Purpose

This paper examines social impact investing (SII), a growing source of investment from the Global North to the Global South celebrated as a new way of doing good in low-income countries, but bearing elements of neoliberalism that can reify post-colonial contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

A microfoundational, autoethnographic approach is used based on the author’s experiences and emotional epiphanies while engaged in an activist entrepreneurial enterprise. The author’s goal was to effect positive social change with Indigenous Mexican producers of mezcal liquor.

Findings

Despite the best of intentions and following best practices for SII, the expected altruistic outcomes were eclipsed by inadvertent post-colonial behaviours. Neoliberal foundations of financialization gave primacy to the perspectives and egos of the investors rather than meaningful impact for the Indigenous beneficiaries.

Research limitations/implications

Based on the findings, three areas are presented for further research. First, how Global North social impact investors balance the ego of their motivations with the altruism of intended outcomes for beneficiaries. Second, what ownership structures of Global North investments allow for social benefits to flow through to intended beneficiaries. Third, how post-colonial power imbalances can be redressed to give an equal position to Global South beneficiaries as people, rather than financial metrics indicating only that they have become less poor.

Originality/value

By using autoethnographic methods that expose the vulnerability of the researcher, unique insights are generated on what happens when good intentions meet with a post-colonial context. The neoliberal underbelly of SII is revealed, and ways to make improvements are considered.

中文翻译：

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作为新自由主义建构的社会影响力投资：墨西哥瓦哈卡后殖民时代的自我与利他主义

目的

本文探讨了社会影响力投资 (SII)，这是一种从全球北方到全球南方不断增长的投资来源，被誉为在低收入国家行善的一种新方式，但带有可以具体化后殖民背景的新自由主义元素。

设计/方法/方法

基于作者在从事激进创业企业时的经历和情感顿悟，使用了一种微观基础的自我民族志方法。作者的目标是与墨西哥本土的梅斯卡尔酒生产商一起实现积极的社会变革。

发现

尽管 SII 有最好的意图并遵循最佳实践，但预期的利他主义结果因无意的后殖民行为而黯然失色。金融化的新自由主义基础将投资者的观点和自尊放在首位，而不是对土著受益人产生有意义的影响。

研究限制/影响

根据研究结果，提出三个领域供进一步研究。首先，全球北方社会影响力投资者如何平衡其动机的自我与受益人预期结果的利他主义。其次，全球北方投资的所有权结构允许社会收益流向预期受益人。第三，如何纠正后殖民时期的权力失衡，使全球南方的受益者享有与人民同等的地位，而不是仅表明他们变得不那么贫穷的财务指标。

原创性/价值

通过使用暴露研究人员脆弱性的自我民族志方法，当善意与后殖民背景相遇时会发生什么，产生了独特的见解。揭示了 SII 的新自由主义软肋，并考虑了改进的方法。