Concept Of Social Innovation Research Articles

Entrepreneurship in Jordan: the eco-system of the Social Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (SESOs)

This study aims at assessing the Social Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (SESOs) in Jordan with an updated eco-system reflecting the better resourced Social Entrepreneurship eco-system characterized with comprehensive information; covering the stakeholders’ identification data, ongoing projects and initiatives, work scope, and their targeted groups, accurate data based on a well-developed survey and analysis of the survey data by the authors’ experience in this filed. This study also aims at assessing the SESOs capacity by coincide their desired needs and their actual needs and limit the social innovation concept variation among the different institutions in the ecosystem. This study also provides a survey analysis for the Social Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (SESOs); as an attempt to identify their characteristics and roles in Jordan by adopting the methodology of qualitative and quantitative analysis approach. Results show that (57.89%) of the SESO’s in Jordan have dedicated programs that focus on women's inclusion, and that (68.42%) are hiring more than 50% in their staff. Besides that, results also show that (59.65%) of the SESO’s in Jordan did not dedicate programs for people with disabilities (PWD); which is a high portion in neglecting this segment of people. Besides that (54.39%) do not have designed facilities friendly using for people with disabilities. Moreover, results show that (73.68%) had dedicated programs for youth with different age groups, and (77.19%) of the SESO’s in Jordan had attempted to identify, understand, and actively removing barriers that exist for certain groups of young people in society. Moreover, (70.18%) of the SESO’s in Jordan had organized specific outreach mechanisms to identify, meet, engage, and/or serve different population groups. Finally, results show that (38.60%) of the SESO’s in Jordan had dedicated programs for refugees.

Sport Facility Asset Transfer and the Creativity of Volunteer-Run Public Facilities

Influenced by the world economic environment, many sports facilities expenditure after the Games will bring a heavy economic burden to the government. It is very important to deliver sports facilities to the community and the local governmentThis article aims to use literature analysis to critically analyse the argument that the asset transferral of the local government sport facilities to volunteers could transform sport services by stimulating creativity in local communities. It mainly uses the concept of social innovation and the Big Society to recognise the challenges and benefits during and after the sport facility transfer.

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): Scientometric Analysis

Innovation and research in various fields should be done responsibly. In the last years, there is this responsibility towards different stakeholders. One of the most important stakeholders are the community and the society. In this context, the concept of social responsibility and social innovation has become very widespread. The purpose of this study was scientometric analysis of concepts in the field of responsible innovation and responsible research. R software has been used to achieve this purpose. In this study, by analyzing the information extracted from related articles (572 articles from Web of Science), the new concept of RRI and the network of researchers in this regard have been identified and analyzed. In this study, based on a systematic literature review (SLR) and scientometric methods, the evolution of the concept of “Responsible Research” and “Responsible Innovation” in the literature is investigated. Also, the selected articles identified by the SLR method from different textual dimensions regarding journals, collaboration network, co-citation network, collaboration worldmap, historical direct citation network, and emergence of new concepts are analyzed. The results of this study indicate the development of related concepts in the literature in recent years and indicate the need for further studies in this regard.

Social innovation in social forestry: seeking better management for sustainable forest in Indonesia

The Indonesian state and local community have been conducting forest co-management as part of a new social forestry program initiative. This initiative is proposed to overcome environmental degradation as well as to enhance community well-being by increasing economic outcome of the forest. However, this program has the potential for conflict because of asymmetry between resources dedicated to approving social forestry permits versus capacity building, monitoring, and evaluating management outcomes. The social innovation approaches have been adopted as a potential solution to address complex social forestry program. This article aims to explore how social innovation and village governance in forest communities works. The research framework is designed by modifying the social innovation concept from the Theoretical, Empirical and Policy Foundations for Building Social Innovation in Europe (TEPSIE). Qualitative method is applied, by conducting in-depth interview and focus group discussion with forest policy experts, village authorities, and other stakeholders. Two neighbouring villages namely Sirnajaya and Tugu Utara in the Bogor District, West Java are visited. Sirnajaya represents village with strong government support by the Pilot Program for Incubation of Village Innovation in Local Economic Development (PIID-PEL), while Tugu Utara represents a strong society initiative in local development. The result reveals that social innovation has worked at different phases. However, good cooperation between formal and informal actors can have a better outcome on village development, compared to if each moves independently. The extension of social innovation and network of development can become an engine of village growth to the larger scope. The successful management for social forestry in Indonesia needs to be based on a hybrid governance model that needs to be “good” and “proper”. Therefore, the designs and practices for social forestry governance must be developed in more socially inclusive, reflected local social-economic, political, and cultural conditions.

