SOCIAL INNOVATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT: HOW DO SOCIAL INNOVATIONS ADD TO CHANGE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY?

Most social innovations are, in essence, service innovations with a social purpose. Windrum et al. (2016) identify three areas in which the conceptual understanding of social innovations is further specified beyond that of service innovations: incentives, empowerment and imitation. Based on this, the research questions of this paper are: In how far does the social innovation case presented in the following show these additional qualities that distinguish social innovation from mere service innovation? How does this generate additional quality to change towards sustainability? The results build on case study research in the area of social innovations with an environmental impact. Change, operationalized in the various forms of impact of the social innovation project, is enhanced by the additional features of social innovation.