Mission drift or simply failure? A cross-country pursuit of why social enterprises run by religious women in the Catholic Church tend to fail

Purpose Despite social ministries and enterprises by Catholic sisters being established under stable foundation and for several years, there have been cases of failures or stalled projects. The purpose of this study was to examine whether this phenomenon is simply failure or a case of mission drift. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this objective, primary data drawn from four African countries, 59 congregations and 172 respondents were subjected to a mixed methods approach to find out what explained this failure. The 172 respondents were drawn from a set of congregational leaders. Findings The findings revealed some level of inactive projects largely in farming and agricultural production. The authors found that the identified 19 causes of social enterprise failures emanated both from internal, commercially driven to external, pro-social reasons. Research limitations/implications The findings of the study revealed the need to strategically review the utilisation of the resources at the disposal of the congregations. Capacity building, proper succession planning and setting the right tone at the top were critical imperatives congregational leaders need to pay attention to minimise project failures and mission drift. Finally, the study called for innovative funding models together with a change in mindset about the sustainability of the social enterprises. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is perhaps the first to focus on social enterprises run by Catholic sisters with a view towards establishing why they tend to fail.