Social Innovation Perspective Research Articles

Development Strategy of Rural Revitalization from the Perspective of Social Innovation: A Case Study of Jiyingweigong in Xiamen

Rural revitalization, as one of Chinas important development strategies, has attracted widespread attention in recent years. The Jiyingweigong project in Gangtou Village, Xiamen, takes public welfare as its core, creating a micro-ecosystem where public welfare and business interact, successfully activating the overall development of Gangtou Village. Based on the theory of social innovation design, this study summarizes the research path of social innovation design driving sustainable development of rural revitalization through the combing and summarizing of classic rural innovation cases. By applying the method of social innovation design, this study deeply analyzes the development strategy and effect of Gangtou Village. Social innovation design thinking, as one of the engines driving social change, plays a key role in rural revitalization. It is concluded that social innovation design, as a concept of transformative innovation, can systematically and reasonably address economic, cultural, ecological, and other issues in rural areas in both theory and practice, helping local areas to obtain sustainable endogenous power.

Exploring the Value Co-Creation of Cultural Creative Hotels: From the Perspective of Social Innovation

Social innovation has emerged as a transformative force in businesses, particularly in the context of cultural and creative hotels. This study aims to explore the relationship between social innovation and value co-creation in cultural and creative hotels, compare the intrinsic characteristics of social innovation and value co-creation within these hotels, and investigate the key factors driving social innovation in this sector. Employing a qualitative research methodology based on the theory of social innovation, this paper examines the process of value co-creation and analyzes the three key drivers within the social innovation ecosystem: establishing interdependence and identity among organizations; enhancing cognitive and value exchanges between organizations; and generating consensus through the role transformation of participants. The findings suggest that the key drivers of the social innovation ecosystem not only enhance the innovation capabilities of businesses but also motivate them to collaboratively create mutually beneficial and symbiotic value.

Exploration and Research on the Product Design Method of YangJiaBu New Year Woodcut Prints from the Perspective of Social Innovation

Exploration and Research on the Product Design Method of YangJiaBu New Year Woodcut Prints from the Perspective of Social Innovation

Arti perfomative, rigenerazione urbana e nuove cittadinanze


 
 
 This paper is based on the experience gained in European funded research projects. Despite the different objectives pursued by each project, the thread that connects them is the relationship between the performing arts and urban regeneration, in order to emphasise the importance of directly involving the territory and its inhabitants in urban regeneration processes. The research that has matured in the field of territorial co-design at national and European level was based on the conviction that the ultimate goal of urban renewal is not exclusively the quality and safety of life. In fact, the processes of urban renewal, when viewed from the perspective of social and cultural innovation, produce a collective participatory experience capable of overcoming the dichotomy between the public and private dimensions, guiding processes of 'commoning' (Chatterton 2010) or the preservation of the 'common good', which here takes the form of the production of relational goods, of community constructions (Manzini 2021). The aim of this essay is therefore to develop, within the framework of sociology, a reflection on the impact and value of culture in the context of urban renewal processes. The proposal is thus to re-read urban renewal from a culturalist perspective. To this end, it is important to define what cultural sociology studies as a theoretical premise in order to understand how important social practises and cultural participation are in defining social imaginaries and in defining related life, such as housing, consuming, producing, just to name a few areas. Therefore, shifting urban renewal to a participatory key, here I mean citizen participation through artistic practise, allows us to question models of individual and collective well-being, also in terms of well-being, which I believe must be at the heart of urban planning and design processes, in order to recognise the multidimensionality inherent in renewal and open new multidisciplinary paths.
 
 

Creating social value by empowering people: a social innovation perspective

AbstractInitiatives across the private, public, and third sectors have increasingly pursued social value beyond mere profit. However, how social value can be created still requires a more detailed investigation. This paper provides conceptual and empirical arguments on how initiatives of social innovation, which intentionally seek to empower people, contribute to generate social value. We investigate three European social innovation cases—which are collective entrepreneurial initiatives. Using mixed methods applied to primary nested data, we first find evidence for empowering effects and then identify a typical process through which empowerment occurs. Our results suggest that social innovations catalyze empowerment through a horizontal and co‐creational organizational design, providing space for individuals to propose their goals and establishing mechanisms of mutual influence that transform individual autonomy into coactive power. This process kicks off social value creation, yet its reach within society depends on how much empowerment diffuses beyond the participants in the initiative.