The Potential and Need to Implement the New Concept of Social Innovation into the Management Practice of Modern Energy Companies

The research results presented in the paper show that it is important that not only state institutions and foundations but also energy companies engage in solving environmental problems by introducing specific social innovations. This need results primarily from the fact that in the environment of energy enterprises, problems of a social nature as well as those related to ecology are observed. The occurrence of social and environmental problems is related to the fact that the solutions developed so far to eliminate them are not fully effective, and the currently functioning political and economic systems as well as financial mechanisms do not sufficiently support the interests of society members and the biological systems of the planet. Hence, people constituting a layer of the social environment of energy companies also expect support from them, in the elimination of specific problems. It appears that the active participation of energy enterprises in counteracting or eliminating social and environmental issues may result in an increase in the economic efficiency of their management systems. Therefore, the benefits may concern not only the environment in which these companies operate, but also the companies themselves.

DSI Strategy Canvas: Modelling the Digital Social Innovation Strategy

Humanity’s main challenges are to solve social needs, such as: eradicating hunger and poverty; reduce racial and gender inequalities; promote environmentally sustainable behaviour, etc. Social needs motivate the raise of social innovations promoted by the most different actors, from government, companies, the third sector, to individual entrepreneurs and communities. To increase the scalability and impact of social innovation, it is generally necessary to use digital technologies. Thus, the concept of Digital Social Innovation (DSI) emerges, which is a type of social innovation mediated by digital technology, through which innovators, users and the community cooperate to co-create knowledge and solutions to meet social needs. This work reports the application of the scientific method for the development and evaluation of a practical and lean method to modelling viable and sustainable strategies of DSI enterprises. The result of this work consisted of a tool called DSI Strategy Canvas, which is based on determinants that lead to the achievement of the goals of the DSI and indicators that measure and evaluate the performance of the DSI. DSI Strategy Canvas is concerned with product strategy which involves product vision, target market, ecosystem integration, value delivery, revenue streams, risk and growth estimates, scalability, and product evaluation. For technological support to the DSI Strategy Canvas tool, a web-based software application was developed, which was used by social entrepreneurs in evaluating the proposed approach.

What is not social innovation

The theory of innovation, which is mainly associated with business, competitiveness, and generation of economic value, has been enriched by the emergence of new, broader, and more inclusive approaches that contemplate other types of innovation. Among these emergent types, social innovation has gained much academic attention. However, the emerging wealth of definitions and conceptualizations of social innovation generates a growing confusion about what it is and what it is not, that is because until now there are no clear limits to the concept. Therefore, our aim with this paper is to analyze the scope and boundaries of the concept of social innovation and propose what cannot be considered social innovation, which need to be improved with new approaches, this because the standard definitions of innovation are insufficient. We propose a set of necessary elements for considering a phenomenom as social innovation through content analysis of the literature. Our research is timely and relevant because it provides a conceptual framework to use the term social innovation more rigorously, both in academia and in the public and private sectors that have embraced it.

Controversies in social innovation research

The aim of this paper is to make a critical and theoretical review of the concept of social innovation by analysing the unresolved controversies that have accompanied its success. Social Innovation has become a fashionable concept, described as an accessible resource for organisations or governments to solve social problems and used as an antidote to resort to in any kind of situation. In these cases, social innovation becomes rhetoric void of content, working as container concept, and reducing its theoretical, empirical, and analytical possibilities and practical proposals. This article stresses the need to rescue the concept for scientific purposes, by establishing a direct linkage between social innovation studies and the main problems and challenges of social research, with a particular emphasis on the methodological and analytical approaches provided by social theory and the need for an empirical verification of everything social innovation claims to be and provide.

