Mission Statement Components and Social Enterprise Sustainability: Findings from a Mixed-Method Approach

Abstract

Mission statement components are crucial for the sustainability of social enterprises. Based on content analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we investigate the link between mission statement components and sustainability in a sample of 148 Chinese social enterprises. Our findings indicate that social enterprises’ mission statements are both socially and commercially focused. An individual mission statement component does not constitute a necessary condition for the high sustainability of social enterprises, but products or services and enterprise philosophy play a universal role in this regard. There are four configurations of mission statement components that lead to high social enterprise sustainability. This study helps to reveal the complexity of the impact of mission statement components on social enterprise sustainability.

1. Introduction

A social enterprise (SE) is a new type of enterprise that uses intentional commercial activities to address complex social problems [1,2], and is an effective way to foster the expansion of social wealth. SEs have grown rapidly in the last few decades [3,4,5]. They operate in a wide range of areas, including community care, poverty alleviation, medical care and health, ecological and environmental protection, educational equity, and so forth [6], which have strongly promoted social advancement and economic development [7,8]. However, in China, SEs are not protected by the law and face problems such as lack of legitimacy and resource availability, which make it difficult for them to grow quickly [4].

Mission statements play an important role in the development of SE strategies, which help SEs to implement goals or values from the top down and drive the implementation of strategies up and down the enterprise, in turn driving the sustainability of SEs [9]. SEs not only pursue social objectives [10], but also make money by offering products or services avoid the need for grants and philanthropy [6,11]. The mission statements of SEs somewhat mirror this hybrid nature [10]. Explicit mission statements facilitate SEs’ access to external resources [12] and help them obtain organizational legitimacy [13,14,15].

Previous literature has examined the components of SE mission statements as well as their effects. Based on the findings of Pearce and David (1987) [16], Mas-Machuca et al. (2017) contended that the components of the SE mission statement include customer, products or services, geographical domain, technology, growth, enterprise philosophy and public image [17]. According to Moss et al. (2011), the mission statement components of SEs are defined taking into account both normative identity and utilitarian identity dimensions [18]. Normative identity comprises customers, geographical domain, and public image, while utilitarian identity includes products or services, core technology, enterprise philosophy, concern for survival, growth and profitability. In terms of effects, mission statement attribute activities support SEs’ expressive and instrumental performance [19]. Besides, SEs with clearly stated customer and products or services considerations in their mission statements have better financial performance [10]. Overall, prior research has focused on examining the impact of mission statements on the financial performance of social enterprises.

The development of Chinese SEs is still in its early stages. Different components of their mission statements interact to create a variety of configurations. It is unclear if the insufficiency of individual mission statement components impede the formation of SEs, nor how the configuration of mission statement components systematically influences SE sustainability. Traditional regression analysis adheres to deductive logic and hypothesis testing and is typically used to examine the net impact connection at the variable level. Therefore, it is unsuitable for resolving this research issue. The fsQCA typically uses retrospective logic to explore multi-factor concurrent causal issues [20], which is appropriate for studies of complex relationships, like how mission statement component configurations shape SE sustainability.

This study focuses on how SEs express their mission statements and whether mission statement components influence SE sustainability. First, we analyzed the content of the mission statements of the selected SEs. Second, we utilized the fsQCA to analyze the causal connection between the mission statement components and SE sustainability. The following research questions are proposed for this study to address the research gap.

RQ 1.

What are the mission statement components of Chinese SEs?

RQ 2.

Are individual mission statement components necessary to generate high sustainability of SEs?

RQ 3.

What kind of mission statement component configurations can generate high SE sustainability?

The rest of this study is structured as follows. Section 2 provides an overview of the literature on SEs and mission statements before presenting the research framework. Section 3 describes the methodology, including the research approach, sample and data, and data analysis. Section 4 presents the results of the content analysis and the fsQCA analysis. Section 5 discusses the findings. Section 6 concludes the theoretical implications, practical implications, limitations and further avenues for research.

2. Background and Research Framework

2.1. Social Enterprise

An SE is a type of enterprise that uses business means to achieve social goals [21,22]. Despite SE becoming increasingly popular, its concept has not been consistently finalized [23]. Overall, research on defining SEs has been divided into two major schools of thought [24]. From the ‘earned income’ school, an SE is market-oriented and pursues a social mission through a profit-making strategy [25]. An example of this would be a for-profit enterprise that engages in social entrepreneurship. From the ‘social innovation’ school, an SE can address social issues or meet social needs [10]. Examples of this group include non-profits that employ commercial methods to raise funds for development. We adopt the definition of SE provided by Di Domenico et al. (2010), which states that SEs are enterprises that seek to achieve a specific social goal or set of goals through the sale of products or services and, in doing so, achieve financial sustainability independent of governments and other donors [26]. This definition has gained a positive reputation in the academic community and can effectively bring together the perspectives of the ‘earned income’ school and the ‘social innovation’ school [17].

