Matthew Lee

Harvard University | Harvard · Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Hybrid organizations that combine multiple organizational forms deviate from socially legitimate templates for organizing, and thus experience unique organizing challenges. In this paper, we introduce and develop the concept of hybrid organizing, which we define as the activities, structures, processes and meanings by which organizations make sense...

Recent studies find that female-led ventures are penalized relative to male-led ventures as a result of role incongruity or a perceived “lack of fit” between female stereotypes and expected personal qualities of business entrepreneurs. We examine whether social impact framing that emphasizes a venture’s social–environmental welfare benefits, which...

Social movement organizations that engage directly in commercial activities face the particular challenge of mobilizing movement activists and commercial actors simultaneously. In a seven-year case study of a Sicilian anti-racket social movement organization that uses commercial activities to combat Mafia racketeering, we show how strategic framing...

The emerging practice of “impact investing” optimizes both financial and social outcomes, and thus promises to support hybrid organizations that simultaneously pursue financial and social goals. We argue, however, that impact investing decisions may be prone to behavioral factors that limit their outcome efficiency. In a portfolio allocation task d...

We examine how organizational structure influences strategies over which corporate leaders have significant discretion. Corporate philanthropy is our setting to study how a differentiated structural element — the corporate foundation — constrains the influence of individual senior managers and directors on corporate strategy. Our analysis of Fortun...

Research Summary The microfinance “group lending” approach has achieved widespread success in promoting high rates of repayment, and thus the viability of financial access, in very low‐income environments. Yet group lending, which relies on social connections between borrowers to reinforce repayment, may be vulnerable under crisis conditions in whi...

Research Summary The emerging practice of “impact investing” optimizes both financial and social outcomes, and thus promises to support hybrid organizations that simultaneously pursue financial and social goals. We argue, however, that impact investing decisions may be prone to behavioral factors that limit their outcome efficiency. In a portfolio...

A large and growing literature examines the explicit social responsibility practices of companies. Yet corporations’ greatest consequences for social welfare arguably occur through indirect processes that shape the social fabric that sustains generosity and mutual support within communities. Based on this logic, we theorize and test a model that su...

This paper examines the critical role of gender in the commercialization of social ventures. We argue that cultural beliefs about what is perceived to be appropriate work for each gender influence how founders of social ventures incorporate commercial activity into their ventures. Specifically, we argue and show that although cultural beliefs that...

How does environmental uncertainty affect the process of starting new hybrid organizations? Our comparative analysis of the formation of two "green" banks - with hybrid goals linked to banking and environmental logics - reveals that shifts in their strategic orientations resulted from attempts to align uncertain and changing resource environments w...

The emerging practice of “impact investing” optimizes both financial and social outcomes, and thus promises to support hybrid organizations that simultaneously pursue financial and social goals. We argue, however, that impact investing decisions may be prone to behavioral factors that limit their outcome efficiency. In a portfolio allocation task d...

How do established companies respond to the entry of hybrid social ventures in their industries? Hybrid social ventures-new companies that combine business and social missions-use sustainability-oriented strategies to compete with established companies for some of their most desirable customers and employees. Yet hybrid social ventures also benefit...

Although several studies have examined the increasing commercialization of the social sector in the US, the cultural environment in which social ventures are set has been largely absent from this discussion. In particular, research has not accounted for the gendered nature of the social sector and the embeddedness of social ventures in their local...

PurposeDespite the increase in empirical studies of social enterprise in management and organization research, the lack of a cohesive knowledge base in this area is concerning. In this chapter, we propose that the underdevelopment of the attendant research infrastructure is an important, but oft-overlooked, barrier to the development of this body o...

Recent studies address the unique challenges faced by hybrid organizations that combine distinct organizational forms, but little is known about their antecedents. In this paper, we investigate how individual entrepreneurs’ past exposure to various work environments may imprint their subsequent behavior and thus function as an antecedent to organiz...

Hybrid organizations that combine multiple, existing organizational forms are frequently proposed as a source of organizational innovation, yet little is known about the origins of such organizations. We propose that individual founders of hybrid organizations acquire imprints from past exposure to work environments, thus predisposing them to incor...