Social Enterprise - The Rising Star of Customer Well-beeing?

Companies are increasingly faced with a growing number of social enterprises entering the market, as well with an appealing business model for many customers. However, the role of social enterprises as a driver of customer well-being has not been examined so far. Given the relevance of customer well-being for company success, this paper seeks to identify whether buying products from social enterprises leads to a different degree of customer well-being compared to the purchase from other organization types. The findings reveal that buying products from social enterprises leads to a higher degree of customer well-being than buying products from for-profit companies. In contrast, purchasing from non-profit organizations leads to a slightly higher customer well-being than buying from social enterprises. Furthermore, the results show that the organization type has an influence on customers´ company perceptions, which, in turn, guides the perception of customer well-being.