Alternative investing as brokering : the embedding process of a Social Impact Bond model in a local context

Abstract

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are gaining traction as a research topic. Using a longitudinal case study of a Norwegian social venture - Nature Magic - funded through a SIB model, this article explores the embedding process of a SIB model into a local context – diverging from previous research focused on empirical cases from the UK and USA and refining the social aspects of SIBs. We show that the SIB model is embedded through three processes: 1) cultivating opportunity; 2) pulling together; and 3) fostering experimentation and ‘mutation’. We find that these embedding processes were fostered through developing and activating bonding and bridging social capital. This study also extends our understanding of alternative investing by theorizing it as brokering. We find that social investors engage in brokering processes in facilitating collaboration between typically disconnected spheres - such as social ventures and municipalities - through these embedding processes.