Abstract:
New online organizational forms utilizing Information Systems have been developed that aim to empower the poor and under-served through the provision of economic development, political change and social goods. Online Social Entrepreneurial Enterprise Start-ups (OSEES) are able to use the low cost barriers to entry, speed and scaling opportunities provided by Information Systems to rapidly mobilize large online social networks of people motivated by social causes to roll out innovative online social services for the under-served. This dissertation discusses a case study of one of the most prominent OSEES: Kiva.org, the world’s first person-to-person microlending website. The thesis seeks to answer two research questions: (1) How do OSEES utilize IS to scale rapidly and expand globally with little on-the-ground (local) knowledge? (2) How do OSEES gain and maintain support from the public and private sectors in their quest to use IS as an apparatus with transformative power? The findings are that OSEES succeed by creating a participatory design process that innovates around IS for social benefits, and by quickly adapting to critical feedback from partners and the under-served. OSEES are part of an emerging social benefit network, an increasingly popular cause in Silicon Valley, which has evolved through high levels of online social networking and physical mashup, boot-camps, annual awards, conferences at major local universities, events and high profile support from leading hi-tech corporations, foundations and philanthro-capitalists within Silicon Valley. The thesis concludes by suggesting that OSEES are an example of a new, IS-enabled approach to the old problem of poverty alleviation.