Linking Social Innovation with Inclusive Transformation of Agri-food System in Nepal: A Review

The potential of social interface in agricultural innovation remains masked by extension service agencies. This review collected and studied scattered knowledge generated literature on the role of social innovation in inclusive transformation of agri- food system highlighting on preproduction, production, supply chain and consumption. Search engines; namely google scholar; Science Direct, JSTOR, Directory of Open Access Journals and Scopus were utilized to identify the articles and relevant literatures. The review provides a state of the art on knowledge related to social innovations and inclusive transformation of agri-food system. The findings show that social innovation is becoming a prevalent tool to expedite inclusive transformation of food systems in Nepal. However, there are no clear considerations on social innovations in inclusive transformation of food and agriculture system. To provision these considerations, significance of social innovations for inclusive transformation was well explored for further analysis and conclusion. This review enhances the gaining of insights into the theories and findings of past works related to social innovation, inclusiveness, food system transformation and policies which contributed to develop a strong framework of inclusive transformation of food system from social innovation perspective.

Social Innovation Perspective of Community-Based Climate Change Adaptation: A Framework-Based Study of Ladakh, India

Indigenous knowledge of local environments is crucial for developing innovative and contextual climate change adaptation strategies. Although the significance of community-led efforts based on this knowledge has been well acknowledged, they have not been effectively incorporated into mainstream development processes. The mountainous region of Ladakh presents a novel case of water storage in the form of ice reservoirs as an adaptive strategy against intensified water scarcity. This study aims to assess community-based innovations in climate change adaptation strategies and find solutions for their effective integration. This study theorizes a framework for Social Innovation in Climate Change Adaptation (SICCA) for a structured analysis of the situation in Ladakh. This research was conducted through interviews, surveys, Geographic Information System-based mapping, and field observations to analyze the use of ice reservoirs as a solution to water scarcity issues. The results demonstrate the wide recognition of these techniques’ effectiveness and the role of the community in the planning, execution, and operation of the initiatives. The findings highlight the challenges in their scaling up and diffusion. The research emphasizes the need to recognize and value community-based adaptation strategies to address the challenges posed by climate change. It offers recommendations for integrating them into the mainstream development process, and the framework serves as a significant outcome to guide policymakers and civil society actors for practical implementation.

Towards Circular Fashion: Design for Community-Based Clothing Reuse and Upcycling Services under a Social Innovation Perspective

With the rise of the circular economy, recycling, and upcycling is an emerging sustainable system in the fashion industry, emphasising a closed loop of “design, produce, use, and recycle”. In this context, this paper will explore community-based approaches to scale up clothing reuse and upcycling under a social innovation perspective. This study aims to establish community-based practice models, which contribute toward promoting a greater understanding of sustainable fashion and achieving collaborative cocreation frameworks for community stakeholders. This paper, therefore, takes a social innovation perspective to conduct design studies helping with the technical (problem-solving) and cultural (sense-making) barriers that clothing reuse and upcycling face. The research was conducted in the context of the Shanghai community, and a large amount of first-hand research data were obtained through field research, expert and user interviews, and participatory workshops. Finally, this research establishes a platform proposal which combines strategic service design and practical toolkit design. It is a new community-based service model highlighting a significant advancement in the degree of collaboration and cocreation in traditional community service models. Additionally, it dramatically demonstrates the potential of socially innovative design thinking in promoting circular fashion and the closed-loop fashion system.