The literature on SE sustainability focuses on the following two aspects: (1) clarifying what SE sustainability means, (2) analyzing the drivers of SE sustainability. SE sustainability incorporates both social and financial aspects of sustainability [1,27]. When the opportunity cost of the resources needed to operate SEs is accounted for, if the total utility of the members of the society increases, SEs achieve social-level sustainability [28,29]. This is manifested in social performance, such as solving poverty, empowering people, raising social added value, and generating systemic change [30]. Financial sustainability is exhibited by SEs, both in the form of additional revenues and new customers, through inventive offerings [31], and in the form of steadily expanding their market share by elevating perceived, acceptable, affordable, and accessible products or services [28].

Previous research indicated that a variety of factors, including mission statements [10], social imprints [32], dynamic capabilities [33], and business model innovations [34], influenced the sustainability of SEs. Furthermore, social accountability and stakeholder expectations had a profound impact on SE sustainability [35]. Austin et al. (2006) found that numerous social groups made many different demands on SEs in pursuit of their respective goals, such as restructuring board positions, granting restrictions, or releasing certain reports [3]. Each of these demands imposed a greater limitation on the ability of SEs to mobilize resources, which in turn hindered SE sustainability. Although recognizing the importance of studying SE sustainability [4], few researchers have examined the sustainability mechanisms of SEs in-depth [23].

2.2. Mission Statements

A mission statement is a declaration of an enterprise’s raison d’être that reveals what the enterprise wants to be and who it wants to serve [36]. Many scholars have emphasized that a leader’s first task was to consider and define the enterprise’s mission statement. Collins and Porras (1991) added that a mission statement was based on the values, purposes, and beliefs shared by all employees of the organization [37]. Within an organization, mission statements are often described as ‘mission’, ‘vision’, ‘goals’, ‘beliefs’, ‘values’, ‘purpose’, or ‘philosophy’, as distinctive and enduring formal documents [38]. Therefore, Pearce and David (1987) contended that mission statements should be worded broadly, and essential components of mission statements must be distinct across similar enterprises [16].

According to the body of research, there is no consensus on the components that a mission statement should contain [10]. Various scholars have defined the components of a mission statement according to their own research perspectives. Abell (1980), a pioneer in studying these components, argued that a mission statement should indicate the organization’s target customers, the needs of the customers, and how to meet those needs [39]. Based on this, subsequent scholars have attempted to describe the mission statement components more precisely.

Eight components were creatively categorized by Pearce and David (1987): customers, products or services, geographic domain, core technologies, commitment to survival, growth, and profitability, corporate philosophy, corporate self-concept, and public image [16]. David (1989) suggested a ninth component: concern for employees [36]. Bart (1997) examined the specific content characteristics of mission statements from industrial enterprises and found that 11 components were highly used, with some appearing to have a greater impact on employee behavior and enterprise performance than others [40]. Additionally, both Moss et al. (2011) and Mas-Machuca et al. (2017) examined SE mission statements in terms of seven components: customers, products or services, geographic domain, technologies, concern for profitability, enterprise philosophy, and public image [17,18].

Several scholars have begun to examine the mechanisms by which mission statements act on SE performance. Kirk and Nolan (2010), for example, found that mission statements that included goals and customers were related to higher organizational performance, while those that focused more narrowly on the geographic domain were not [41]. Berbegal-Mirabent et al. (2021) also found that mission statements that included customers and products or services were related to higher financial performance, through a qualitative comparative analysis of 39 typical SEs [10]. Furthermore, Nguyen et al. (2020) showed that the social values in the mission statement of SEs are not only motivational for their employees, but also affect the operation and development of the organization [42].

In order to achieve dual performance, SEs should be centered on mission statements, and adhere to ethics and morals in practice [43]. For example, Kulshrestha et al. (2022) argued that the clearer the mission statement, the better the sustainability effect of the SE [15]. Mion et al. (2023), in a follow-up investigation, discovered that the integration of the mission statement component with balance sheet dimensions enhanced the sustainability performance of public benefit enterprises [44].

