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

• Published in: Journal of Business Venturing Insights 2022-06, Vol.17, p.e00297, Article e00297
• Main Authors: Kosmynin, Mikhail, Jack, Sarah L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative investment; Brokering; Collaboration; Embedding; Social impact bond
• ISSN: 2352-6734; 2352-6734
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2021.e00297

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. •We explore a Norwegian social venture, Nature Magic, funded through a Social Impact Bond model.•We unpack the embedding processes of a collaborative SIB model in a local context.•We provide a greater nuance to what social investors do in SIBs.•The social investor plays a brokerage role by facilitating collaboration through the SIB.•We extend understanding of SIBs in new contexts.