Social Innovation Impacts and Their Assessment: An Exploratory Study of a Social Innovation Initiative from a Portuguese Rural Region

Marina Novikova
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Marina Novikova: Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, ISCTE—Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: Over recent decades, various approaches to social innovation (SI) have been developed. At the same time, the question on how SI can contribute to and can impact the development of rural regions still remains only partially answered. One of the research gaps that remains addressed only to a certain extent is associated with the ways in which impacts produced by SI can be assessed. Such research, focusing on SI impacts in rural contexts is even more scarce. In the current paper, an attempt is made to investigate the impacts of an SI initiative operating in the field of integrated rural development. The study takes on a case study design focusing on ADC Moura, a local development association from Baixo Alentejo, Portugal. The results show that the impacts of said SI initiative have a multi-sectoral and multi-durational nature and transcend sectors and address multiple domains (social, economic, institutional, and environmental), with the SI initiative having the most impacts on the local level of the municipality. In addition to this, the paper provides some ideas for further research.

Keywords: social innovation; social innovation impacts; impact assessment; rural regions; local development initiatives; Baixo Alentejo; Portugal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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