2.3. Research Framework

Mission statements not only influence the financial performance of SEs [10], but also their social performance [44], and thus play an important role in SE sustainability. Social-oriented components of the mission statement, such as customers, enterprise philosophy, and public image, guide SEs to develop entrepreneurial opportunities from those pressing social problems. For example, poor groups do not have access to basic products and services due to poor infrastructure, information asymmetry, and lack of knowledge and skills [45]. In response, some multinational enterprises, in order to practice the corporate philosophy of camaraderie and cultivate a positive public image, have developed their products and production processes to meet the needs of low-income groups [46], bringing business opportunities to the world’s poorest people. The mission statement’s market-oriented components—products or services, geographic domain, technologies, and concern for profitability—guide the SE to increase revenue by creating novel goods and services.

In summary, the mission statement components of customers, products or services, geographic domain, technologies, concern for profitability, enterprise philosophy, and public image may influence SE sustainability. Based on the analysis above, this study constructs a research framework for the configuration effects of mission statement components on SE sustainability (see Figure 1). It suggests that the mission statements of SEs encompass both a social orientation and a market orientation.

3. Methodology

3.1. Research Approach

The purpose of this study is to understand how mission statement components affect SE sustainability. Therefore, we adopt an exploratory multi-case study approach to examine the complex relationship between the mission statement of Chinese SEs and their sustainability [28,47]. Additionally, we employ two complementary qualitative research techniques—content analysis and fsQCA—to analyze multiple cases in detail.

Content analysis is a method that makes valid inferences about textual information through a series of procedures [18,36,40]. The inference process and methodology vary depending on the researcher’s preference for theoretical or practical research. The qualitative use of content analysis procedures is often not supported by appropriate epistemological and methodological assumptions and is seen as atheoretical [48]. However, compared to other data generation and analysis techniques, content analysis can use quantitative techniques to identify data patterns in qualitative data [49]. It can draw stable, repeatable and valid inferences from text (or other meaningful content) and delve deeper into phenomena that have been previously under-researched [50]. We chose this method because it helped to analyze the mission statement components of SEs.

fsQCA is a case-study based theoretical set research methodology [42]. The method uses Boolean algebra. It does not require the existence of control variables because it does not result in omitted variable bias [51]. fsQCA can deal with dichotomous variables (0, 1), multivalued variables (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4) and fuzzy set variables (any value between 0 and 1). It can also explore the effect that multivariate combinations of condition variables have on changes in the outcome variable and identify group paths that can explain this effect [52]. Such methods are considered to have poorer quality, show less validity, and show less evidence than methods with a philosophical base [53]. However, when the data allow interpretations of the latent content, fsQCA reveals both depth and meaning in participants’ utterances [54]. It can examine the conditions associated with the phenomenon as well as the causal complexity issues that lead to the presence or absence of the desired outcome [55]. We chose this method because it helped to explore the causal mechanisms by which mission statement components influence the sustainability of SEs.

These two different but complementary qualitative research techniques were selected for three reasons: (1) to contribute to existing theory by reflecting on the research through various data analysis methods [44]; (2) to comply with triangulation requirements and reduce difficulties in areas like theory construction and interpretation [56,57]; and (3) the two techniques have been used in combination in other literature, such as in Berbegal-Mirabent et al. (2021) and Mion et al. (2023), who used a combination of the two approaches to investigate the relationship between mission statements and SE performance [10,44].

3.2. Cases Selection and Data Collection

To answer the research questions, our analysis was framed around the mission statement components of Chinese social enterprises and their effects. The cases in this study included prominent Chinese SEs that have been identified as China Good SEs or China Gold SEs for their social programs between 2017 and 2023, organized by the China Charity Fair. Those who received the accreditation underwent a stringent selection procedure and are required to demonstrate how they are making a positive impact on society clearly. A total of 176 enterprises fulfilled this requirement. 28 SEs were dropped from the initial sample due to some missing relevant information. Eventually, the sample was reduced to 148 SEs.

This sampling method has been used in the literature—Mas-Machuca et al. (2017) and Berbegal-Mirabent et al. (2021) used data on prominent Spanish SEs that had received awards for national social programs between 2011 and 2014 [10,17]—and provides the external validity to our choice of SE. Following Bartkus et al. (2006) [58], we argued that the mission statement of an SE contains at least some of the following elements: purpose, goals, products, markets, and values.

