IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i5p710-d811286.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Actors in Social Innovation in Rural Areas

Author

Listed:
  • Néstor Vercher

    (Research Institute of Local Development, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain)

Abstract

Social innovation is gaining momentum in academia, policy and practice, as a process by which local communities generate new social relations and become more capable of addressing social needs and opportunities. However, there is significant ambiguity about the role of the different types of actors involved in social innovation, particularly in rural areas. This article aims to examine which actors make social innovation in rural areas possible, and the roles they play in these processes. Drawing on 33 interviews carried out with key informants of three socially innovative initiatives developed in rural areas of Spain and Scotland, this paper illustrates the scale, role and logic of the actors involved. The findings of the study clarify the central role of local processes and local actors, the impact of facilitators and perceived neutrality. They also show the contribution of social economy organizations as an arena for coordinating plural networks and civil society initiatives. The way the public sector and LEADER participate in social innovation processes in rural areas are also reflected in the results.

Suggested Citation

  • Néstor Vercher, 2022. "The Role of Actors in Social Innovation in Rural Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-24, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:710-:d:811286
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/710/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/710/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frank Moulaert & Bob Jessop & Abid Mehmood, 2016. "Agency, structure, institutions, discourse (ASID) in urban and regional development," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 167-187, July.
    2. Richter, Ralph & Christmann, Gabriela B., 2021. "On the role of key players in rural social innovation processes," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue (Articles.
    3. Bock, Bettina B., 2012. "Social innovation and sustainability; how to disentangle the buzzword and its application in the field of agriculture and rural development," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 114(2), pages 1-7, October.
    4. Carla Barlagne & Mariana Melnykovych & David Miller & Richard J. Hewitt & Laura Secco & Elena Pisani & Maria Nijnik, 2021. "What Are the Impacts of Social Innovation? A Synthetic Review and Case Study of Community Forestry in the Scottish Highlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-25, April.
    5. Pollermann, Kim & Raue, Petra & Schnaut, Gitta, 2013. "Rural Development experiences in Germany: opportunities and obstacles in fostering smart places through LEADER," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 115(2), pages 1-7, June.
    6. Santiago Eizaguirre & Marc Parés, 2019. "Communities making social change from below. Social innovation and democratic leadership in two disenfranchised neighbourhoods in Barcelona," Urban Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 173-191, April.
    7. Robert Stimson & Roger R. Stough & Maria Salazar, 2009. "Leadership and Institutions in Regional Endogenous Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13246.
    8. Elisa Ravazzoli & Cristina Dalla Torre & Riccardo Da Re & Valentino Marini Govigli & Laura Secco & Elena Gorriz-Mifsud & Elena Pisani & Carla Barlagne & Antonio Baselice & Mohamed Bengoumi & Marijke D, 2021. "Can social innovation make a change in European and Mediterranean marginalized areas? Social innovation impact assessment in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and rural development," DEOS Working Papers 2102, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    9. Juan Antonio Parrilla-González & Diego Ortega-Alonso, 2021. "Social Innovation in Olive Oil Cooperatives: A Case Study in Southern Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-13, April.
    10. Elisa Ravazzoli & Cristina Dalla Torre & Riccardo Da Re & Valentino Marini Govigli & Laura Secco & Elena Górriz-Mifsud & Elena Pisani & Carla Barlagne & Antonio Baselice & Mohammed Bengoumi & Marijke , 2021. "Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-27, February.
    11. Lívia Madureira & André Torre, 2019. "Innovation processes in rural areas," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 213-218, June.
    12. Elena Pisani & Giorgio Franceschetti & Laura Secco & Asimina Christoforou (ed.), 2017. "Social Capital and Local Development," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-54277-5, December.
    13. Cristina Dalla Torre & Elisa Ravazzoli & Marijke Dijkshoorn-Dekker & Nico Polman & Mariana Melnykovych & Elena Pisani & Francesca Gori & Riccardo Da Re & Kamini Vicentini & Laura Secco, 2020. "The Role of Agency in the Emergence and Development of Social Innovations in Rural Areas. Analysis of Two Cases of Social Farming in Italy and The Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-25, May.
    14. Tim Strasser & Joop de Kraker & René Kemp, 2019. "Developing the Transformative Capacity of Social Innovation through Learning: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda for the Roles of Network Leadership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-21, March.
    15. José Domingo Sánchez-Martínez & Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Cohard & Antonio Garrido-Almonacid & Vicente José Gallego-Simón, 2020. "Social Innovation in Rural Areas? The Case of Andalusian Olive Oil Co-Operatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-18, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. J. Javier Serrano & Javier Esparcia, 2023. "Diagnosis of Rural Development Processes Based on the Stock of Social Capital and Social Networks: Approach from E-I Index," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-28, April.
