Social Value Creation and Social Innovation by Human Service Professionals: Evidence from Missouri, USA

Monica Nandan,Archana Singh,Gokul Mandayam

doi:10.3390/admsci9040086

Abstract

Owing to the contextual challenges, human service professionals (HSP) are creating social value (SV) for diverse vulnerable population groups through social innovation. This qualitative exploratory study investigates the nature of SV created by 14 HSPs, representing a diverse range of human service organizations (HSOs), and examines ‘why’ and ‘how’ they innovate. In addition, the study examines HSPs’ current understanding and practices related to social entrepreneurship (SE). The study findings highlight that increased accountability and new funding opportunities challenged HSPs to innovate. HSPs created SV by addressing new unmet needs, developing new collaborations, and employing alternative marketing strategies, thereby ensuring the financial sustainability of their programs and organizations, and promoting social and economic justice. Different understandings of SE were voiced based on the educational backgrounds of HSPs. Without formal training in SE, HSPs trained in social work appeared to use various components of the SE process, though in a haphazard fashion compared to those with a non-social work academic training. We suggest that the graduate curriculum across various disciplines should formally include principles and behaviors related to social innovation and entrepreneurship. Finally, more research is needed to understand and describe how HSPs create SV in HSOs.

Highlights

Over the past few decades, human services organizations (HSOs) in the nonprofit sector have been facing unprecedented contextual challenges
human service professionals (HSP) trained in the social work and non-social work fields exhibited a different emphasis in their response to the challenges
HSPs trained in social work focused more on the increasing accountability while those trained in other fields focused more on reductions in funding opportunities

Summary

Introduction

Over the past few decades, human services organizations (HSOs) in the nonprofit sector have been facing unprecedented contextual challenges. HSOs are experiencing a reduction in access to traditional funding sources, growing competition for existing resources and capital (financial, human, physical), increasing demands for services due to market and public sector failures, and growing complexity of beneficiaries’ needs (Boris et al 2010; Jarman-Rohde et al 1997). Relying predominantly on any single source of funding, especially governmental, creates sustainability issues for social programs and limits their ability to create social value (Fawcett and South 2005; Mulroy and Shay 1997; Stoesz 2011). Within the aforementioned challenging context, HSOs are being called upon to demonstrate worth and sustainable impact in an unprecedented fashion (Martin and Osberg 2007).

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