The data for each SE was collected from different sources. First, information on all SEs identified as China Good SEs or China Gold SEs by the China Charity Fair was gathered from the China Social Enterprise Service Center, including the enterprise name, type, the level of accreditation, the year of accreditation, social goals, mission, business areas, and product profiles. Second, descriptive data for the sample enterprises, such as legal representative, registration status, establishment time, location, enterprise type, number of employees, and business scope, were collected from enterprise credit information query platforms, like TianYanCha.com, Qcc.com, and Qixin.com. Third, mission statements on the customers, products or services, geographic domain, technologies, concern for profitability, enterprise philosophy and public image were collected from the sample enterprise’s website, WeChat, Tik Tok, Weibo, and other platforms. When the words mission, vision, goals, and values appeared, they were used as the enterprise philosophy. Finally, the configurations found by fsQCA were further qualitatively analyzed in conjunction with government websites and reliable media reports.

3.3. Data Analysis

We undertook a two-stage data analysis. In the first stage, we employed content analysis to identify the components of mission statements. To ensure the components of SE mission statements were categorized correctly, coding was done in accordance with the research of Moss et al. (2011) and Mas-Machuca et al. (2017) [17,18], including customers (CUST), products or services (PROD), geographic domain (GEOG), technologies (TECH), concern for profitability (PROF), enterprise philosophy (PHIL), and public image (IMAG). Specifically, a list of content analysis components was constructed using Pearce and David’s (1987) definition of mission statement components and the keywords defined by Mion et al. (2023) (see

Table 1. Content analysis components of mission statement components.

Mission Component	Code Definition	Keywords
Customers	Target customers and markets for SEs	Consumers, customers, clients, different organization type, sector/industry, etc.
Products or Services	SEs’ promise to products or services	Characteristics or types of products or services
Geographic domain	Geographic areas in which SEs compete in marketing	Global markets, city names, geographic regions, country provinces, etc.
Technologies	Description of core technologies by SEs	Personal skills, (technological) innovation, technology, technology development, etc.
Concern for profitability	SEs focus on survival, growth and profitability goals	Profit, economic value, economic development, financial or economic performance, etc.
Enterprise philosophy	SEs’ goals, objectives, values and vision	Sustainability, social responsibility, ethics, public welfare, social impact, social security, etc.
Public image	Social enterprise response to social or environmental issues	Solve problems, help somebody, guide someone, change something, etc.

) [16,44]. As can be seen from this table, the different mission statement components of SEs can be identified based on different keywords. Subsequently, we analyzed the different components of SE mission statements in detail.

In the second stage, fsQCA is applied to analyze the causal mechanisms of the mission statement components affecting SE sustainability. fsQCA is applicable to theory building, elaboration and testing [55]. Firstly, identifying relevant cases, Greckhamer et al. (2018) recommend that researchers use the full sample of relevant cases to interpret the desired results when analyzing case samples in a fsQCA [59]. Therefore, the data set we used in fsQCA contains 148 SEs with complete data.

Secondly, conditions and outcome were selected and assigned to construct the data set, selecting mission statement components as conditions. In particular, conditions that had a clear description were assigned a value of 1, and otherwise a value of 0 (see

Table 2. Criteria for selection and assignment of condition variables.

Conditional Variable	Evaluation Criteria	Assignment
Customers	SEs clearly describe their target clients, beneficiaries, donors, etc.	1
	Unclear description of SEs’ target clients, beneficiaries, donors, etc.	0
Products or Services	SEs clearly describe the products or services they offer.	1
	SEs are not clear in describing the products or services they offer.	0
Geographic domain	SEs clearly describe the geographic area they are competing.	1
	SEs don’t describe the geographic area they are competing clearly.	0
Technologies	SEs clearly describe their core technologies, processes, skills, etc.	1
	SEs aren’t clear in describing their technologies, processes or skills.	0
Concern for profitability	SEs are focused on plans for survival, growth and profitability goals	1
	SEs are unconcerned about plans for survival, growth or profitability	0
Enterprise philosophy	SEs clearly articulate their goals, objectives, values, vision, etc.	1
	SEs don’t articulation their goals, objectives, values, or vision clearly.	0
Public image	SEs clearly articulate the public image they aspire to project.	1
	Poor articulation by SEs of the public image they aspire to project.	0

). From this table, we can assign values to the mission statement components of the SE based on different evaluation criteria. The outcome was chosen to be SE sustainability. By analyzing the social impact and financial performance of the sample enterprises in the last three years one by one, the values of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 were assigned to the outcome in the order of the comprehensive performance level from the lowest to the highest, respectively.

Thirdly, regarding calibrating the variables, since conditions were dichotomous (0, 1), calibration was not required. The outcome was calibrated to a fuzzy set using a direct method. Due to the lack of external and theoretical standards for the calibration of SE sustainability, referring to previous studies [59,60], the three calibration points of full membership, crossover point, and full non-membership of SE high sustainability were set to 5, 3, and 1, respectively. The calibration of non-high sustainability of SE was realized by taking the non-set of high sustainability of SE. Following calibration, cases exactly at 0.5 affiliation were removed from the study [55], which eliminated 30 cases and left 118 cases for analysis.

