Stewardship revisited at the fuzzy ends of the Yunus social business framework

Purpose

In recent years, there has been a growing number of projects and organisations self-labelled as a Grameen or Yunus Social Business (YSB). The model has attracted the interest of media, academic researchers and practitioners. This paper presents a theoretical model to frame the diverse phenomena of Yunus Social Business, reviewing its different components through the lens of stewardship theory. The paper aims to extend the interest about YSB beyond social entrepreneurship and attract researchers from overlapping fields. Analysis of agency-stewardship literature points to a lack of consensus on what theory dominates corporate social responsibility (CSR), nonprofits and social entrepreneurship agent-principal relationships, so stewardship is revisited to understand its exploratory validity in the different domains described in the YSB framework.



Design/methodology/approach

This is essentially a conceptual paper that proposes the use of well-researched theory into the YSB phenomena.



Findings

Existing academic literature places YSB within the domain of social entrepreneurship, the theoretical framework challenges that assumption and proposes a new theoretical lens for the analysis.



Limitations

The broadness of the framework does not allow for a full discussion of the implications of each typology. Further empirical analysis of each component will enrich our understanding of the diverse YSB phenomena.



Implications

I argue that Yunus Social Business (YSB) should be seen as a holistic approach, and not to be enclosed and constrained under the social entrepreneurial label.



Contribution

Using stewardship theory, the paper aims to understand the agent-principal relationship in the broader spectrum of YSB: 'pure' Yunus Social Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, social entrepreneurs, and non-profit organisations engaged in Earned Income Strategies (EIS). This paper lays the groundwork for future empirical endeavors seeking to advance the social business field.