Developing regional voluntary carbon markets for peatlands: innovation processes and influencing factors

ABSTRACT Integrating peatland restoration measures with climate policy is critical for meeting climate targets, but the current policies often fall short of utilizing the large potential that exists. Despite growing private sector interest, few regional voluntary carbon markets for peatlands have emerged worldwide. In this study, we explore three pioneering examples from Europe. From the perspective of social innovation, we aim to provide clarity on how these innovations emerged and developed, which actors drove the innovation process by assuming which roles, and which factors fostered or hindered the development. We do so by mapping the innovation process using Process Net-Map. The results show that all three cases have followed remarkably similar patterns in their innovation processes. Four phases, i.e. preparation, definition, refinement, and up-scaling were identified, as were actors’ roles as innovators, promoters, intermediaries, implementers, and knowledge providers. However, the case studies are very different with regard to which actor constellation drove the innovation process: MoorFutures is driven by public and scientific actors, Valuta vor Veen is promoted by civil society actors in consultation with practitioners, and Hiilipörssi shifted from civil society to private actors. The governance modes, that is, actor constellation and their goals, have led to differences in concept, robustness of methodology, mitigation measure, and possibly potential for up-scaling. Our study indicates that the timing of interventions when actors with certain roles stepped in can accelerate the innovation process. Important political, economic, technical, and social factors influencing the innovation process, especially knowledge and trust accumulated between some key actors, are outlined. Key policy insights Private funding for regional voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) can tap the climate mitigation potential from peatlands, which is not currently adequately addressed by governments. Actor constellation drove the innovation process, leading to different concepts, methodologies, and mitigation measures. The timing of interventions by actors, notably providing seed funding, network, expertise and visibility, was critical for success. Building trust for regional VCMs requires not only a robust methodology to calculate emission reductions but also partnership and endorsement. The future development of climate policy on peatlands could be a decisive factor in regional VCMs.

The Emergence of Innovation Capability During Firms’ Early Stage: Cases from Indonesian Creative Social Enterprise

The article is based on a literature review and empirical analysis of three creative social enterprises that have managed to build their innovation capability and have received numerous international awards for their sustainable impacts. The purpose of this article is to investigate how the "innovation capability perspective" of strategic management theory can be combined with "social innovation theory." By combining both perspectives, we propose a new way to understand and explain the emergence of innovation capability during the early stages of creative social enterprises, which neither "innovation capability" nor "social innovation perspective" can do on their own. The research used a qualitative exploratory study design with multiple case studies. In-depth interviews and literature studies were the data collection methods used in the study. Based on the reccurance patterns in the literature review, we propose creativity, leadership, strategy, knowledge management, and collaboration as determinant factors of innovation capability that are deeply needed for CSEs in their early stage. Through the results of in-depth interviews with 6 top management leaders in the creative social enterprises, it was possible to gain more descriptions that enriched the five determinant factors. We conclude that CSEs' innovation capability can emerge during the early stage if they have the motivation to be creative despite resources limitation, the presence of facilitating leaders supported by local champions, the alignment of business, technology, and social innovation strategy, the use of locality as a strategic asset in knowledge management, and the alignment of goals and expectations for fruitful collaboration. The study contributes to a better understanding of how innovation capability emerges during the early stages of creative social enterprises by combining both strategic management and social innovation theory.

Reducing food waste from social innovation perspective: a review of measures, research gaps and future directions

Food waste (FW) has been increasingly recognized as a severe environmental, social, and economic problem. Therefore, it should be tackled innovatively by analyzing and synthesizing existing solutions. This study aims to achieve a comprehensive understanding of different social innovation measures adopted for reducing FW using a systematic literature review. After locating, collecting, evaluating, and analyzing 50 publications from four databases, we conclude that social innovation activities such as digital food-sharing platforms, social supermarkets, solidarity stores, and food rescue hubs are widely deployed in different FW reduction processes. Based on the findings, we synthesized several research gaps and proposed corresponding future research directions related to research methodology, country, food redistribution, food rescue, food donation, and food sharing. These directions include conducting research to develop suitable key performance indicators to evaluate the performance of digital food-sharing platforms, linking with specific theory to conduct empirical research on partnership analysis regarding social supermarkets, and investigating the structure of multiplex relations among different participants in the food rescue activities using social network analysis. We suggest that more keywords should be scrutinized and included when searching publications in future research as keyword selection is subjective.