Fourthly, for conducting fsQCA, to find the single selected conditions that caused high sustainability or non-high sustainability of SEs, necessary condition analysis was first performed. Subsequently, after constructing the truth table and solving the contradiction configurations, through Boolean algebra operations, the core conditions and edge conditions that led to high sustainability of SEs were obtained. Finally, the configurations were examined in the context of a particular sample enterprise.

4. Findings

4.1. Mission Statement Components Expressing Social and Market Orientation

The content analysis had two objectives: (1) to explore the content of the mission statements of Chinese SEs regarding the incorporation of particular components and (2) to analyze the mission statement components of Chinese SEs.

In order to accomplish the first goal, we examined the characteristics of the SE in our sample (see

Table 3. Descriptive analysis of the sample (n = 148).

Causality	Categorization	%	Causality	Categorization	%
Type of business	Private non-enterprise units and associations	25	Sex of legal representative	Male	72
	Limited liability enterprise	75		Women	28
No. of employees	Less than 10 persons	38	Founding years	Before 2010	11
	11–50 persons	55		2010–2015	32
	51–100 persons	4		2015–2020	52
	100 or more	3		Beyond 2020	5
Social objective	Education and training	20	Location	Beijing	22
	Employment promotion and innovation	6		Chengdu	11
	Old age security services	11		Guangdong	5
	Green economy and ecological protection	8		Guangzhou	4
	Agriculture, fisheries and rural development	10		Hangzhou	6
	Public finance, health and wellness	4		Nanjing	4
	Social support services	15		Shanghai	9
	Community economy	5		Shenzhen	18
	Culture, sports and arts	5		Changsha	2
	Accessibility	16		Other areas	19

). According to the legal form, three types of organizational structure, private non-enterprise units, agricultural professional cooperatives, and limited liability companies, are found, with limited liability companies accounting for the largest share. As for the gender of the legal representative, 72% of social entrepreneurs are male and 28% are female, which indicates that men are the mainstay of social entrepreneurship, a situation similar to that of business entrepreneurship in China.

Geographically, the sample is dispersed through first-tier cities or provincial capitals across China, suggesting that the more economically developed a city is, the more vibrant its social entrepreneurship is. From a longevity point of view, most (52%) SEs were established during the 2015–2020 period, indicating that Chinese SEs are mainly in the growth stage. In terms of scales (measured by the number of employees), 55% of SEs are small (11–50 employees), showing that SEs in China are generally small.

As far as social objectives, education and training (20%) are the most common area of entrepreneurial activity, which aims to meet the learning needs of various special groups. As shown in

Table 4. Results of the content analysis of mission statement components from the sample.

Mission Component	Description	No.
Customers	PKU children and parents, elderly living alone, people with disabilities, intermediaries, industry associations, public welfare organizations ......	102
Products or Services	Wastewater treatment reactor, livestock products, language and communication training, dark space experience, public service venture planning ......	178
Geographic domain	Multiple countries, 20 provinces in China, and 100 cities nationwide ......	52
Technologies	Cloud computing, intelligent safety and security technology, digital transformation technology for traditional agriculture, one-stop inspection technology, RICE rehabilitation intervention technology ......	37
Concern for profitability	Signing order contracts, financing, expanding business, expanding market share, increasing competitiveness, high membership renewal rate ......	38
Enterprise philosophy	Promoting sustainable rural development, promoting Chinese filial piety culture, promoting entrepreneurship and employment for people with disabilities, making public welfare within reach, accompanying life with love ......	131
Public image	Solving the problem of solid waste recycling, benefiting children with mental disabilities in China, a runner of public welfare digitalization ......	96

, regarding mission statement components, the majority of SEs clearly explain the products or services they provide, and most describe their enterprise philosophy, which suggests that sample enterprises are able to better accommodate and balance the market and social orientations in their mission statements. This is consistent with previous research findings [10].

The second objective was to obtain an overview of the components of mission statements. Based on the list of content analysis components, we analyzed the customers, products or services, geographic domain, technologies, concern for profitability, enterprise philosophy and public image in mission statements from the sample (see Table 4).

In terms of frequency and diversity, the most prominent components are the products or services of the SE, with a primary focus on technical products, solutions, daily necessities and community services. This highlights the SE’s dedication to meeting people’s needs through the provision of a product or service. The ‘enterprise philosophy’ category encompasses the values of sustainability, cultural heritage, social equality and benevolence. The ‘corporate image’ category includes a clear direction of development to address social issues, a description of the identity that serves the community, and a social image that drives social change. This indicates that the sample enterprises are dedicated to advancing both social welfare and economic development.

