Submit your paper here!

Introduction

The idea that innovative social action can create social value beyond the capability of existing systems (Adams and Hess, 2010) has become an object of huge policy interest in all parts of the world. As far back as the 1990s, state interventions have recognized social innovation as an option for simultaneously creating social benefits and economic opportunities. In recent years, social innovation has become an increasingly prominent concept employed by political leaders and administrations across the world. For instance, in 2003, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) supported a range of initiatives to promote inclusive entrepreneurship and improve social cohesion through the identification and dissemination of local innovations. In 2009, President Barack Obama established the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation to support cross-sectoral, bottom-up solutions to social problems in the USA. In Europe, social innovation has been equally conspicuous in European Union strategies and domestic policies (Nicholls and Edmiston, 2018).

Despite this growing awareness and recognition that social innovations respond to societal needs that are not sufficiently addressed by market forces and governments, the social innovation sector continues to face significant challenges globally (Thurner, 2014). Schwab and Miner (2011) emphasize the institutional, legal, regulatory, and educational impediments that social innovators face in disseminating their approaches and solutions. Vasin (2017) asserts the need to develop new approaches for involving the public in solving social problems through collaboration and cooperation. Furthermore, Howaldt and Schwarz (2011) argue that social innovations are becoming increasingly important in the transition to a knowledge and service society, but they are often overlooked in discussions on national and regional innovation systems. In addition to the challenges faced by the sector, social innovators themselves are saddled with institutional, marketplace place, and educational impediments. Girling (2013) emphasizes the need for social innovators to meet evolving marketplace demands in addition to their social impact focus and Schwab (2007) concurs. Additionally, Vilarinho (2018) points out the lack of understanding and involvement of citizens in social innovation. Silva-Flores (2022) also points out that the biggest factors hindering social innovation and innovators are the lack of critical mass, fragmentation of efforts, and limited citizen participation in social change efforts. Overall, the social innovation sector faces challenges related to market dynamics, institutional barriers, and limited citizen engagement.

Moreover, social innovation theorizes the process of innovation within the context of social relations, involving interaction between multiple players such as social entrepreneurs, civil society, government, enterprises, and research institutes (Vercher, 2022). According to Howaldt and Schröder (2016), two key factors are relevant to the effective action of social innovators. Firstly, the agency or personal capacity of individuals to take action and transform existing institutions and social systems. Secondly, the recognition that the agency is embedded in social structures and power relations that limit or encourage, to a greater or lesser extent, the possibilities to act and the scope of actions. This draws attention to the multi-actor perspective to building an entrepreneurial economy that Grimm (2009) posits and the importance of an ecosystem approach to resolving challenges, mobilizing support, and promoting collaboration among social innovation actors. Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that the ecosystems for social innovation are in different stages of development in various regions of the world. Similarly, though social innovations pop up in many areas and in many disguises, the conditions under which they emerge, develop, flourish, get sustained and finally lead to social change or social service reform are not yet fully understood in both academic and practice oriented circles. This special issue will provide a platform for academics and practitioners to present their research on the role of public policy in fostering social innovation within existing ecosystems.

List of topic areas

We are interested in receiving original high-quality paper submissions exploring any of the following topics:

• Social Innovation and Public Policy
• Innovation ecosystems and public policy
• Public Policy and the Social Innovation Economy
• Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and the Welfare State
• Economics of Social Innovation
• Innovation Management and Policy Entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Public Policy
• Social Movements, Social Networks, and the Policy Process
• Comparative Social Innovation Policies
• Social Innovation Investment and Funding

The collection will be methodologically pluralist, open to receiving quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research that respond to research questions related to any the following:

• How do social movements influence political processes?
• How can social innovation ecosystems strengthen state-society relations?
• What is the role of public policy in institutionalizing social enterprises in various countries?
• What is the relationship between social innovation ecosystems and the welfare state?
• What lessons can welfare states draw from social innovation ecosystems?
• Under what conditions do social innovations emerge from social movements and advocacy coalitions?
• To what extent have movement-led social innovations led to changes in public policy in the past and recent times?

Guest Editors

Prof. Dr. Heike Grimm
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, Germany
[email protected]

Priscilla Boatemaa Appiah
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, Germany
[email protected]

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available by clicking the button below.
Submit your paper here!
If you are interested in contributing to this special issue, please submit a full paper draft and 300 word abstract with author(s) bio, by May 1st, 2024. Decisions on submissions will be communicated to authors by June 3rd, 2024.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. 
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key Deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 1 January 2024.
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 1 May 2024
Email for submissions information: [email protected] and [email protected]

References

Adams, D., & Hess, M. (2010). Social innovation and why it has policy significance. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 21(2), 139-155.
Audretsch, D. B., Rocha, H., Aggarwal, S., & Bramanti, A. (2024). Do entrepreneurial ecosystems foster sustainable development?. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 1-37.
Girling, R. (2013). Global innovators: How open innovation serves humanity. In Small and Medium Enterprises: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1276-1292). IGI Global.
Grimm, H. (2009). Creating an entrepreneurial economy: The role of public policy. Entrepreneurship, growth, and public policy, 299-318.
Howaldt, J., & Schwarz, M. (2011). Social innovation–social challenges and future research fields. In Enabling Innovation: Innovative Capability-German and International Views (pp. 203-223). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Howaldt, J., Kaletka, C., & Schröder, A. (2016). Social entrepreneurs: Important actors within an ecosystem of social innovation. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 1(2).
Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D., Mehmood, A., & Hamdouch, A. (2013). General introduction: the return of social innovation as a scientific concept and a social practice. The international handbook on social innovation: Collective action, social learning and transdisciplinary research, 1, 1-6.
Nicholls, A., & Edmiston, D. (2018). Social innovation policy in the European Union. Policy Design in the European Union: An Empire of Shopkeepers in the Making?, 161-190.
Ostling, A. (2017). Social innovation in practice: opportunities for citizens and governments. En, A. Paulin, LG Anthopoulus y CG Reddick, Beyond Bureaucracy.
Schwab, A. (2007). Incremental organizational learning from multilevel information sources: Evidence for cross-level interactions. Organization Science, 18(2), 233-251.
Silva-Flores, M. L., & Murillo, D. (2022). Ecosystems of Innovation: Factors of Social Innovation and its Role in Public Policies. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 35(4), 569-588.
Thurner, T. W. (2014). Challenge social innovation: potential for business, social entrepreneurship, welfare and civil society.
Vasin, S. M., Gamidullaeva, L. A., & Rostovskaya, T. K. (2017). The challenge of social innovation: Approaches and key mechanisms of development.
Vercher, N. (2022). The role of actors in social innovation in rural areas. Land, 11(5), 710.
Vilarinho, T., Floch, J., Oliveira, M., Dinant, I., Pappas, I. O., & Mora, S. (2018). Developing a social innovation methodology in the Web 2.0 era. In Internet Science: INSCI 2017 International Workshops, IFIN, DATA ECONOMY, DSI, and CONVERSATIONS, Thessaloniki, Greece, November 22, 2017, Revised Selected Papers 4 (pp. 168-183). Springer International Publishing.
Weerakoon, C., McMurray, A., Rametse, N., & Douglas, H. (2016). A preliminary bibliographic analysis of the social innovation literature. In Proceedings of the 3rd Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference (SIERC 2016) (pp. 345-360). New Zealand Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Centre.