Societal challenges and business leadership for social innovation

PurposeToday’s pressing global societal challenges are urgent and require substantial solutions and innovations that tackle the roots of a problem. These challenges call for new forms of leadership, stakeholder engagement and innovation. This paper aims to examine whether, why and how business leaders engage in social innovation. The authors argue that leadership perspective and motivation are important drivers for developing substantial social innovations suited to resolving societal challenges at their roots. More specifically, the authors propose that intra-personal factors (degree of care and compassion), an inter-relational perspective of leadership (shareholder versus stakeholder) and the corresponding leadership motivation (personalized versus socialized) may unveil what quality of social innovation (first-order versus second-order solutions) is pursued by a business leader. Implications for future research and practice are provided.Design/methodology/approachThe authors revisit the concept of social innovation and explore its connection with care and compassion. They suggest a series of propositions pertaining to the relationship between different configurations of leadership and different forms of social innovation.FindingsResponsible business leaders with an integrative leader trait configuration (stakeholder perspective, socialized motivation, high degree of care and compassion) are more likely to foster substantial second-order social innovations for uprooting societal problems than business leader with an instrumental leader trait configuration (shareholder perspective, personalized motivation, low degree of care and compassion). An organization’s stakeholder culture plays a moderating role in the relation between leadership and social innovation.Social implicationsThis paper reveals a path for conceptualizing leadership in social innovation from a stakeholder perspective. Future research should investigate the role of business leaders, their mindsets, styles and relational competencies in co-creation processes of social innovation empirically. If the development of substantial second-order social innovations requires leaders with a stakeholder perspective and socialized approach, then this has implications for leader selection and development.Originality/valueThis paper advocates for new kinds of leaders in facilitating and sustaining social innovations to tackle global societal challenges.

Modelo descritivo de atuação sustentável para o desenvolvimento de inovações sociais

Purpose: The concept of social innovation as open, collaborative and social transformation process opens room to reinforce the need of legitimizing social impact businesses and of expanding partnerships for social change, as well as the urgency of establishing professional and more sustainable social innovation environments. Accordingly, we tried to answer the following research question: How can social business performance boost the development of social innovations?Design/methodology/approach: Therefore, we adopted the inductive approach of qualitative paradigm, based on the Grounded Theory, to investigate 24 social businesses. In addition, we adopted the Atlas.ti software for data organization and recovery.Aggregate results allowed us to propose a descriptive model of sustainable performance for the development of social innovations in social business, based on the following propositions: sustainable performance in processes and social innovation, the prevalence of a cooperative environment to solve social issues, professional governance as causal factor to social innovation development, the development of actions focused on public interests as influencing conditions for social innovation development, technical and scientific evaluation of social impacts as strategy to measure the outcomes of developed innovations and the expansion of social impacts as the consequence of the self-negotiation of social affairs.Originality/value: A descriptive model of sustainable acting was proposed for the development of social innovations in social businesses.

Social innovation: a preliminary exploration of a contested concept

ABSTRACT This paper explores the contested concept of social innovation by using the ideas of discourse and framing as a lens to explore the contested definitions of social innovation. A selection of definitions is then deconstructed in relation to these discourses and framings. It is argued that the political pressures which create interest in social innovation have resulted in a confused and contested series of definitions, which remain largely unconnected to wider debates and theories about innovation. Instead, many authors contrive an almost alchemic status for social innovation when the reality of social innovation in practice may be rather more prosaic.

Exploring Structures of Urban Social Innovation Ecosystems: Cases of Manchester, Utrecht, Stockholm, Sofia and Budapest

Following the rise of academic interest in the concept of social innovation, scholarly attention turned towards the concept of social innovation ecosystems (SIE). Despite multiple emerging viewpoints on the composition and spatial level of SIE, the empirical evidence of structures of SIE is limited. Using interviews with 35 informants and documentary analysis, this paper explores structures of SIEs in Manchester, Stockholm, Utrecht, Budapest, and Sofia, and identifies features of urban and national cultures, institutional relations, networks, and infrastructures that influences social innovation activity in selected areas. The research concludes that insufficient urban-level support forces social innovators to rely on non-urban factors in supporting social innovation.