Other prominent contents are related to enterprises’ target customers (mainly an extensive range of customers concerning the poor, disabled and other special groups), as well as different types of enterprises (mainly including community enterprises, government units, regional enterprises and non-profit enterprises). Besides, the majority of the mission statement includes content related to the geographic domain, mostly focusing on Chinese cities and with very little on the global market, which suggests that Chinese SEs lack competitiveness in the global market.

Finally, the mission statements contained some descriptions of technologies and concern for profitability. In terms of technologies, the sample enterprises are more concerned with technology application, which suggests that they are skilled at using existing technology for commercialization despite having limited resources to invest in technology research. In terms of concern for profitability, SEs pay much attention to the goals of survival and growth, which suggests that, in addition to creating multiple values, SEs should also capture economic values to achieve sustainable development [44].

4.2. Factors Influencing the Sustainability of SEs

The fsQCA consists of three aspects: (1) a necessary analysis; (2) a sufficiency analysis; and (3) a robustness test. The following are the results of the fsQCA.

A necessary analysis is used to evaluate whether the presence or absence of any of the selected conditions was necessary to achieve the outcome [55]. A necessary condition is a premise that must exist to cause the outcome, but its existence does not guarantee that the outcome will necessarily occur [61]. The symbol “~” signifies the non-existence of the condition. On the basis of a threshold of 0.9 [62], no conditions were necessary for high sustainability of SEs (see

Table 5. Analysis of the necessary conditions.

Conditional Variable	Outcome Variable
	High SE Sustainability		Non-High SE Sustainability
	Consistency	Coverage	Consistency	Coverage
Customers	0.806	0.729	0.417	0.271
Products or Services	0.873	0.706	0.508	0.294
Geographic domain	0.647	0.855	0.153	0.145
Technologies	0.386	0.805	0.131	0.195
Concern for profitability	0.451	0.887	0.080	0.113
Enterprise philosophy	0.891	0.666	0.624	0.334
Public image	0.822	0.715	0.457	0.285
* ~Customers	0.194	0.317	0.583	0.683
~Products or services	0.127	0.265	0.492	0.735
~Geographic domain	0.353	0.368	0.847	0.632
~Technologies	0.614	0.496	0.869	0.504
~Concern for profitability	0.549	0.454	0.920	0.546
~Enterprise philosophy	0.109	0.288	0.376	0.712
~Public image	0.178	0.314	0.543	0.686

* ~: The non-existence of the condition.

). However, the second model suggests that ~ PROF is a necessary condition for the absence of the outcome. Few components of the mission statements are essential to achieve non-high SE sustainability.

A sufficiency analysis is then performed to identify the configurations leading to high or low sustainability of SEs. Due to the high number of sample enterprises (more than 100), the raw consistency threshold was set to 0.8, and the case frequency threshold was set to 2. The PRI consistency threshold was set to 0.70, and the fsQCA or ~fsQCA columns of all configurations below the set value were manually modified to 0. To clarify, black circles (●) and crossed-out circles ($\otimes$) indicate whether a factor is present or not. Large circles represent core conditions, small circles represent peripheral conditions, and blank regions represent a “do not care” state.

Table 6. Configurations of mission statement components causing high SE sustainability.

Conditional Variable	Solution
	High SE Sustainability
	1a	1b	2	3
Customers		●	●	●
Products or Services	* ●	●	●	●
Geographic domain
Technologies	$\otimes$	$\otimes$
Concern for profitability		$\otimes$
Enterprise philosophy	●	●	●	●
Public image	●		●	●
consistency	0.851	0.820	0.882	0.902
Raw coverage	0.310	0.131	0.269	0.289
Unique coverage	0.073	0.036	0.145	0.024
Overall solution consistency	0.861
Overall solution coverage	0.639

* $●$: A factor is present; $\otimes$: A factor is not present.

shows the outcomes of the intermediate and parsimonious solutions, using Fiss’s (2011) nomenclature to emphasize the distinction between core and peripheral conditions [60]. The consistency and overall consistency of configurations were greater than 0.8, indicating high validity of the results. Similarly, all identified configurations had a high degree of overall coverage (more than the 0.5 criteria), suggesting that these models explained a high degree of SE sustainability [20].

