Knowledge, Ethics and Sustainability of Social Enterprises in Thailand: The Mediating Effect of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the role of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) in mediating the relationship between knowledge-ethics and the sustainability of social enterprises in Thailand. Structural Equation Modeling was employed to analyze the proposed relationships between knowledge and ethics in organizational management and the operational and impact viability of social enterprises, and to investigate the mediating effect of SEP’s pillars of moderation, reasonableness, and self-immunity. The data for the study was collected via a survey of 291 CEOs of social enterprises in Thailand. The model demonstrated acceptable fit indices (Chi-square=1694.932, df =1007, CMIN/DF = 1.683, CFI =0.906, SRMR = 0.079, RMSEA = 0.049, and PClose = 0.723), indicating empirical support for the proposed conceptual model. The results revealed that the three pillars of SEP significantly mediate the relationship between ethics and the sustainability of social enterprises for both operational viability and impact viability. Compared to reasonableness and self-immunity, moderation had the highest indirect effect on both operational and impact viability, suggesting that a moderated approach to social enterprise can enhance sustainable performance. Finally, only reasonableness and self-immunity, significantly mediated the relationship between knowledge and the operational viability of social enterprises.