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

With the emergence of new paradigms in social and labor relations, before the property or assets of a company are valued. However, today, in addition, it is also considered that knowledge (in innovations, technology, experience, trade secrets, among others) adds value to an institution. Therefore, this research seeks to detail the phenomenon of the knowledge economy, in job prospects, education, environment and innovation, in addition to relating this concept to the collection of recyclable materials. The problem question developed to initiate the reflections was: How is the knowledge economy related and positively influences work activities such as the collection of recyclable materials? The general objective, on the other hand, is to understand how knowledge, experience and innovations are configured as fundamental for the improvement of processes and work in industries and organizations, here, specifically, the recycling industry. The specific objectives are focused on: detailing the emergence of the concept of the “Knowledge Economy”; understand how the knowledge economy relates to aspects of education, labor and the environment; understand the concept of social innovation and how it applies to third sector organizations; and learn about the “Steps of knowledge” applied to the activity of recycling materials. The methodology was an analysis of the recurring literature related to the topic of the knowledge economy and the recycling industry. It is concluded, therefore, that the workers of this branch make up the large group of Brazilians in conditions of informality and social exclusion and rights, and that is why the discussion addressed here is so important. for believing that the condition of these recyclers continues to be highly undervalued, despite being so important, both for society and for the environment.

A participatory local governance approach to social innovation: A case study of Seongbuk-gu, South Korea

As the concept of social innovation gains increasing credence in the public consciousness, a number of questions have become increasingly prominent in the relevant discourse: what does social innovation mean at the local level? How can social innovation be promoted? In particular, what kinds of social and institutional arrangements are needed to facilitate socially innovative activities and practices in neighborhoods and communities? To address these questions, this paper first outlines the related theories and literature as an overview of the notion of social innovation. Next, to provide an example of a promising approach to social innovation at the local level, the paper develops a theoretical discussion on the interface between local social innovation and participatory local governance arrangements, and proposes a process model of local social innovation as an analytical framework for a case study of a district-level initiative in Seongbuk-gu in Seoul, South Korea. By examining the governance structure and socially innovative strategies utilized in this locality, the case study demonstrates how the local participatory governance system can furnish an enabling environment for socially innovative ideas and strategies. Lastly, along with a look at some of the unique aspects of the case, the paper discusses contributions of this study to the theory and practice of social innovation, along with implications for other cases that may consider the governance approach to social innovation.

Exploring Social Innovation (SI) Within the Research Contexts of Higher Education, Healthcare, and Welfare Services—A Scoping Review

Introduction: Nordic countries face societal challenges for which social innovation may represent solutions. The aim of this scoping review is to explore the concept of social innovation within the research contexts of higher education, ealthcare, and welfare services. Method: A scoping review methodology was used, including a literature search and the identification of eligible studies published between 2007 and 2019, in addition to data extraction and synthesis. Forty-three studies were included in this review. Results: Across the research contexts, social innovation is conceptualized as a set of novel, creative, human-centred, and value-driven processes aiming to bring about change. Qualitative research methods dominate social innovation research. In welfare services, social innovation concerns the relationship between policy and praxis, new forms of leadership and management, and the promotion of societal inclusion and cohesion. Social innovation in healthcare comprises the use of technology to digitalize service, enhance patients’ well-being, and improve service quality. In higher education, social innovation research focuses on educational reforms involving non-profit stakeholders. Discussion: Social innovation is a multifaceted concept related to change at the organizational or societal level, often with various stakeholders working together to create improvements. The lack of a common definition and framework of social innovation makes this concept difficult to measure or quantify, reflecting the dominance of qualitative research methods in the selected research contexts. Across these research contexts, social innovation can be defined and used for various research purposes, which are often political and value-based, with the latter connected to the common good and people’s well-being. Moreover, few social innovation studies have been performed in Nordic countries.

Impacts of Social Innovation on Spatiality in Mountain–Lowland Relationships — Trajectories of Two Swiss Regional Initiatives in the Context of New Policy Regimes

This article places the topic of “social innovation” in the context of the paradigm shift of the 1980s. This shift from Fordism to post-Fordism has led to a weakening of the model of the European welfare state. Social innovation has become an instrument to promote regional self-responsibility and entrepreneurial activity by local authorities. The concept of social innovation has become widespread among various disciplines and controversially used by them. Referring to regional and corporate success stories based on the commitment of grassroots movements and civil society has its shortcomings, as the new spatiality regimes show increasing disparities. The article shows the different lines of conflict in the discussion about social innovations and makes suggestions for the specification and delimitation of the concept. Using two case studies on social innovations from mountain regions of Switzerland, based on standardized interviews, including the results of a social network analysis, the article distinguishes between adaptive and transformative social innovations. The adaptive social innovations analysed did not result in changing the inferior position of the regions; however, they prevented even greater destabilization by mobilizing the dynamic actors in the valley to work together. This is helpful for ensuring that the urban majority continues to show solidarity with the population in rural and mountain areas. The constructive interaction between public, private, and civil society institutions is seen as the key factor of social innovation in the European peripheral areas to which most mountain areas belong.