To test the robustness of the results, we increased the number of case thresholds from 2 to 3 in the sufficiency analysis and found that the configurations were largely consistent with the existing ones. Then, the PRI consistency was increased from 0.7 to 0.75 and the results were found to be fully consistent with the existing configurations [55]. Thus, this study passed the robustness test.

5. Discussion

Combining both content analysis and qualitative comparative analysis, we analyzed the relationship between mission statement components and SE sustainability from a configuration perspective. There are four mission statement component configurations that produce high sustainability of SEs (solution 1a, solution 1b, solution 2, solution 3), where solution 1a and solution 1b have the same core conditions, constituting a second-order equivalence configuration [60].

Solution 1a consists of the geographic domain as the core condition (key factor), with the absence of technologies, and products or services, enterprise philosophy, and public image as the secondary level factors. In solution 1a, SEs place great emphasis on both the economic value derived from the marketing of their products or services, as well as the idea of serving the community and enhancing public perception. This dual identity of the sample enterprises is in line with previous studies on SEs, that generate social and economic value [18,44]. For instance, Nantong Vegetable Garden Vegetarian Catering Co., Ltd., located in Nantong, China, operates under the philosophy of “caring for life, protecting the ecology, and living a healthy life” and offers vegetarian buffet meals to locals for RMB 25 per person per meal. The enterprise operates under a business model that dedicates all profits to the community, and all proceeds are used for volunteer work, charitable donations, and public welfare. It has successfully attracted 307 shareholders to join the enterprise, promised never to pay dividends and never to withdraw shares, and the profits will be used to continue to carry out public welfare activities, thus establishing a good reputation in Nantong.

Solution 1b consists of the core condition (key factor) of geographic domain, secondary level factors of customers, products or services, and enterprise philosophy, and absence of technologies and concern for profit. This result confirms the importance of SEs offering differentiated products and services in different regions [17], with a clear definition of what can be offered, to whom, and how the company can create value for society [10]. According to solution 1b, in order to attain their enterprise philosophies, social entrepreneurs should increase their marketing of products or services in a specific geographic area to stimulate customers’ purchasing intention for SEs with inadequate core technologies. For instance, World of Art Brut Culture, located in Shanghai, China, which has amassed nearly a million supporters, has trained individuals with disabilities to create and market cultural and artistic works or products in over 10 countries worldwide, with the goal of promoting the social integration of people with mental disabilities. Another illustration is the Beijing Shifangyuan Elderly Hospice and Mind Care Center, located in Beijing, China, which adheres to the business philosophy of serving life with love and companionship. It offers mind care services and cultural products for the terminally ill elderly in Beijing, as well as training in mind care for hospice staff.

Solution 2 contains technologies as the key factor, along with the customers, products or services, enterprise philosophy and public image as peripheral conditions. Solution 2 suggests that SEs place great emphasis on products or services with core technologies, and also emphasize the idea of serving society, as well as enhancing their public image. Unlike the findings of Mas-Machuca et al. (2017) [17], we found that technologies are important for SE sustainability. In practice, some SEs use available technologies to provide quality products and services to previously marginalized groups [1,22]. For example, by 2022, Shenzhen Dami and Xiaomi Culture Communication Co., Ltd., located in Shenzhen, China, had established over 30 rehabilitation facilities in 14 cities in China, offering RICE rehabilitation intervention services to over 10,000 children with fully autonomous intellectual property rights and encouraging unrestricted communication between children and the outside world. Furthermore, as of 2023, Guangzhou 1KG Box Education Consulting Co., Ltd., located in Guangzhou, China, had given teachers and students in over 3000 rural and undeveloped Chinese schools a variety of tailored teaching tool kits, promoting equity in rural education and regional change.

Solution 3 contains as core condition (key factor)concern for profitability, with an absence of customers, products or services, enterprise philosophy, and public image. We found that solution 3 is characterized by a primary market orientation, supplemented by a social orientation. H3 suggests that SEs can satisfy customers’ needs by offering a broad range of specialized products or services. This allows them to pursue social objectives based on significant revenue and positive public perception, leading to rapid growth in both the financial and social aspects. Unlike previous studies [16,40], this result shows that SEs are inherently profit-oriented. For example, Shanghai Save to Save Information Technology Co., Ltd., located in Shanghai, China, is a first aid training and event life-saving enterprise that creates first aid courses under its own intellectual property rights. It also offers safety and emergency services for event security and personal safety. In order to create mutual aid and contribute to the new norm in Chinese society, this SE, for ten years only, practiced the ‘golden four minutes of first aid’. As a result, it received substantial funding in the A round in 2015 from Yuwell Group, and in the A + round in 2021 from State Development and Investment Corp, making it a benchmark enterprise in the first aid sector.

