Accessibility and transparency: impact on social economy
| Pages | 35-52 |
| Date | 13 February 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-09-2015-0296 |
| Published date | 13 February 2017 |
| Author | Francisco José López-Arceiz,Ana José Bellostas Pérezgrueso,María Pilar Rivera Torres |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Accessibility and transparency:
impact on social economy
Francisco José López-Arceiz and Ana José Bellostas Pérezgrueso
Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Economics and Business,
University of Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain, and
María Pilar Rivera Torres
Department of Marketing Management and Market Research,
Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –Social economy organizations (SEOs) are a hybrid model where relations with stakeholders are
managed using transparency mechanisms. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role that online
accessibility (which is understood to be a tool to implement transparency) has in raising financial resources
and to assess its impact on economic and social achievements. Moreover, the authors study the interaction
between online accessibility and external verification.
Design/methodology/approach –This study analyzes the behavior of 1,400 SEOs between 2009 and 2012
using a structural equation model and the MPLUS 7.4 software, which is based on covariance analysis.
Findings –The results show that transparency, which is understood as online accessibility, assists in raising
financial resources and enhances SEO economic and social achievements. The authors also note that external
verifications favor the economic achievements of SEOs but do not improve their social achievements.
Research limitations/implications –This research has two limitations: this study refers only to Spanish
SEOs and no consensus exists on how to measure economic and social performance. Therefore, the
conclusions should be considered with caution in other regulatory and cultural fields. The main implications
of this work are the criteria the authors provide to help decision makers decide on the transparency model
that SEOs should develop according to their management needs.
Originality/value –This studybridges a gap in the current researchby increasing understanding of the role
of accessibilityas being the mostimportant tool for an organizationthat strives to embodytransparent behavior.
Keywords Transparency, Social economy, Economicachievements, Online accessibility, Social achievements
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Doing business is based on the values, knowledge, and skills of the society in which such
artificial entities are created and developed (Hofstede, 1991; Archambault and Archambault,
2003). Organizations are dynamic entities, whose ability to create wealth or value depends
on their capability to react and adapt to the changing environment. Basically, the
environment is defined by customs, regulations, and socioeconomic needs, all of them being
a manifestation of the prevailing values and sociocultural principles. Since the European
Parliament Resolution of February 19 –Toia (2009) –(2008/2250 (INI)), the European Union
and member countries have maintained a firm commitment to support and strengthen social
economy organizations (SEOs) in response to the demands of modern societies. These
demands include the creation of quality jobs, the strengthening of social, economic, and
territorial cohesion, the generation of an economy based on ethical values, the promotion of
sustainable development, and social, environmental, and technological innovation. Europe
understands that SEOs are an ideal tool to meet these demands. Therefore, it has recently
agreed to provide financial support for SEOs Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI
Guarantee) and promote their visibility through the program for EaSI.
SEOs are a hybrid prototype of the classic concept of enterprise because their strategic
objectives combine the maximization of profit with the creation of social value (Pearce,
2003). In these organizations, the ultimate goal is to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of
stakeholders with different interests and objectives. These needs are information on
Online Information Review
Vol. 41 No. 1, 2017
pp. 35-52
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-09-2015-0296
Received 7 September 2015
Revised 16 May 2016
Accepted 18 May 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
35
Accessibility
and
transparency
products and services, monitoring economic effectiveness and efficiency, evaluating social
and environmental impact, and even actively contributing to the entity’s projects. In any
case, to meet the expectations of its stakeholders, SEOs need to be transparent, thereby
creating an atmosphere of trust through accountability.
In this context, our aim is to analyze the role of online accessibility as a tool of a
transparent organization to raise and manage financial resources and to detect the impact of
such a tool on SEO social and economic achievements. Moreover, we study the interaction
between online accessibility and external verification. This study uses a structural equation
model (SEM) as a methodological tool in a sample of 1,400 European SEOs that funded their
programs with public and private resources and were active between 2009 and 2012.
The remainderof the paper is organized as follows. In the nextsection, we review research
in this field and present the various hypotheses to be studied in this work. The third section
introduces data, variables, and descriptive statistics to corroborate the proposed hypotheses.
The fourth section presents our results, and the final section discusses these results and
provides conclusions based on them.
2. Theoretical framework
2.1 Context of study: Spanish SEOs
The European Union defines its sustainable growth and social cohesion policies in terms of
promoting employment and economic activity. In 2010, the European Commission
published its 2020 strategy and highlighted the concept of social economy as an ideal tool to
correct the socioeconomic and regional imbalances in the European Union (Toia, 2009; Coen,
2010; VOSEC, 2010). The commitment of the European Union began with financial support
from national governments, and the enacting of regional laws that allow the promotion and
development of a social economy. According to the Mediterranean welfare model (Italy,
France, Portugal, and Spain), the financial sustainability of SEOs is a responsibility
assumed by states through public funding (Bucklin and Sengupta, 1993; Hibbard et al.,
2001). As a member country, Spain has been defining its growth and social cohesion policies
by promoting SEOs (Ley 5/2011, 2011).
The capacity to balance economic and social decisions is an argument used by the
European Union and governments to treat SEOs as an ideal element to implement their
policies targeting socially sustainable economic growth. SEOs, market-oriented nonprofits,
and social enterprises implement strategies aimed at social objectives without undermining
their financial sustainability (Chad, 2014; Bellostas et al., 2016). As a consequence, these
entities need to reach reasonable levels of social and economic achievements. In other words,
they have to develop an economic activity that accounts for the needs of the various
stakeholders.According to stakeholder theory, thecreation of social activity can improve the
levels of economic achievements in these entities (Freeman, 1984; Porter and Van der Linde,
1995; Waddock and Graves, 1997; Freeman and Evan, 1990; Hill and Jones,1992; Jones, 1995;
Di Domenico et al., 2010). Thus, an SEO has to identify its stakeholders and develop
communication mechanisms to remain abreast of their different needs and to report on its
activities. The level of development of these communication mechanisms depend on the
attitude and valuesthat characterize each organization. The entitiesthat facilitate channels of
communication and innovation in theirrelationship with their stakeholders are consideredto
be transparent organizations (Rawlins, 2008).
2.2 Transparency and online accessibility
Transparency and its analysis as a desirable quality in organizations have been part of
academic literature since the late twentieth century. This concept is promoted both by
public management studies (Piotrowski and Van Ryzin, 2007; Cooper, 2004) and by business
(Aguilera et al., 2015) and nonprofit research (Maguire, 2014). Different connotations of
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