Social Innovation Theories: Can Theory Catch Up with Practice?

Geoff Mulgan ()
Additional contact information
Geoff Mulgan: National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts

A chapter in Challenge Social Innovation, 2012, pp 19-42 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The paper describes ten sets of theoretical sources that have either influenced social innovation or provide useful insights. It argues that although the field has been led by practice rather than theory it now needs stronger theoretical foundations in order to progress. The theoretical sources described include: theoretical perspectives on social plasticity and change; evolutionary theories; complexity theories; theories of entrepreneurship; theories of dialectical change; theories from innovation studies; theories of techno-economic paradigms; theories concerned with the ends of innovation, in particular well-being and capabilities; and epistemological approaches to social innovation. In each case I describe some of the main ideas and arguments, and their relevance to social innovation (and in some cases their key limitations). I then suggest ways in which these may be synthesized into an overall framework for social innovation that can generate useful and often testable hypotheses to guide practice.

Keywords: Complexity Theory; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneur; Social Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-32879-4_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783642328794

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-32879-4_2

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().