Definition Of Social Innovation Research Articles

Defining social innovation for post-secondary educational institutions: a concept analysis

Education, research, and contribution to society through innovation are the three missions of post-secondary educational institutions. There is a gap in understanding the concept of social innovation for post-second educational institutions. A clear definition would: (a) guide institutional strategic direction and supports, (b) recognize and reward academic research in social innovation, and (c) enable accurate measurement of outcomes and impact of social innovation activities. To redress the definitional imprecision, Walker and Avant’s method was used to conduct a concept analysis of social innovation. Four multi-disciplinary databases were searched to identify 1830 records. Antecedents, defining attributes, and consequences of social innovation were extracted from 272 of these articles. Defining attributes were reconstructed to develop a new definition. For post-secondary educational institutions, social innovation was defined as the intentional implementation of a transdisciplinary initiative to address a social challenge enabled through collaborative action leading to new or improved capabilities and relationships with community to generate evidence-informed solutions that are more effective, efficient, just, and sustainable. With greater clarity about the definition of social innovation, post-secondary educational institutions can create strategic plans and allocate resources to fulfil the Third Mission. With an evidence-informed definition, post-secondary educational institutions can develop a measurement framework to demonstrate outcomes and impacts of social innovation.

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.

Dimensions of social innovation in agricultural cooperatives: a model applied to the Spanish olive oil industry

The Social Economy plays a fundamental role in the implementation and development of social innova-tion practices, especially in the field of cooperatives. In the case of agri-food cooperatives in the olive oil producing areas of Spain, a substantial share of the business is based around the social economy, with CIRIEC reporting a cooperativization rate of 70%. As such, there are increasing opportunities for these cooperatives to adopt tools that enable the potential development of social innovation actions. In the present article, we conduct a literature review to explore the definitions of social innovation provided in the last decade. We then analyse the results relating to a proposed model of social innovation applied to the olive oil industry, involving the participation of an expert panel composed of people with a position on the board of directors or managers of olive oil cooperatives and companies in the olive oil industry. From the analysis of the data collected, we identify four dimensions of Social Innovation that are particularly relevant to the olive oil industry: the Economic Dimension, the Cultural Dimension, the Environmental Dimension, and the Technological Dimension. These dimensions give rise to a methodological model for the implementation of Social Innovation actions in the olive oil industry.

An inductive classification of types of social innovation

Though widely regarded as ill-defined and lacking conceptual clarity, social innovation has been heralded as a desirable response to social economic and environmental challenges arising from market and policy failures. Based on a definition of social innovation as involving the reconfiguration of social practices through civil society engagement, this paper offers an inductive classification of the diverse types of social innovation found in Scotland, based primarily on rural examples. It is argued that not only does social innovation occur in a diverse range of fields and in many different forms, but also that the Scottish Government policy has explicitly connected to social innovation as a means of delivering a communitarian policy agenda. However, without affirmative action, the community empowerment agenda is likely to widen the gap between communities with strong social capital and those with weaker social capital, thus undermining another strong strand of Scottish policy which supports greater equality and social inclusion.

La Borda: a case study on the implementation of cooperative housing in Catalonia

ABSTRACTThis article takes a close look at La Borda, a housing cooperative being developed in Barcelona. The article encompasses the economic and social context in which the housing initiative emerged, the organisational features that define the cooperative, and its origins in the process of urban renewal of the former industrial site of Can Batlló. The article also analyses its current development and its potential for scalability. Drawing on Moulaert's definition of social innovation, the authors argue that La Borda goes beyond the mere provision of housing to include public participation as a key component of the model. The Andel Model for cooperative housing is presented as the main source of inspiration for La Borda's model, including its roots in the social and cooperative economy and the role of the cession of use housing tenure. The article concludes there are reasons to believe La Borda will succeed in providing long-term affordable housing while engaging its residents in its daily management. The authors consider the suitability of La Borda's model elsewhere to be dependent on the economic, social and political context in which it is implemented.

‘Shaken, but not stirred’: Sixty years of defining social innovation

This paper examines the evolution in the conceptualization of Social Innovation (SI) with a view to elucidating the multiplication of uses of the term over the last half century. We performed a comprehensive and systematic literature review extracting 252 definitions of SI through a search of 2,339 documents comprising academic papers, books and book chapters, together research and policy reports. To guide the inductive analysis of pluri-vocal discourses we assume innovation to be a learning-based process involving actors’ interactions and social practices. We apply mixed qualitative methodologies, combining content analysis based on an interpretivist ontology with cognitive mapping techniques. Our findings show that SI was introduced as an analytical concept by incipient academic communities and has spread in the last decades as a normative concept fuelled by development and innovation policies. SI is defined by a set of common core elements underpinning three different and interrelated discursive ‘areas’: processes of social change, sustainable development and the services sector. We point to some policy implications and a number of promising avenues for research towards the advancement of a broader socio-technical theory of innovation.

Defining the Concept of Social Innovation

To Advance understanding of the concept of social innovation this review section 1 highlights the main uses and areas where the concept of social innovation has emerged. This preliminary analysis leads to the conclusion that there are two essential definitions of social innovation: an outcome-based one and a process-based one. In section 2 we develop the outcome definition and its main features whereas section 3 focuses on social innovation as a multi-stakeholder process.

