. Findings are presented through three interrelated domains of practice: ESG-Enacting Bundles of Practices, ESG-Orienting Bundles of Practices, and Ecosystem Emplacement. ESG enactment is shown to occur through everyday organizing practices such as producing impact through mission enactment, navigating organizational constraints, enacting ESG-like practices internally, and enabling third-party impact generation. These enactments do not translate directly into ecosystem engagement but become meaningful through ESG-orienting practices, which include positioning the organization for impact, calibrating morals and mission, and negotiating and utilizing ESG as an external language. Ecosystem emplacement reflects how organizations interpret problem spaces for impact, build community and advocacy roles, and navigate public sector instability, while remaining dynamically interconnected with orienting and enacting practices. The study develops a theoretical model that conceptualizes ESG as a relational and practice-based phenomenon rather than a linear or compliance-driven process. The main conclusions indicate that ESG in social businesses functions as an interpretive and negotiated set of meanings embedded in practice, shaped through ongoing orienting work rather than formal strategy. The thesis contributes to Entrepreneurship-as-Practice literature by foregrounding the role of orienting practices as a connective domain linking everyday enactments with ecosystem conditions. The results of the thesis are intended for academic audiences interested in practice-based entrepreneurship and sustainability research, as well as practitioners and policy actors engaged in supporting social businesses within emerging ecosystems. |
