Idealistic incentives in non-governmental organization innovativeness: bridging theoretical gaps

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Volume 35, Issue 2

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Idealistic incentives in non-governmental organization innovativeness: bridging theoretical gaps

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Author(s): Malin Lindberg ^a , Cecilia Nahnfeldt ^b

Publication date (Print): 1 June 2017

Journal: Prometheus

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

This paper bridges the theoretical gap between traditional innovation studies and more recent studies of innovation among civil society actors and contexts. The paper presents a study of the nature and function of idealistic incentives in innovativeness of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based on case studies of two national NGOs in Sweden, the Sensus Study Association and the Church of Sweden. The results show that the idealistic incentives of a basic view of human beings focusing on dignity and solidarity in the studied cases are closely related to various forms of NGO innovativeness, including the identification of challenges and needs, the aspired change at individual, organizational and societal levels, the involvement of concerned groups, and in cross-organizational and cross-sectoral cooperation. This contributes new knowledge not only of what NGO innovation entails and how it is brought about, but also of why such processes are initiated and thus why individual, organizational and societal transformation is essential in such processes. As part of this, the probable impact of beliefs, norms, ideologies and identities on all innovation processes, regardless of sectoral context, is highlighted.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Malin Lindberg:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4501-2542

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50022063

Journal ID (jcode): prometheus

Title: Prometheus

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 0810-9028

ISSN: 1470-1030

Publication date (Print): 1 June 2017

Volume: 35

Issue: 2 ( doiID: 10.1080/prometheus.35.issue-2 )

Pages: 97-110

Affiliations

[ ^a ]Department of Economy, Technology and Society, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden

[ ^b ]Research Department, Church of Sweden, Uppsala, Sweden

Article

Publisher ID: 08109028.2017.1396751

DOI: 10.1080/08109028.2017.1396751

SO-VID: 951d9139-d59d-4ee2-86e8-ee797d2e1239

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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lang eng

ScienceOpen disciplines: Computer science,Arts,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Law,History,Economics

References

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Bond (2016) An Introduction to Social Innovation for NGOs. Issue Briefing, Bond, London.
Buur, J. and Matthews, B. (2008) ‘Participatory innovation’, International Journal of Innovation Management, 12, 3, pp.255-73.
Cajaíba-Santana, G. (2013) ‘Social innovation: moving the field forward. A conceptual framework’, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 82, pp.42-51.
Cargan, L. (2007) Doing Social Research, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham MD.
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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Angell, O. (2016) ‘Diakonia as innovation: a political and organisational perspective’, Diaconia – Journal for the Study of Christian Social Practice, 7, 2, pp.142-58.

[2] Anheier, H., Toepler, S. and List, R. (eds) (2010) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, Springer, New York.

[3] Baglioni, S. and Giugni, M. (eds) (2014) Civil Society Organizations, Unemployment, and Precarity in Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, London.

[4] Bailey, K. (2008) Methods of Social Research, Free Press, New York.

[5] Berglund, K.-E., Lindberg, M. and Nahnfeldt, C. (2016) ‘Social innovation now and then in the Church of Sweden’, Diaconia – Journal for the Study of Christian Social Practice, 7, 2, pp.125-41.

[6] Bond (2016) An Introduction to Social Innovation for NGOs. Issue Briefing, Bond, London.

[7] Buur, J. and Matthews, B. (2008) ‘Participatory innovation’, International Journal of Innovation Management, 12, 3, pp.255-73.

[8] Cajaíba-Santana, G. (2013) ‘Social innovation: moving the field forward. A conceptual framework’, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 82, pp.42-51.

[9] Cargan, L. (2007) Doing Social Research, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham MD.

[10] Chesbrough, H., Vanhaverbeke, W. and West, J. (eds) (2006) Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

[11] Daniel, L. and Klein, J. (2014) ‘Innovation agendas: the ambiguity of value creation’, Prometheus, 32, 1, pp.23-47.

[12] Davies, A., Simon, J., Patrick, R. and Norman, W. (2012) Mapping Citizen Engagement in the Process of Social Innovation, A Deliverable of the Project TEPSIE, European Commission, DG Research, Brussels.

[13] Davies, A. and Simon, J. (2013) The Value and Role of Citizen Engagement in Social Innovation, EU Commission, Brussels.

[14] Dawson, P. and Daniel, L. (2010) ‘Understanding social innovation: a provisional framework’, International Journal of Technology Management, 51, 1, pp.9-21.

[15] Dover, G. and Lawrence, T. (2012) ‘The role of power in nonprofit innovation’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41, 6, pp.991-1013.

[16] Ehn, P., Nilsson, E. and Topgaard, R. (eds) (2014) Making Futures: Marginal Notes on Innovation, Design, and Democracy, MIT Press, Cambridge MA.

[17] Etzkowitz, H. and Rickne, A. (2014) ‘Citizen-driven innovation: stem cell scientists, patient advocates and financial innovators in the making of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)‘, Prometheus, 32, 4, pp.369-84.

[18] Eurich, J. and Langer, A. (2016) ‘Social innovations as opportunities: How can innovations in social services be stimulated and managed?‘, Diaconia – Journal for the Study of Christian Social Practice, 7, 2, pp.174-90.

[19] Fagerberg, J. (2005) ‘Innovation – a guide to the literature’ in Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D. C. and Nelson, R. R. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.1-27.

[20] Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D. and Nelson, R. (eds) (2005) The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

[21] George, A. and Bennett, A. (2005) Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences, MIT Press, Cambridge MA.

