The Role Of Measurement Devices In Defining The Field Of Social Impact Investment

This thesis addresses the recent calls for research in Social Impact Investing (SII), a new global approach to solve society’s most difficult problems through philanthropy, business innovation and finance. Questions revolving around the definition of terms such as Social Finance, as well as related concepts such as Social Enterprise, Social Impact and Social Impact Measurement, have engaged academics (and practitioners) for decades, but there is no consensus about what they mean. This thesis aims to shed light on this debate. Influenced by Bourdieu’s Field Theory, the approach used investigates the field of SII and its struggle for legitimacy, positions and industry standards using the concept of Market Devices from Social Studies of Finance to explore these dynamics. This investigation draws on 24 interviews with SII managers, 330 industry reports and 21 events that the researcher took part in. The contributions of this research to the field are the following. First, the findings demonstrate that the key role of social impact measurement is to define SII and, therefore, we cannot study SII without studying social impact measurement. Second, the detailed analysis of SII shows how, contesting both social entrepreneurship finance and a social impact market, the incumbents mobilize a new Impact Economy, in an attempt to come up with a more sustainable version of capitalism. As a result, the core promise of SII is being degraded and used as a marketing tool for increasing the symbolic capital of the financial sector and other groups. Third, the analysis indicates that the theoretical assemblage of Field Theory and Market Devices helps us to understand the activity and development of this field, allowing us to see how actors shape the field through the production, distribution and consumption of devices according to their worldviews and intentions, in an attempt to maintain their position in the field and improve their capital. By understanding that actors use dominant devices to improve their positions, devices become a new type of Bourdieu’s capital – an objectified and embodied cultural capital – and are proposed as key analytical units of fields to shape interactions and practices.