Meso level Social Impact: Meaningful Indicators of Community Contribution

Main Article Content

Melissa Edwards
Jenny Onyx
Hazel Maxwell
Simon Darcy

Abstract

Social impact measures are not widely agreed, nor implemented by third sector organisations. Meso level indicators of social impact are underdeveloped. Financialised methods such as Social Return on Investment can only account for direct outcomes of defined programs and activities. The broader societal impacts of any such activities are undervalued. This paper outlines the findings of a grounded theoretical approach to determining measures of social impact within a large Australian iconic third sector organisation. Several key factors revealed in this study are discussed in regards to their potential for attributing social impact to organisational activities outside of a program specific outcome. Based on these findings the paper concludes that the development of a tool to measure meso level organisational social impact of third sector organisations may be attainable.

Article Details

Section
Articles (refereed)
Author Biographies

Melissa Edwards, University of Technology Sydney

Melissa is a lecturer in the school of management at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is PhD qualified and conducts research in the areas of community organising, social impact, sustainability and complexity theory

Jenny Onyx, University of Technology Sydney

Jenny Onyx is Professor in the Management Discipline Group, School of Business, University of Technology, Sydney. She is a Co-Director of the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre, University of Technology, Sydney.

Simon Darcy, University of Technology Sydney

Simon Darcy is Professor in the Management Discipline Group, School of Business, University of Technology, Sydney.