Abstract
Learning processes play a crucial role in the development of the transformative capacity of social innovation actors. This article builds on the recently developed Transformative Social Innovation (TSI) theory to propose a conceptual framework and research agenda for understanding and investigating the roles and limits of network leadership in supporting learning processes that serve to develop the transformative capacity of social innovation. This focus on network leadership is underdeveloped so far in TSI theory. Addressing this research gap also serves to increase the practical relevance of TSI theory to practitioners engaged in network leadership. After presenting a synopsis of TSI theory, we present an overview of the elements of the conceptual framework, which are successively specified throughout the article. First, transformative change is conceptualized, involving three institutional dimensions: depth, width and length. Based on this, a definition of transformative capacity is proposed that addresses change across these three dimensions. We then describe how various types of learning processes can contribute to the development of transformative capacity. Next, we outline the roles of network leadership in supporting these learning processes across various network levels. We conclude with a research agenda for empirically investigating these roles of network leaders as agents for advancing transformative changes for sustainability.
Highlights
Interest in social innovation has become loaded with many hopes and assumptions about the potential of social innovation to address urgent and complex sustainability challenges [1]
We propose three categories of competences, consisting of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that collectives of Social innovation (SI) actors need to be able to achieve transformative impact. This categorisation builds on results from the TRANSIT project: the theoretical propositions regarding relations to processes of institutionalisation [1,5], as well as a description of “social learning outcomes that can be assessed in order to evaluate the transformative capacity of social innovation initiatives” [3] (p. 45)
Network leadership can be influential in monitoring, designing and adapting those network features in ways that respond to the needs of members and enable learning processes that are appropriate for different contexts [7]
Summary
The role of networks as a mechanism for supporting those learning processes, deserves much more in-depth understanding [5,6], in particular, the aspect of network leadership: how various actors in social innovation networks can purposefully shape and support learning processes to strengthen transformative capacity [7,8] This would significantly enhance the practical value of TSI theory to social innovation practitioners engaging in network leadership. Through further testing and refinement of this framework in empirical cases, a practice-relevant theory of change can be developed This will fill an important gap in existing TSI theory and make a contribution to the wider literature on transition studies, social innovation, social learning, and network leadership. The discussion and conclusion offers a comprehensive overview of the conceptual framework and presents a research agenda for further testing and refining this framework empirically
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