[22] Godin, B. (2014) ‘An old word for a new world, or the de-contestation of a political and contested concept’ in Sveiby, K.-E., Gripenberg, P. and Segercrantz, B. (eds) Challenging the Innovation Paradigm, Taylor and Francis, Abingdon, pp.37-60.

[23] Grimm, R., Fox, C., Baines, S. and Albertson, K. (2013) ‘Social innovation, an answer to contemporary societal challenges? Locating the concept in theory and practice’, Innovation: The European Journal of Social Sciences, 26, 4, pp.436-55.

[24] Guest, G., MacQueen, K. and Namey, E. (2012) Applied Thematic Analysis, Sage, Thousand Oaks CA.

[25] van der Have, R. and Rubalcaba, L. (2016) ‘Social innovation research: An emerging area of innovation studies?‘, Research Policy, 45, pp.1923-35.

[26] Heckathorn, D. D. (1997) ‘Respondent-driven sampling: A new approach to the study of hidden populations’, Social Problems, 44, 2, pp.174-99.

[27] von Hippel, E. (2006) Democratizing Innovation, MIT Press, Cambridge.

[28] Jordan, T., Andersson, P. and Ringnér, H. (2013) ‘The spectrum of responses to complex societal issues: reflections on seven years of empirical inquiry’, Integral Review, 9, 1, pp.34-70.

[29] King, N. and Horrocks, C. (2010) Interviews in Qualitative Research, Sage, Los Angeles.

[30] Laville, J., Young, D. and Eynaud, P. (eds) (2015) Civil Society, Social Enterprise, the Third Sector: Governance and Democracy, Routledge, London.

[31] Lindberg, M. (2012) ‘A striking pattern – co-construction of innovation, men and masculinity in Sweden's innovation policy’ in Andersson, S., Berglund, K., Thorslund, J., Gunnarsson, E. and Sundin, E. (eds) Promoting Innovation – Policies, Practices and Procedures, VINNOVA, Stockholm, pp.47-67.

[32] Lindberg, M. (2014) ‘From exclusion to inclusion in public innovation support? Innovative practices in bottom-up networks’, Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 18, 4, pp.91-107.

[33] Lindberg, M. and Berg Jansson, A. (2016) ‘Regional social innovation – pinpointing socially inclusive change for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth in European regional development policy’, International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, 7, 2, pp.123-40.

[34] Martinelli, F. (2013) ‘Learning from case studies of social innovation in the field of social services: creatively balancing top-down universalism with bottom-up democracy’ in Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D., Mehmood, A. and Hamdouch, A. (eds) The International Handbook on Social Innovation: Collective Action, Social Learning and Transdisciplinary Research, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp.346-60.

[35] McDonald, R. (2007) ‘An investigation of innovation in nonprofit organizations: the role of organizational mission’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 36, 2, pp.256-81.

[36] Micheletti, M. and McFarland, A. (eds) (2011) Creative Participation: Responsibility-taking in the Political World, Paradigm, Boulder CO.

[37] Mills, A., Durepos, G. and Wiebe, E. (eds) (2010) Encyclopedia of Case Study Research, Sage, Los Angeles.

[38] Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D., Mehmood, A. and Hamdouch, A. (eds) (2013) The International Handbook on Social Innovation: Collective Action, Social Learning and Transdisciplinary Research, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

[39] Nahnfeldt, C. and Lindberg, M. (2017) ‘Gendered potentials and delimitations in the Church of Sweden's social innovation’, Diaconia – Journal for the Study of Christian Social Practice, 8, pp.3-22.

[40] Nowotny, H., Scott, P. and Gibbons, M. (2001) Re-Thinking Science, Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty. Cambridge: Polity Press.

[41] Osborne, S., Chew, C. and McLaughlin, K. (2008) ‘The once and future pioneers? The innovative capacity of voluntary organisations and the provision of public services: a longitudinal approach’, Public Management Review, 10, 1, pp.51-70.

[42] Pestoff, V. (1998) Beyond the Market and State: Social Enterprises and Civil Democracy in a Welfare Society, Ashgate, Aldershot.

[43] Pol, E. and Ville, S. (2009) ‘Social innovation: Buzz word or enduring term?‘, Journal of Socio-Economics, 38, 6, pp.878-85.

[44] Rønning, R. and Knutagård, M. (2015) Innovation in Social Welfare and Human Services, Routledge, London.

[45] Schröer, A. (2016) ‘Fostering innovation in social services – a diaconal intrapreneurship lab’, Diaconia – Journal for the Study of Christian Social Practice, 7, 2, pp.159-73.

[46] Segnestam Larsson, O. and Brandsen, T. (2015) ‘The implicit normative assumptions of social innovation research: embracing the dark side’ in Brandsen, T., Cattacin, S., Evers, A. and Zimmers, A. (eds) Social Innovations in the Urban Context, Springer, London, pp.293-302.

[47] Sirianni, C. and Friedland, L. (2001) Civic Innovation in America – Community Empowerment, Public Policy, and the Movement for Civic Renewal, University of California Press, Berkeley CA.

[48] Styhre, A. (2013) A Social Theory of Innovation, Liber/Copenhagen Business School Press, Malmö/Copenhagen.

[49] Sveiby, K.-E., Gripenberg, P. and Segercrantz, B. (eds) (2014) Challenging the Innovation Paradigm, Taylor and Francis, New York.

[50] Trägårdh, L. (ed.) (2007) State and Civil Society in Northern Europe: The Swedish Model Reconsidered, Berghahn Books, New York.

[51] Wijkström, F. and Zimmer, A. (eds) (2011) Nordic Civil Society at a Cross-Roads. Transforming the Popular Movement Tradition, Nomos, Baden Baden.

[52] Yin, R. (2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Sage, London.