Abstract
This article presents an explanatory study on the spread of social innovations. It tells the story of a social aid service called Food Banks that was transnationally diffused in various high-income countries but was confronted with severe obstacles as it spread to Japan. The social aid service involves the collection of food that is “edible but not marketable” and its distribution to low-income people through collaborations with local food manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. Eventually, the Food Bank system was also adopted in Japan. However, it took the initiators many years to overcome various institutional constraints stemming from Japan’s corporate culture, (dis)trust in civil society, and the legal and regulatory environment. By drawing on the case of Food Banks in Japan, this article will discuss in more detail how “change agents” (Rogers 2003) adopt social innovations and diffuse novel concepts into new institutional contexts.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
