Innovation studies - Social transformation in sport for development

The COVID-19 pandemic put unprecedented focus on innovation as organisations around the world had to pivot their operations and scramble to develop and implement creative solutions. But innovation is not only something that takes place in response to uncertainty. Rather, innovation can help transform existing ways of operating to better promote social change. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the role of innovation in sport for development (SFD). First, social innovation is defined and positioned to promote conceptual clarity about the importance of applying the most meaningful innovation framework for SFD contexts. Second, existing literature is synthesised to highlight what we know about the intraorganisational conditions necessary for facilitating social innovation. Third, existing scholarship on the influence of external factors on innovation in SFD is also highlighted along with potential pathways for future research. Implications for practitioners include the need for intentionally creating experimentation opportunities alongside existing practices.