Transformative change through events business: a feminist ethic of care analysis of building the purpose economy

Abstract

As we confront social, ecological and economic challenges, some look to a new model described as the purpose economy as a pathway to more sustainable and just futures. Responsible and sustainable events are increasingly of interest to both academics and practitioners. However, little work has explored the capacities for social entrepreneurship in events management and ways that events can build socio-cultural well-being. This article presents a case study of an unusual events business known as GOGO Events located in Adelaide, South Australia. For some eight years, GOGO has offered a social enterprise initiative training and supporting teams of marginalised people to create and install event installations. To accomplish this, GOGO’s founder has built a web of stakeholders, including: corporate clients; not for profit organisations supporting homeless and vulnerable people; and these vulnerable people themselves. Together they build networks of care and social change. Using the lens of feminist care ethics, we analyse how such work contributes to building the purpose economy. These efforts move beyond corporate social responsibility and suggest events businesses can help build community, create relationships of care and contribute to more sustainable and fair futures. After COVID-19, such socially committed work has become even more imperative.

Keywords:

• Events
• Social sustainability
• Feminist care ethics
• Purpose economy
• Social entrepreneurship
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This article will use the term “homeless” to describe those individuals that experience temporary loss of access to good, safe shelter. We acknowledge that others use terms, such as “people experiencing homelessness”, “houselessness” and “unhoused” to overcome some of the pejorative connotations of the term “homeless”. We use homeless because that is the term our research participants most frequently used and supported.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Freya Higgins-Desbiolles

Freya Higgins-Desbiolles is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management, Business Unit, University of South Australia. Her work focuses on social justice, human rights and sustainability issues in tourism, hospitality and events. She has worked with communities, non-governmental organisations and businesses that seek to harness tourism for sustainable and equitable futures.

Manjit Monga

Dr Manjit Monga is a lecturer in the School of Management in UniSA Business School. She teaches and researches in business ethics and human resource management areas. Prior to joining UniSA, Manjit had a successful career in private sector business overseas and in Australia. She brought the practical experience and knowledge of business to academia and to her research program. Manjit has a Master's degree and a PhD in Social Anthropology from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.