HOW COLLECTIVE EMOTIONS SHAPE IMPACT PARTNERSHIPS, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Impact partnerships for good? The role of social enterprise collaborations
Social entrepreneurs play an increasingly central role in tackling grand challenges such as inequality, health access, or climate change by pursuing social goals through market-based ventures. Collaborations between social enterprises in the Global South and the Global North have become emblematic of this shift toward private-sector-led development. Typically framed as time-bound projects aimed at fostering self-reliance in the South, these partnerships often rest on unequal resource flows — financial, technical, and institutional — that generate various forms of dependency. Existing research has largely examined dependency through a macro, resource-based lens, emphasizing one-sided financial or expertise asymmetries and donor-driven influence. However, this view neglects the mutual emotional dependency that can develop within everyday interactions of partnerships, i.e., dependencies rooted in shared affective ties that shape, sustain, or disrupt the pursuit of genuine self-reliance.
Why does emotional dependency emerge?
Social entrepreneurs often enter partnerships with others who share their prosocial motivation, which is rooted in their personal emotional experiences. This creates collective emotions, which are shared feelings that simmer beneath the surface of partnerships. In the early phase of collaboration, our findings show that partners from the Global South and North often develop collective emotional dependency. This is fueled by positive, other-oriented emotions. For instance, in our study the Northern partners expressed collective compassionate empathy and Southern partners showed collective pride in co-founding social enterprises to support their communities. Sharing these emotions closely ties partners together, energizing joint activities, and promoting partnership goals, such as fostering self-reliance for Southern partners. Yet these same emotions can also create challenges, including over-commitment and a continuous search for affirmation from partners. In other words, the very emotional bonds that motivate social entrepreneurs can both strengthen and constrain the partnership’s development.
How does emotional dependency intensify?
As partnerships progress, collective emotional dependency can intensify in subtle ways. In the second phase, our study found that partners may become caught in a cycle of mutual positivity, thereby suppressing negative emotions to preserve the partnership’s harmonious appearance. This dynamic may be triggered by disillusionment — for example, when the promise of an equal partnership is not realized — leading to self-oriented emotions, such as frustration or disappointment. Northern partners may unintentionally set an emotional climate that discourages open and honest feedback, while Southern partners may refrain from voicing concerns, aligning their emotions with Northern expectations. Our study highlights that this is not mere performative masking; rather, emotional alignment may occur unconsciously, reflecting deeper affective entanglements. Partners engage in emotional labor by buffering their own negative emotions to maintain the partnership’s positive spirit. This dynamic reinforces subtle hierarchies that reproduce affective inequalities and mirror postcolonial patterns: benevolent interventions can inadvertently disempower local actors, shaping not only actions but the very emotional life of the partnership.
How can partners escape emotional dependency, and is it bad if they don’t?
Emotional dependency in partnerships can evolve along different trajectories. In one case we studied, partners continued to seek positive emotional feedback and reinforcement. Consequently, dependency persisted. In the second case, partners disembedded dependency by actively distancing themselves emotionally from their partners and the partnership. This process, even if it was hurtful, allowed the Southern partners to embark on a path of more self-reliance. Thus, if partners recognize emotional dependencies, set boundaries, and adjust expectations, a more equal and independent form of collaboration can emerge.
Like the partnership itself, emotions in the partnership follow a lifecycle. Early stages are shaped by shared other-oriented feelings, such as pride in co-founding the enterprise or compassion for the communities served. Over time, these give way to more self-focused emotions, such as managing one’s own energy, protecting against strain, and concentrating on long-term goals. This shift helps partners recalibrate their engagement while pursuing shared objectives. By attending to the emotional life of the partnership alongside its operational trajectory, our analysis shows that relational dynamics are as important as other material resources or having a strategy in place for sustaining impact and supporting self-reliance.
What this means for collaborative practice
Emotions are not peripheral to collaboration; rather they shape their direction and endurance. Drawing on our findings, we identify five practices that can help partners sustain emotionally balanced and equitable relationships:
Recognize collective emotions and postcolonial patterns. Emotions such as gratitude, empathy, or pride are not merely personal drivers of entrepreneurial efforts, but they are also historically shaped. Partnerships between organizations in the Global South and North often carry emotional legacies of aid, charity, or moral obligation. These legacies can unconsciously re-inscribe hierarchical roles, such as the “caring helper” and the “grateful receiver.” Making these emotional patterns visible allows partners to question how they influence everyday interactions and decision-making.
Cultivate emotional agency and draw on emotions as a shared resource. Once collective patterns are recognized, emotions can become a generative resource for partnership and entrepreneurial efforts rather than a constraint. When treated as a joint resource, emotions reveal how the partnership is functioning and what might need adjustment. This requires reflexivity by acknowledging how one’s own feelings and actions contribute to the emotional climate.
Embrace tensions as a basis of learning. Disagreement and frustration are inevitable in long-term relationships. Rather than suppressing these emotions to maintain harmony, partners can view them as productive opportunities for reflection. When addressed constructively, moments of tension can clarify expectations, redistribute responsibility, and deepen trust.
Engage external reflection or supervision. External mentors can provide valuable feedback for learning and accountability, which allows partners to reflect and navigate emotional dependencies, power asymmetries, and communication styles.
Co-design transitions and future trajectories. When a partnership evolves — for instance, as local autonomy increases or funding cycles end — both parties should jointly plan how relational and emotional ties will adapt. Discussing continuity, recognition, and the form of communication early on prevents abrupt emotional ruptures and ensures that independence is mutual rather than one-sided. A collaboratively managed transition strengthens the sense of shared achievement and enduring connection.
Conclusion
Ultimately, emotionally rich partnerships are not inherently better. Emotional closeness can energize a collaboration, but without careful management it can entrench dependency and undermine self-reliance. As NGOs, funders, social enterprises, and local partner organizations start collaborating, they should not only ask questions such as “How are we working together?” but also: “How are we feeling together, and how will those feelings evolve?” Paying attention to emotions, relational practices, and agency over time can turn good intentions into enduring, equitable impact.
