Social enterprise sustainability : the perspective of the owners’ of private Islamic schools
This study aims to investigate the meaning of sustainability from the perspective of the owners/founders of private Islamic schools to acquire better understanding of sustainability with regards to social enterprises that are operating on a platform of fee-for-service model (Alter, 2007). It w...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/26505/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/26505/1/enasocial.png |
| Summary: | This study aims to investigate the meaning of
sustainability from the perspective of the
owners/founders of private Islamic schools to
acquire better understanding of sustainability with
regards to social enterprises that are operating on a
platform of fee-for-service model (Alter, 2007). It
will act as a starting point for further research on
sustainability of private Islamic schools in Malaysia.
This qualitative study involved a total of six
participants, in particular, the owners and/or
founders of private Islamic schools who were
purposely selected from different types of private
Islamic schools. Exploratory interviews were
conducted with respondents to obtain their
viewpoints on sustainability of the schools.
Procedures applied in data collections including
interview guide, audio recording, notes and
transcriptions. The study reveals the most perceived
meanings of sustainability in the context of private
Islamic schools as derived from content analysis are;
(1) ability to stay in operation over a period of time,
(2) capability to provide a reasonably good physical
facilities, (3) capability to maintain sufficient
qualified teacher and an acceptable teacher-tostudent
ratio (4) ability to offer a subsidized or
reduced or below-the-market school fee, and (5)
ability to offer a reasonably good curriculum.
Regardless of its small number of merely six
respondents, this study provides a glance of the
meaning of social enterprise sustainability. Future
studies will definitely involve more respondents
from various types of private Islamic schools that
scattered all over the country in order to obtain
meaningful data. Nonetheless, the implication of this
paper is that it offers preliminary insights/ideas to
the researcher of the possible factors that could
influence the sustainability of private Islamic
schools as social enterprises. Whilst social enterprise
is not a new topic, the literature suggests the scarcity
of information pertaining to the religious/faith-based
schools, in particular, private Islamic schools.
Therefore, this paper fulfils a need to look at the
perceived meaning(s) of sustainability from the
perspectives of faith-based social entrepreneurs. |
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