    2. Roberta Roberto & Gabriella Ferruzzi & Viviana Negro & Michel Noussan, 2023. "Mapping of Energy Community Development in Europe: State of the Art and Research Directions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-29, September.
    3. Xiyao Zhao & Yueting Mao & Yun Qian & Qing Lin, 2022. "The Promoting Effect of Mass Media on Participatory Landscape Revitalization—An Analysis from Newspaper Coverages of Participatory Urban Gardening in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-28, December.
    4. Néstor Vercher, 2022. "Territorial Social Innovation and Alternative Food Networks: The Case of a New Farmers’ Cooperative on the Island of Ibiza (Spain)," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, May.
    5. Madhuwanthi Premadasa & Janaka Siyambalapitiya & Kumudu Jayawardhana & Imali Fernando, 2023. "Conceptualizing the Role of Social Entrepreneurial Orientation in the Triple Bottom Line in the Social Enterprise Context: Developing Country Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-21, May.
    6. Ezio Micelli & Elena Ostanel & Luca Lazzarini, 2023. "“Wanna Be Provoked”: Inner Peripheries Generators of Social Innovation in the Italian Apennine," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Néstor Vercher, 2022. "Territorial Social Innovation and Alternative Food Networks: The Case of a New Farmers’ Cooperative on the Island of Ibiza (Spain)," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, May.
    2. Živojinović, Ivana & Rogelja, Todora & Weiss, Gerhard & Ludvig, Alice & Secco, Laura, 2023. "Institutional structures impeding forest-based social innovation in Serbia and Slovenia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    3. Carla Barlagne & Mariana Melnykovych & David Miller & Richard J. Hewitt & Laura Secco & Elena Pisani & Maria Nijnik, 2021. "What Are the Impacts of Social Innovation? A Synthetic Review and Case Study of Community Forestry in the Scottish Highlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-25, April.
    4. Antonio Baselice & Mariarosaria Lombardi & Maurizio Prosperi & Antonio Stasi & Antonio Lopolito, 2021. "Key Drivers of the Engagement of Farmers in Social Innovation for Marginalised Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, July.
    5. Marina Novikova, 2022. "Social Innovation Impacts and Their Assessment: An Exploratory Study of a Social Innovation Initiative from a Portuguese Rural Region," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, March.
    6. Antonio Baselice & Maurizio Prosperi & Antonio Lopolito, 2021. "A Conceptual Framework for the Evaluation of Social Agriculture: An Application to a Project Aimed at the Employability of Young People NEET," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Elisa Ravazzoli & Cristina Dalla Torre & Riccardo Da Re & Valentino Marini Govigli & Laura Secco & Elena Górriz-Mifsud & Elena Pisani & Carla Barlagne & Antonio Baselice & Mohammed Bengoumi & Marijke , 2021. "Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-27, February.
    8. Ezio Micelli & Elena Ostanel & Luca Lazzarini, 2023. "“Wanna Be Provoked”: Inner Peripheries Generators of Social Innovation in the Italian Apennine," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, April.
    9. Manfred Perlik, 2021. "Impacts of Social Innovation on Spatiality in Mountain–Lowland Relationships — Trajectories of Two Swiss Regional Initiatives in the Context of New Policy Regimes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-24, March.
    10. Néstor Vercher, 2022. "Environmental Conflicts and Social Innovation on the Balearic Islands (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-22, April.
    11. Higuera, Héctor Javier García & Rogelja, Todora & Secco, Laura, 2023. "Policy framework as a challenge and opportunity for social innovation initiatives in eco-tourism in Colombia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    12. Bill Slee & Robert Lukesch & Elisa Ravazzoli, 2022. "Social Innovation: The Promise and the Reality in Marginalised Rural Areas in Europe," World, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-23, April.
    13. Konečný Ondřej, 2019. "The Leader Approach Across The European Union: One Method of Rural Development, Many Forms of Implementation," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, March.
    14. Jörgen Johansson & Jonas Gabrielsson, 2021. "Public Policy for Social Innovations and Social Enterprise—What’s the Problem Represented to Be?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    15. Gerald Schwarz & Francesco Vanni & David Miller & Janne Helin & Jaroslav Pražan & Fabrizio Albanito & Mihaela Fratila & Francesco Galioto & Oriana Gava & Katherine Irvine & Jan Landert & Alba Linares , 2022. "Exploring Sustainability Implications of Transitions to Agroecology: a Transdisciplinary Perspective," EuroChoices, The Agricultural Economics Society, vol. 21(3), pages 37-47, December.
    16. Dax, Thomas & Oedl-Wieser, Theresia, 2016. "Rural innovation activities as a means for changing development perspectives – An assessment of more than two decades of promoting LEADER initiatives across the European Union," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 118(1), pages 1-8, April.
    17. Marius Constantin PROFIROIU & Carmen Valentina RADULESCU, 2019. "Local Development Opportunities In The Context Of Sustainable Development By Applying The Concept Of Smart Village In Romania," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(1), pages 1059-1067, November.
    18. Imre Lengyel, 2011. "Types of competitiveness of Hungarian regions: agglomeration economies and endogenous regional development," ERSA conference papers ersa11p674, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Petteri Repo & Kaisa Matschoss, 2019. "Social Innovation for Sustainability Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    20. Clara Martos-Martínez & Marta Muñoz-Guarasa, 2021. "The Importance of Endogenous Resources for Internationalization: Competitive Advantages in the Olive Groves of Southern Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-30, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:710-:d:811286. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.