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âShaken, but not stirredâ: six decades defining social innovation

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  • Edwards-Schachter,Mónica
  • Wallace,Matthew

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution in the conceptualization of Social Innovation (SI) under the assumption of SI as a trans-disciplinary construct which comprises a diversity of discourses from different fields and actors. We performed a comprehensive and systematic literature review along six decades (1950-2014), extracting definitions of SI through a search of 2,339 documents in various languages retrieved from Web of Science, SCOPUS and Google scholar. To guide the inductive analysis of pluri-vocal discourses we assume innovation to be a learning-based process, introducing the notion of social practice linked to its intertwined institutional and socio-cultural dimensions. We applied mixed qualitative methodologies, combining content analysis based on a social constructionist/interpretivist ontology with cognitive mapping techniques. Our findings identify some core and secondary elements underpinning two complementary perspectives (transformative and instrumental) of SI as scientific construct. They also point to a number of promising avenues for research towards the advancement of a socio-technical theory of innovation.

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  • Edwards-Schachter,Mónica & Wallace,Matthew, 2015. "âShaken, but not stirredâ: six decades defining social innovation," INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) Working Paper Series 201504, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV).
    • Handle: RePEc:ing:wpaper:201504
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    Cited by:

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    4. Joana Dias & Maria Partidário, 2019. "Mind the Gap: The Potential Transformative Capacity of Social Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-17, August.
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    6. Havas, Attila, 2016. "Recent economic theorising on innovation: Lessons for analysing social innovation," MPRA Paper 77385, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. 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.
    8. Georg M. Eichler & Erich J. Schwarz, 2019. "What Sustainable Development Goals Do Social Innovations Address? A Systematic Review and Content Analysis of Social Innovation Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    9. K. M. Benzies & D. B. Nicholas & K. A. Hayden & T. Barnas & A. Koning & A. Bharwani & J. Armstrong & J. Day, 2024. "Defining social innovation for post-secondary educational institutions: a concept analysis," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Wintjes, Rene & Es-Sadki, Nordine & Notten, Ad, 2019. "Systemising social innovation initiatives and their regional context in Europe," MERIT Working Papers 2019-050, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. Sándor Karajz, 2021. "The impact of Industry 4.0 on the processes of social innovation," Theory Methodology Practice (TMP), Faculty of Economics, University of Miskolc, vol. 17(si), pages 3-10.
    12. Nina K. G. Walker & Yong Chen, 2019. "Social Innovation in Tourism: Unleashing The Time-Money Constraint," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(4), pages 1700-1719, December.
    13. Dorin Maier & Andreea Maier & Ioan Așchilean & Livia Anastasiu & Ovidiu Gavriș, 2020. "The Relationship between Innovation and Sustainability: A Bibliometric Review of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, May.
    14. Christian Omobhude & Shih-Hsin Chen, 2019. "Social Innovation for Sustainability: The Case of Oil Producing Communities in the Niger Delta region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-26, November.
    15. Michael Pirson & Mario Vázquez-Maguirre & Canan Corus & Erica Steckler & Andrew Wicks, 2019. "Dignity and the Process of Social Innovation: Lessons from Social Entrepreneurship and Transformative Services for Humanistic Management," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 125-153, December.
    16. Piotr Weryński & Dorota Dolińska-Weryńska, 2021. "Agency Barriers of the Members of Silesian Senior NGOs in the Implementation of Social Innovation (Poland)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-22, March.
    17. Michela Piccarozzi, 2017. "Does Social Innovation Contribute to Sustainability? The Case of Italian Innovative Start-Ups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-28, December.
    18. Göldner, Moritz & Herstatt, Cornelius & Canhão, Helena & Oliveira, Pedro, 2019. "User entrepreneurs for social innovation: The case of patients and caregivers as developers of tangible medical devices," Working Papers 108, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute for Technology and Innovation Management.

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    JEL classification:

    • O35 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Social Innovation
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

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