What motivates employees to engage in the social economy sector? A case study of Greek cooperative enterprises

Purpose Social economy employees focus on personal fulfillment and social good rather than economic gains. They prefer to work in a sector that promotes satisfaction and makes them feel worthy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate employees’ motivations to engage in the social economy sector, especially in a period of financial downturn in Greece. Furthermore, the impact of specific demographic characteristics on employees’ work motivation is examined. Design/methodology/approach The research participants included 200 employees of worker cooperatives and social cooperative enterprises. A survey was conducted by collecting primary data and using a close-ended type questionnaire. Findings According to the findings, intrinsic forces motivate the employees to a greater extent toward social economy sector than economic ones. However, the replacement of the profit motivation from the main concern, it does not mean that the employees are not interested in financials. The survey also indicated that the most important barrier for starting to work in the social economy sector is the difficulty in finding partners. Finally, the findings showed that demographic characteristics partially influence work motivations of Greek employees on the social economy sector. Originality/value The results of this study may interest employers in finding new ways to motivate employees toward social economy sector under economic crisis conditions.