6. Conclusions

6.1. Theoretical Implications

Existing research has revealed the significance of a mission statement for SE performance [10,41]. The mission statement component influences SEs’ strategic decisions, management style, and business model, which in turn affects the value creation outcomes of the SE [42]. This suggests that investigating the mission statement components of SEs and examining how mission statement components affect SE sustainability require a more systematic approach. The asymmetric relationship between mission statement components and SE sustainability is better represented by utilizing fsQCA based on complexity and configuration theories. This can result in the generation of new ideas and theories.

First, according to necessity causation, we discover that the majority of SEs describe their products or services and corporate philosophy in detail, but producing high SE sustainability is not contingent on any one mission statement component alone. Although previous research found that mission statements including customers and products or services were connected with higher financial performance of SEs [10], this study indicates that customers are not an essential requirement for generating high SE sustainability.

Second, based on configuration theorizing [20], we systematically integrate the different components of mission statements, responding to calls for research on the configuration of mission statement components and deepening theoretical research on the relationship between mission statement components and SE sustainability [17]. Previous studies have separately examined the impact of individual mission statement components on SE performance [10], pointing to the importance of research on mission statement component configuration [44]. This study identifies four mission statement component configurations, providing rich evidence and insights into SE sustainability.

Third, by taking SEs as the research object, we provide a more systematic analysis of corporate mission statements, which provides a theoretical reference for a more in-depth understanding of the social entrepreneurship phenomena. Currently, academics are paying more and more attention to practice-driven research. Scholars of social entrepreneurship, both domestically and internationally, are calling for the adoption of configuration theorizing to explain the causal complexity of social entrepreneurship practices [44]. This study reveals the impact of the configuration of mission statement components on the sustainability of SEs, which is helpful in giving more detailed and reliable advice to SEs on how to investigate the various avenues that will lead to rapid growth.

Fourth, we creatively integrated the use of a combination of content analysis and qualitative comparative analysis. The content analysis method enables quantitative analysis of textual information [63], which helps to delve into phenomena that lack theory and prior research. Qualitative comparative analysis has the advantage of analyzing both necessary and sufficient causal conditions [64]. Combining the two methods to achieve complementary strengths is a promising future research direction. This study uses the two approaches in combination, which contributes to the advancement of research on the relationship between mission statement components and SE sustainability.

6.2. Practical Implications

There are some practical implications for practitioners in the field of social enterprise. First, H1a and H1b show that geographic domain as a core condition can effectively contribute to SE sustainability when technology is lacking. This suggests that SEs without technological advantage need to pay more attention to marketing investment to create a good social image by providing both basic and quality products or services to target customers. Second, H2 produces high SE sustainability by making concern for profitability a core condition. This suggests that, when SEs decide to develop a new product, they should not only consider the usefulness of the product to society, but also pay attention to the level of profitability that the product will bring in order to ensure financial sustainability. Third, H3 uses technology as a core condition that can produce high SE sustainability. This suggests that SEs with technology need to provide more specialized products or services to enhance customers’ purchase intention, thus creating more social value on top of achieving economic value.

Overall, the mission statements of SEs must include both an economic dimension and a social dimension to guide these enterprises in achieving their socially oriented goals. The most successful SE managers will be those who are able to develop a mission that focuses on social goals while also being profitable and not jeopardizing the viability of the organization. Social entrepreneurs can therefore adapt the social and market orientation of their mission statements to the development of their social enterprises, focusing on optimizing the combination of certain components of the mission statement for their own sustainability.

6.3. Limitations and Future Research

Our research also limitations that need to be overcome in the future. Firstly, this research was based on 148 typical case studies in China. While these provide in-depth insights into SE sustainability, the findings’ generalizability to other contexts or cultures may be limited. To enhance the applicability of the results, future research could compare the findings with similar studies in different cultural contexts or within other sectors of SEs or promote the findings to SEs in other cultural or regulatory contexts. Secondly, limited by the availability of data on SEs, this research only explored the mission statement components of SEs in China and their effects. Future research could collect more data to expand on how the findings compare with global trends in social enterprise sustainability and provide context for the relevance of the findings beyond the Chinese market. Thirdly, this research was only able to obtain static data. Because the application of qualitative comparative analytical methods for longitudinal time-varying still needs to be refined, data can be collected across time in the future. It could be beneficial to discuss how future dynamic analyses could yield different insights into the sustainability of social enterprises. Finally, future research could take into account more ethical considerations during the discussion process, especially given that it deals with organizations likely to be involved in sensitive social issues.