Social impact is associated with the consequences generated by an action within a community.
The term impact , which comes from the late Latin impactus , has several uses. On this occasion we are going to focus on its meaning as the emotional or symbolic effect produced by a fact or event .
Social , for its part, is that linked to society . This is the name given to the grouping of individuals who live together in the same space and must respect various common rules.
With these ideas clear, we can move forward with the definition of social impact . It is the result or consequence of a certain action in a community.
The social impact produced by companies
The concept is usually used in the corporate field to name the effects produced by the activities carried out by a company . Regardless of their internal functioning, with their income, profits, etc., companies cause multiple consequences with their daily work.
The social impact, in this framework, is the mark left by a company in the community in which it is integrated. Suppose that a shoe manufacturer has 200 employees in a town of 800 inhabitants . If you make the decision to lay off 50% of your staff , the measure will have a very negative social impact on the town.
If a company lays off hundreds of employees, this decision will have a very negative social impact.
Effect of government measures
A government 's decisions also generate social impact. If the authorities of a country announce the elimination of subsidies for public services and rates increase more than 100% from one month to the next, this measure has a great social impact since it modifies citizens' finances. Given the increases, it is likely that the population will begin to protest and make their discontent known to the rulers.
These two examples show the various nuances of the social impact that a measure as negative as the mass dismissal of employees or the excessive increase in rates can have. Firstly, we can see the material consequences, which are related to the decrease in personal capital, the contraction of debts to meet the obligations that until now citizens covered with their salaries or even the loss of their homes.
Although these consequences are the most obvious, since they are also recorded in areas other than those of the victims themselves, we must not forget the marks that the social impact of an unfair measure leaves on the emotional level. A person who loses his job from one day to the next, without prior notice, after having dedicated a large part of his life to the same company in a responsible manner, not only loses the money he collected every month, but in many cases self-confidence, the strength to move forward.
Promoting positive social impact
Given that we currently have many tools to make our projects a reality, new companies frequently emerge focused on generating a positive social impact in their environment to cause a significant transformation . However, despite the apparent ease with which we can launch an undertaking of this type, we must study its potential results very carefully.
For a long time, the most common way to measure social or environmental impact revolved around evaluating data and monitoring project progress. However, with the entry on the scene of the social enterprise, measurement began to become relevant to investors and affect expansion plans, the comparison of various programs and the motivation of staff.
Before you can begin to measure the social impact of a company, it is necessary to define its objectives, so that it is possible to check the quality of the results obtained in a given period. For example, in a project that seeks to revitalize an abandoned town, the social impact of the construction work will be almost null compared to what it would have in an active city; Therefore, the validity of the same measurement criterion varies depending on the context.