The role of community involvement in sustainable tourism strategies: A social and environmental innovation perspective

AbstractSocial innovation and environmental innovation is a fast‐growing phenomenon. More and more businesses are trying to understand how social and environmental innovation can help their business model. The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of community involvement toward social and environmental innovation to achieve sustainable tourism development. Perceptions of 650 local community members of different tourist destinations of Jammu and Kashmir have been used to meet the objectives of the study. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique has been used for determining the structural estimates between constructs with the help of Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) software. Hypothesis testing revealed a positive impact of community involvement on social and environmental innovation. The results also depicted a positive impact of social and environmental innovation on sustainable tourism development.

Different Cultures, Different Dynamics? Driving Forward a Community Perspective of Social Innovation

Tackling society’s grand challenges is an increasingly important topic that many organizational scholars have started to turn towards. In this context, one question that has lately garnered a lot of attention is how social innovation, can help to tackle such issues. While much of the prior literature on social innovation has focused on heroic social entrepreneurs engaged in “changing the world” or hybrid organizations managing the ongoing tension between business and charity, we see a growing interest in the role of environmental contexts in shaping the emergence, diffusion, and implications of social innovation endeavors. In response to this burgeoning interest, in this panel symposium, our aim is to drive forward a community perspective which may help to develop a more contextualized and nuanced understanding of social innovation across the globe.

Sustainability-oriented innovations in smart cities: A systematic review and emerging themes

The purpose of the paper is to clarify the relationship between sustainability-oriented innovations (SOI) and smart city development based on the systematic review of existing literature in the field. As an outcome of the review process, 159 articles were carefully selected for the in-depth analysis of the inter-linked concepts of smart city and sustainability-oriented innovations. The results show a growing trend of research papers in this field, especially in the last five years. The findings show the significance of a systemic multi-dimensional view of innovations for the smart sustainable development of cities. We have identified four main perspectives through which the scholars discourse the SOI dimensions in the smart city context: technology perspective, organizational perspective, social innovation perspective with citizen engagement, as well as system-level changes with innovation ecosystems. Second, we have recognized various focused themes under each main perspective. The various types of innovations also have impacts on different components of smart cities. Although the technological innovation perspectives dominate, and governance aspects are also paid attention to in recent studies, the increasing amount of research outputs also report on the developments of other components and perspectives, such as new human-centric approaches like citizen engagement.

Analysing the impact of organisation’s dual mission on the development of social projects and innovation

PurposeHow does organisational mission affect the development of social entrepreneurship and social innovation? Based on the theoretical perspective of social innovation, the aim of this paper is to empirically analyse the impact of the organisation’s dual mission (social and economic) on social entrepreneurship and social innovation, as well as to discover the effect of the latter on the performance of organisations.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from 213 social economy firms, the authors conduct an empirical test of hypotheses using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe empirical study shows that an organisation’s dual mission (social and economic) has a positive effect on social entrepreneurship. However, the results suggest that the creation of social innovations is based more on social dimensions than on the economic interest of companies. The results also confirm that companies willing to embark on social projects can develop new products or services that address social needs.Originality/valueThe findings not only supply empirical evidence that helps clarify the effects of economic and social missions on organisational performance but they also offer guidance to companies on the role of social innovation in strengthening organisations.

Environmental Conflicts and Social Innovation on the Balearic Islands (Spain)

New environmental conflicts arise all the time as a consequence of the industrial economy and economic growth. The search for new energy and new materials jeopardizes the margin to promote sustainable development in many local communities. In this paper, we examine a conflict related to hydrocarbons projects in the Balearic Sea (Spain) from the social innovation perspective. This novel approach allows us to focus on how socially innovative responses can be triggered by environmental threats. A set of mixed methods (qualitative analysis and social network analysis) are implemented to study the emergence and development of Alianza Mar Blava in Ibiza–Formentera. This is an initiative that successfully activates new social relations and new collective practices that contribute to transform the environmental conflict. In this study, we highlight the strategic factors that allow the conflict to be transformed as well as other social processes that ultimately promote local sustainable development beyond the conflict.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Smart Cities for Smart Decision-Making: A Social Innovation Perspective

