Title: Social innovation: what do we know and do not know about it

Authors: Anderson Sasaki Vasques Pacheco; Maria João Santos; Karin Vieira Da Silva

Addresses: Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas em Empreendedorismo e Inovação, Centro Universitário de Brusque, Rua Dorval Luz, 123 – Bairro Santa Terezinha, Santa Catarina, Brazil ' ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Rua do Quelhas, n.6, 1200-781 Lisbon, Portugal ' Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas em Empreendedorismo e Inovação, Centro Universitário de Brusque, Rua Dorval Luz, 123 – Bairro Santa Terezinha, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract: The objective of this research project involved establishing a scientific framework out of the most relevant research outputs on social innovation. To this end, we carried out bibliometric research of 1,150 works to provide an outline of the historical evolution of social innovation studies, the scientific fields that have done the most research on this theme as well as those works with the greatest influence over subsequent research. Drafting a map of citations traced the epistemological foundations of social innovation research and identified the micro-foundations to the field as well as the predominant conceptual references. Analysis of the most cited articles furthermore portrayed the most relevant theoretical approaches interconnected with the conceptual boundaries, the characteristics of social innovation processes and in addition to the more holistic perspective focusing on the surrounding contextual factors. The key contribution stems from setting out a theoretical guide to the research produced on social innovation.

Keywords: social innovation; bibliometric research; social entrepreneurship; local development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2018.094711

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2018 Vol.24 No.3, pp.301 - 326

Received: 27 Sep 2017
Accepted: 19 Nov 2017
Published online: 12 Sep 2018 *

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