Social innovation related to ecological crises: A systematic literature review and a research agenda for strong sustainability

Lucas Haskell,Karl Johan Bonnedahl,Herman I Stål

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129316

Lucas Haskell, Karl Johan Bonnedahl + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129316

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Abstract

New technologies, market-based solutions, and regulation have proven inadequate in remedying today's human caused ecological crises. This suggests that detrimental social practices need to be fundamentally changed. While social innovation is one possible approach for such change, a comprehensive picture of research on social innovation in relation to ecological challenges is missing. Therefore, with an emphasis on so-called strong sustainability, this article's purpose was to investigate social innovation's potential in relation to ecological crises, to identify important gaps, and advance research implications. A systematic literature review of social innovation research that address environmental issues was carried out, and the resulting literature was analyzed according to sustainability and five dimensions of social innovation. To reap more of social innovation's potential in our time of ecological crises, we suggest a move in social innovation research towards strong sustainability and propose such research avenues within each of the five dimensions of social innovation: conceptualization, environmental needs and challenges, key resources, capabilities, and constraints, types of governance, networks and actors, and, finally, process dynamics for strongly sustainable social innovation.

Highlights

New technologies, market-based solutions, and regulation have proven inadequate in remedying today’s human caused ecological cri ses, like climate change and biodiversity loss (IPCC et al, 2021; UNEP, 2021)
The examination of articles begins with a classification in terms of strong or weak sustainability followed by an analysis of how the five social innovation dimensions are expressed
Lacking similar reviews and due the diversity of social innovation research, it was perceived that a systematic literature review was important to probe the viability of social innovation for addressing ecological crises

Summary

Introduction

Market-based solutions, and regulation have proven inadequate in remedying today’s human caused ecological cri ses, like climate change and biodiversity loss (IPCC et al, 2021; UNEP, 2021) This suggests a need for deep social change, addressing today’s social practices and ways of organizing, challenging dominant norms and beliefs (Heikkurinen et al, 2015) in line with a strong version of sustainability. Human-caused processes, not least climate change, have induced rapid and noticeable deterioration in ecological functions, and Journal of Cleaner Production 325 (2021) 129316 natural scientists have called for immediate large scale emission cuts to safeguard future generations (Rockstrom et al, 2017) Another major area of concern in regards to the environment is biodiversity, which plays a significant role in fulfilling life-support functions, like seques tering carbon, and for withstanding shocks (Ekins et al, 2003). Climate and biodiversity are interlinked through, e.g., deforesta tion, ocean acidification, and habitat loss caused by expanding human infrastructure (IPBES et al, 2019)

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