Peter Kamstra1
1University Of Melbourne, Carlton, Australia
Progress has been made uncovering wellbeing benefits of social enterprises, but measuring these outcomes has been difficult. Here, we provide an innovative mixed methodology that link social enterprises with wellbeing outcomes by exploring the relational ways wellbeing is experienced in space. To accomplish this, we draw on Fleuret and Atkinson (2007) spaces of wellbeing theory that considers the relationality of spaces as composing wellbeing for individual’s, which is separated into four interrelated elements: capability, integration, security, and therapy. Within the context of social enterprise, relational thinking about the link between an individual’s wellbeing and physical workspaces is not well understood, nor is it measured empirically. In this study, we deploy a mixed methods and qualitative GIS-based analysis of the relational interactions between wellbeing and workspaces using participant observation, sketch-maps and go-along interviews. Most valuably, by mixing these methods, we expose causal factors – an element that has long been illusive in studies of social enterprise and wellbeing. Results reveal the variable nature of wellbeing mentions across the different work spaces, suggesting wellbeing is emergent and connected to particular work spaces and practices. This micro-geographical analysis affords potential for organisations and communities to understand where and how to generate greater wellbeing.
Biography:
Peter Kamstra is a Research Assistant at the Social Innovation Research Institute, Swinburne University. He is currently investigating the link between wellbeing and social enterprises, with an emphasis on qualitative GIS-based analysis.