Social Innovation in Education and Social Service Organizations. Challenges, Actors, and Approaches to Foster Social Innovation

Social innovation became a widely discussed topic in politics, research funding programs, and business development. Recent European and US economic and science policies have set aside significant funds to generate and foster social innovation. In view of current challenges such as digitization, Work 4.0, inclusion or migrant integration, the question of how organizations can be empowered to develop new and innovative approaches and service models to social challenges is becoming increasingly urgent. This especially applies to organizations in the fields of education and social services. In education, implementing new ideas and concepts is usually discussed as educational reform, which mostly addresses changes in policy agendas with consequences for national and international education systems. The concept of social innovation however has a different starting point: the source of new ideas and services are identified new, emergent needs in society or re-conceptualized. Such need-based perspectives might bring new impulses to the field of education. Therefore, this paper identifies important existing strands of social innovation research, which need to be considered in the emerging academic discourse on social innovation in education. Looking at social innovation through an education research lens reveals the close relation between learning, creativity, and innovation. Individuals, teams, and even organizations learn, engage in creative problem solving to create new and innovative products and services. From an organizational education perspective, the questions arise, how social innovation emerges and even more important, how the process of developing social innovation can be supported. After a brief introduction in the concept of social innovation, the paper discusses therefore the sites, where social innovation emerges, social innovators, approaches to foster social innovation as well as promoting and hindering factors for social innovation.

Social innovation for a new energy model, from theory to action: contributions from the social and solidarity economy in the Basque Country

This paper sets out to analyse organisations in the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), working in the field of energy provision, and their contribution to the so-called energy transition from the perspective of social innovation. By showing the practical application of the concept of social innovation and its convergence and synergies with the SSE, we review the extent to which Basque Renewable Energy SSE alternatives are experiences that incorporate socially innovative elements. In addition, we study three cases through these approaches in order to observe the real and potential benefits that experiences based on social innovation can bring to energy transition. The main contribution of our research is to analyse the means by which certain initiatives are implemented through projects framed using the most prominent theoretical models focused on energy transition, social innovation and a social and solidarity-based economy, all aimed at achieving a low-carbon society. .

Social Innovation in Bulgaria: an Ambiguous Concept with Fragmented Practice

This short paper is part of a project in preparation for a White Paper addressed to the Hungarian government defining social innovation. Its aim is to add the specific experience of social innovation in Bulgaria to this discussion. The concept of social innovation has been almost absent from public debates and policy agendas in Bulgaria since the country’s European Union accession. The reasons for this are beyond the scope of this paper but certainly do deserve special attention from the academic community in the future. The paper includes a short presentation of the specific Bulgarian context, followed by a section on social innovation and a final section focusing on workplace social innovation.

The application of social innovation as it relates to older people and the implications for future policymaking: a scoping review

PurposeSocial innovation has received increasing attention in recent decades (Agostini et al., 2017). This study aims to consider how the concept has been applied to the issue of ageing and what can be learnt about effective policy responses.Design/methodology/approachThe acknowledged lack of understanding generally about the concept makes it timely to undertake a scoping review of the current evidence from social innovation projects associated with older people. A scoping review is considered appropriate where there is a need to “identify and analyse knowledge gaps” (Munn et al., 2018, p. 2).FindingsFindings from the scoping review indicate that, as yet, the concept of social innovation is not fully defined. However, it has widespread appeal across a diverse range of disciplines and has the potential to generate innovative policy responses.Originality/valueA key argument identified is the need to change the public’s perceptions of ageing and devise public policies that encourage and nurture age-friendly communities. In summation, although social innovation has the potential to act as a policy driver, but to be effective, it is necessary to devise robust strategies to ensure full user-engagement and active involvement of communities. Therefore, it is the process of delivery that needs urgent attention in any future research into social innovation.