Purpose

This paper aims to explore the barriers facing social enterprise-led community energy projects in Vietnam, to understand the barriers and enablers of social innovation in transitioning economies. In doing so, this paper seeks to identify whether the Vietnamese ecosystem is conducive to sustainable community energy projects and social innovation more broadly.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper used a qualitative, case study-based methodology to explore institutional barriers to social innovation in the context of three community-led energy projects in Northern Vietnam. Interviews and focus groups were undertaken with 17 individual stakeholders within or engaged with the three case studies. The qualitative data used was analysed using constant comparative method, a method of analysis based in grounded theory that allows for iterative analysis of the data gathered.

Findings

Social enterprises and their beneficiaries are reliant on their ability to network, but with the Vietnamese government actively involved in the markets, there are significant barriers standing in the way of these networking opportunities. Communities with little political capital are alienated from state institutions, whereas enterprises that offer alternative solutions to governmental priorities are seen as competitors by political agents.

Originality/value

Applying Granovetter’s theory of “embeddedness” and Herold et al.’s (2019) and Popov et al.’s (2016) theories on institutional centrality and power distribution, this paper seeks to add to our understanding on the impact large, hegemonic institutions can have on the networking ability of social enterprises and their beneficiaries.

中文翻译：

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漂流下河：越南社区主导的社会创新

目的

本文旨在探讨越南社会企业主导的社区能源项目所面临的障碍，以了解转型经济体中社会创新的障碍和促成因素。在此过程中，本文试图确定越南的生态系统是否更有利于可持续社区能源项目和社会创新。

设计/方法/方法

本文使用基于案例研究的定性方法，在越南北部的三个社区主导的能源项目的背景下，探索了社会创新的制度性障碍。与这三个案例研究一起或参与了这三个案例研究的17个个人利益相关者进行了访谈和焦点小组讨论。使用定性比较方法对使用的定性数据进行分析，这是一种基于扎根理论的分析方法，可以对收集到的数据进行迭代分析。

发现

社会企业及其受益者依赖于他们的人际网络能力，但是随着越南政府积极参与市场，在这些人际网络机会的道路上存在着巨大的障碍。政治资本很少的社区与国家机构疏远了，而为政府优先事项提供替代解决方案的企业被政治代理视为竞争者。

创意/价值

应用Granovetter的“嵌入性”理论和Herold等人。（2019）和Popov等。的（2016）关于制度中心性和权力分配的理论，本文旨在加深我们对霸权制度对社会企业及其受益者的网络能力的影响的理解。