SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SUSTAINABILITY OF CHURCH BASED SOCIAL ENTERPRISES; A CASE OF BROTHERS CMM KENYA/TANZANIA PROVINCE.

Abstract

Socio-cultural factors have in several studies been cited as having contributed in the success and sustainability of many social enterprises. The Main objective of this study was to establish the relationship between the socio-cultural factors and the entrepreneurial sustainability of church based social enterprises; a case of Brothers CMM Projects, Kenya/Tanzania Province. The above main objective was studied under the following specific objectives; a) to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial management and sustainability of church based social enterprises, b) to establish the association between financial status and sustainability of church based social enterprises, c) to find out if there is any relationship between the culture of planning and sustainability of church based social enterprises, and d) to establish whether the use of technology has any effect on the sustainability of church based social enterprises. Data was collected by use of the questionnaires that contained closed-ended question items. The target population was 92 managers and senior management staff who included; board of management/provincial board members, project overall managers, departmental heads, and administrative assistants of these enterprises. By use of the descriptive design methodology and census sampling technique, all the 92 were sampled and formed the respondents. Data collected was edited, entered and analyzed using the SPSS 21.0 version. Spearman correlation data analysis between independent and dependent variables was done by use of SPSS (21.0). The findings indicated that all the four independent variables of entrepreneurial management, financial status, culture of planning, and use of technology had significant effects on the sustainability of the CBSEs. The study concluded that Brothers CMM SEs held at least one board planning meeting annually, 40-65% of their budgets were depended and funded by the General Board and the external donors, and that their financial performance was of losses below Kshs. 2 million. It was also found that the top management’s entrepreneurial skills, and the SEs’ financial status, planning, and use technology as SCFs indeed affected the sustainability of the SEs. The study recommended the following; management should ensure that strategic and business plans for each of these SEs are put in place. Diversification of investment options and revenue streams, make of donor-dependence reduction strategy progressively, invest in the entrepreneurial management capacity of top management, take advantage of the digitization of modern organizational operations among others.