Exploring various approaches of social innovation: a francophone literature review and a proposal of innovation typology

ABSTRACT Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the multiple different approaches of social innovation, focusing on francophone literature. Originality/gap/relevance/implications: We propose an in-depth literature review that questions the meaning of the adjective "social" when used by authors to qualify an innovation, that highlights the different approaches of the concept, their relations to each other and their limits, and that illustrates these approaches with concrete examples. Finally, we build on these materials to propose a new innovation typology that wholly integrates social innovation. Key methodological aspects: The literature review is based on a selection of 25 papers in French - the mother language of the author - which were collected and analyzed using the "theoretical saturation point" method: we stopped the review when we felt there was no new crucial element in the next articles read, that is, when it seemed that a "saturation point" of information had been reached about theories on social innovation. Summary of key results: The definition of social innovation as new answers provided to unsatisfied or badly-satisfied social demands seems to prevail in the literature. It can be divided into three sub-approaches: the public policies, the social entrepreneurship, and the participatory dynamics, which strikes us as the most interesting, without excluding the others. Key considerations/conclusions: We propose a new innovation typology, which presents social innovation's relations to other types of innovation. We conclude with some considerations about social innovation context of emergence, and about its ambiguous position in the neoliberal system.

What to Make of Social Innovation? Towards a Framework for Policy Development

Over the past few years there has been a growing interest on the part of the scientific community (and, more recently, of policymakers) in the concept of social innovation. The notion of social innovation is particularly appealing in light of the difficulties facing traditional welfare systems and, more broadly, a development model that is finding it increasingly difficult to meet the growing and diversified needs of society. However, the uses and definitions of the concept are so disparate that it is becoming increasingly difficult to assess whether social innovation is in fact a helpful construct or just another fad that will soon be forgotten. This article focuses in particular on the usefulness of the concept of social innovation for the purposes of policy development. Therefore, the goal is not to find the ‘true’ definition of social innovation. Rather, it is to search for a useful framework on which to build sound policies that could tackle the complex social issues that have caused scholars and practitioners to pay attention to social innovation in the first place.

What to Make of Social Innovation? Towards a Framework for Policy Development

Over the past few years, there has been a growing interest on the part of the scientific community (and, more recently, of policy makers) in the concept of social innovation. The notion of social innovation is particularly appealing in light of the difficulties facing traditional welfare systems and, more broadly, a development model essentially based on only two actors (the market and the state) that is finding it increasingly difficult to meet the growing and diversified needs of society. However, the uses and definitions of the concept are so disparate that it is becoming increasingly difficult to assess whether social innovation is in fact a helpful construct or just another fad that will soon be forgotten. This paper focuses in particular on the usefulness of the concept of social innovation for the purposes of policy development. Therefore, the goal is not to find the “true” definition of social innovation. Rather, it is to search for a useful framework on which to build sound policies that could tackle the complex social issues that have caused scholars and practitioners to pay attention to social innovation in the first place. Building on a review of the literature, and in particular on a paper by Eduardo Pol and Simon Ville, we propose an approach that recognizes a degree of overlap between social innovation and business innovation, and argue that social innovation policy should focus on the subset of social innovation that does not overlap with business innovation. This is due to the fact that social innovations that overlap with business innovations tend to be profitable, and as such the market is amply equipped to supply them, perhaps with the support of existing business innovation policies. “Pure” social innovations, on the other hand, are not driven by a profit motive, and thus need either to be subsidized or to be developed by enterprise types that are not motivated by profit maximization. Indeed, by focusing on the characteristics of different enterprise types we find that not-for-profit enterprises with an explicit social mission are ideally suited to develop pure social innovation, even in the absence of public sector intervention. The paper then concludes that targeted policies should be more mindful of the role of different types of enterprise in generating social innovation, and, more broadly, that the debate on social innovation should be more closely aligned with the debate on the pluralism of enterprise forms.

Workplace Innovation, Social Innovation, and Social Quality

Social innovation is becoming a core value of the EU flagship initiative Innovation Union, but it is not clearly demarcated as it covers a wide field of topics. To understand social innovation within European policymaking a brief outline is given of EC policy developments on innovation and on workplace innovation. Defi nitions of social innovation formulated at the societal level and the organizational or workplace level are discussed. Empirical researh findings of workplace innovation in the Netherlands are presented as examples showing that workplace innovation activities boost organizational performance. The article explores the relation between workplace innovation and social innovation, and concludes that policy developments in the EU can be studied with the theory of social quality, provided that the latter in its empirical approach focuses on how individuals together constitute innovations.

Enterprising Local Market-Based Initiatives

This article starts by introducing the examples of three nonprofits currently engaging in social innovation globally. These examples illustrate the notion of social innovation, providing the grounds to compare three definitions. Next, several key features that characterize third sector innovation are explained. The article’s central focus lies on a study of 24 innovative social organizations that have launched market-based initiatives involving low-income sectors in Ibero-America. Finally, the article sketches some initial ideas on local social innovation, revisiting the definition of social innovation.

Social innovation: Buzz word or enduring term?

The term ‘social innovation’ has come into common parlance in recent years. Some analysts consider social innovation no more than a buzz word or passing fad that is too vague to be usefully applied to academic scholarship. Some social scientists, however, see significant value in the concept of social innovation because it identifies a critical type of innovation. In this paper, we suggest one possible definition of social innovation and show that when its empirical meaning is distilled, the term is of great importance. We distinguish social innovation from business innovation, and identify a subset of social innovations that requires government support.