Third sector entities and social innovation. Main features and success-factors

Abstract

Social innovation is a phenomenon that has been widely studied in the last decade due to the sponsorship from the public and private sectors. However, there is a gap in the existing literature regarding which characteristics define, and are relevant, to consider an initiative as socially innovative. In addition, little work has explored the role third sector organisations play in the development of social innovation. This work has two main objectives: first, to state and weigh the most important characteristics that an initiative must gather to be considered social innovation, and, second, based on these characteristics, to explain why third sector organisations can be, by their very nature, ideal agents for their development. To this end, a qualitative methodology has been designed based on literature review, semi-structured interviews and case analysis. The interviews, once transcribed, were analyzed with the Atlas.ti program. This has allowed us to identify and measure a total of 18 defining attributes of social innovation, which are then further grouped into 3 thematic groups. Subsequently, we analyzed a project developed by a third sector entity and observe that all the characteristics previously identified as defining social innovation are present. Our work contributes to creating more empirical evidence on what main aspects should be taken into account when analyzing whether a project is socially innovative or not. Likewise, relevant knowledge is also provided about the potential of third sector organisations as socially innovative agents.