Navigating the 'meaningless' of social innovation: perspectives of social care practitioners in Scotland

Social innovation is an umbrella concept that allows space for a diverse range of perspectives to co-exist. In this paper, we explore how practitioners negotiate this complexity. Conducting 19 interviews with stakeholders involved in social enterprise and social care in Scotland, we show that almost...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Public management review Vol. 26; no. 10; pp. 2901 - 2920
Main Authors:	Henderson, Fiona, Teasdale, Simon
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Abingdon Routledge 02-10-2024 Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:	Innovations social care social enterprise social entrepreneurship Social innovation social innovation definitions Social power Social services
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Social innovation is an umbrella concept that allows space for a diverse range of perspectives to co-exist. In this paper, we explore how practitioners negotiate this complexity. Conducting 19 interviews with stakeholders involved in social enterprise and social care in Scotland, we show that almost anything can be conceived of as a social innovation as defined by the European Union. The EU definition can be a useful tool for organizations to demonstrate to funders how and why they are socially innovative. However, in failing to interrogate the power dimension of social innovation, the EU definition neglects any transformative potential.
ISSN:	1471-9037 1471-9045
DOI:	10.1080/14719037.2023.2297018