Agency, Aspirations and Decision-Making of Marginalised Young People in Social Enterprises

Abstract

This thesis examines the contribution that changes in young people’s agency, aspirations and decision-making during participation in social enterprises make in improving engagement and outcomes in employment, education and training. The focus is contextualised within the growing number of young people who are marginalised by not engaging in employment, education and training in Australia and the majority of countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2012). Consequences of young people’s marginalisation are experienced at the personal, community and Government levels and include long-term marginalisation and heavy social and financial costs. The focus of this study is social enterprises that operate as intermediate labour market interventions with a social purpose. These enterprises address the vocational and non-vocational barriers of marginalised groups in an effort to assist them to obtain employment, education and training outcomes. While the literature on social enterprises is increasing, a gap persists regarding the possible changes in cognitive-motivational variables such as agency, aspirations and decision-making processes and their roles in promoting positive outcomes. In particular, the lack of research and theorisation addressing the predictive potential of change in such cognitive-motivational variables as young people participate in social enterprises has restricted evidence-based service delivery to capitalise on any such relation.