Exploring the meaning of social innovation: a categorisation scheme based on the level of policy intervention, profit orientation and geographical scale

Abstract

ABSTRACTThere has been a growing interest in academia regarding the term ‘social innovation’, including in disciplines such as sociology, administration, history, management, psychology, and economics. The literature highlights the lack of scientific clarity in the use of the term, and some scholars argue that the term is no more than a ‘buzzword’ or a ‘fad’. This article focusses on the analysis of the conceptualizations of social innovation, contrasting sociological and economical approaches, and adopts an integrative approach to propose a categorization scheme of social innovation projects based on three distinct variables, namely the level of policy support, the profit orientation and the geographical scale. We argue that government support and the scalability of social innovations should be carefully pondered depending on the characteristics of the social innovation initiatives. We conclude that policy support should privilege social innovation initiatives that, while having the potential to deliver social good, are constrained by market failures. In addition, we also argue in favour of policy support for small bottom-up initiatives that have a profit-logic but are not sufficiently robust to survive on their own due to the liabilities of smallness and newness. Finally, we advise caution in public policies supporting scale-up strategies and highlighted the inherent challenges.