The Complexity of a Dual Mission - A Qualitative Study of How Social Entrepreneurs in Swedish Social Enterprises Metacognitively Manage the Social and Economic Objectives in Their Decision-Making

Sammanfattning: Social enterprises are ventures created by social entrepreneurs and play a central role in sustainable development. They are defined by their dual mission of making a social impact and being financially sustainable. Through a qualitative study, this thesis aims to deepen the understanding of this mission balance by investigating the social entrepreneur's decision-making. It focuses on the metacognitive process, which is the awareness one has over the decision and mentally available strategies to choose from, using the Metacognitive Model of the Entrepreneurial Mindset. The findings from the cross-sectional study based on 11 interviews with social entrepreneurs demonstrate that the dual mission is complex. Three areas of concern regarding the dual mission could be identified to largely influence the metacognitive process when taking decisions associated with high risk or uncertainty. These are investors, employees, and customers. Although having different motivations and general beliefs of the dual mission initially, they are metacognitively aware of these stakeholders and have the same strategy to deal with them - maximize the aggregated net gain, meaning that the positive consequences should outweigh the negative on all stakeholders combined. This thesis does not only increase the understanding of the dual mission, but it can also help social entrepreneurs run successful social enterprises, contributing to a sustainable future.