The goal of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect relationships that exist between artificial intelligence (AI), social innovation (SI), and smart decision-making (SDM). This study used a survey design and collected cross-sectional data from South Korea and Pakistan using survey questionnaires. Four hundred sixty respondents from the public and private sectors were obtained and empirically analyzed using SPSS multiple regression. The study discovered a strong and positive mediating effect of SI between the relationship of AI and SDM, as predicted. Previous researchers have investigated some of the factors that influence the decision-making process. This study adds to the social science literature by examining the impact of a mediating factor on decision-making. The findings of this study will contribute to the local government in building smart cities such that the factor of social innovations should be involved in the decision-making process because smart decision-making would share such collected data with entrepreneurs, businesses, and industries and would benefit society and all relevant stakeholders, including such social innovators.

NEET Rural–Urban Ecosystems: The Role of Urban Social Innovation Diffusion in Supporting Sustainable Rural Pathways to Education, Employment, and Training

Common themes of EU social policy include: the promotion of employment; improved living and working conditions; the equal treatment of employees; adequate social protection; and capacity building of the European citizenship. However, it is often the case that rural dwellers and, more specifically, rural NEETs, experience higher levels of marginalisation than their urban counterparts. Such marginalisation is evidenced by their exclusion from decision-making, public life, community, and society. These issues are compounded by an underdeveloped rural infrastructure, problematic access to education, limited employment opportunities, and a lack of meaningful social interaction. This study, a cross-sectional analysis, assesses a number (n = 51) of social interventions under the Youth Guarantee Programme from a social innovation perspective and presents a characterisation of examples of best practice across different dimensions of social innovations. This paper presents an examination of the potential of sustainable rural–urban ecosystems that are focused on supporting the symbiotic social innovation diffusion methods which can help to establish and sustain rural–urban pathways to improved education, employment, and training.

Identifying sources of innovation: Building a conceptual framework of the Smart City through a social innovation perspective

A Comprehensive theory of Smart Cities continues to elude scholars. This seems to result from ontological uncertainty surrounding the Smart City and who it serves. Such uncertainty has led to the techno-centric versus human-centric debate currently dominating the Smart City discussion. This paper adopts a systems approach to stratify society into three strata: the individual (micro), organizational (meso), and system (macro). I implement a systematic review of the Smart City literature to examine how Smart Cities are conceptualized. From an analysis of 41 papers, this research identifies a dualistic phenomenon occurring at all points in the stratified city system: sources of innovation (SOI) and Loci of change (LOC). Here, SOI refers to the perceptions of deficiencies which initiate the learning curve of innovation, while LOC refers to the structures which allow the learning curve to disseminate through the system. This analysis highlights an overemphasis on the organizational stratum and insufficient attention to the individual and system strata. To address this shortfall, I introduce the Social Innovation Cycle. This multi-level social innovation framework incorporates the interdependencies of SOI and LOC to link all strata, mitigate power asymmetries, and reduce marginalization. In so doing, I delineate where policy implementation can be directed for holistically developing the Smart City. I recommend that Smart City policy should target the intersection of SOI and LOC in pursuit of human-centricity.

Open social innovation for surplus food recovery and aid during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus

PurposeThe study analyses the role that open social innovation (OSI) perspective played for Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus (FBAO), a food bank in Italy, in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. It answers the following research question: how does a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, stimulate the adoption of OSI practices to revamp the activities of FBAO and facilitate appropriate solutions to carry out its social mission?Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a qualitative approach. It is based on a single case study.FindingsThe study shows how COVID-19 has stimulated the adoption of OSI practices to continue to meet the social mission, creating innovative projects or finding new ways to do the same things.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on a single case study.Practical implicationsThe paper contributes insights into the literature on OSI, examining how inbound and outbound OSI mechanisms can modify business models and increase the adaptation capacity of food banks and their effectiveness. In addition, it provides a rich context in which the social value drivers provided by OSI are studied.Originality/valueThis paper applies the OSI to a food bank to evaluate what this action mode produces for the food bank during a health crisis. Specifically, this is the first paper that studies the COVID-19 crisis response of a food bank from the OSI perspective, focusing on the inbound and outbound OSI processes that characterized the entire network of relationships.