Theorizing Transformative Social Innovation 12 theoretical propositions
(?)
How do TSI processes lead to transformative change?
(b) Relations in network formation
(c) Relations to institutional change
Building alliances Translocal connectivity Discourse formation
Finding a home Institutional change strategies Transposing logics
Tra nsf orm in gS
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How are SI networks, initiatives, and people (dis)empowered?
i ter ma io
al C Agency... challenges, alters, replaces...
SI initiative
...structuring of Social Innovation
people
A TSI process Legend
TSI
Transformative Social Innovation Social Innovation (SI) Initiative
SI Initiatives network
(a) Relations in SI initiatives
Members in SI Initiatives
Sociomaterial context
Empowerment New social relations Reflexive experimentation
(a)
(d) Relations to the sociomaterial context
Diverse transformations Path dependencies Re-emergence
People are empowered to persist in their efforts towards institutional change, to the extent that basic needs for relatedness, autonomy, and competence are satisfied, while at the same time experiencing an increased sense of impact, meaning, and resilience (Proposition 3)
Relations in SI initiatives
Empowerment of people in TSI processes Legend
xt onte
networks
Empowerment
Social Innovation (SI) Initiative SI Promoted
Members in SI Initiatives Institutions
SI action field
Sociomaterial context
New social relations Manifesting new/alternative interpersonal relations is one pivotal way in which SI actors are able to create the right conditions to challenge, alter or replace dominant institutions (Proposition 2)
Transnational networks are crucially empowering local SI initiatives (Proposition 5)
Reflexive experimentation SI initiatives provide spaces in which new or alternative values can be promoted and aligned with new knowledge and practices—in a process of reflexive experimentation that supports both members´ motivations and moves towards collective ‘success’ and ‘impact’ (Proposition 1)
(b)
Translocal connectivity
Relations in network formation
Building alliances
Network formation processes Discourse formation
The transformative impacts of SI initiatives depend greatly on the changing tensions within and stability of the action field(s) that they operate in (Proposition 4)
Institutional dynamics Social Innovation (SI) Initiative
Transposing logics
SI Promoted
Institutional Logics Institutions
SI action field
Sociomaterial context
Related SI initiative SI Promoted Institutions
SI action field
Sociomaterial context
One way in which SI initiatives engage with dominant institutions is by reconsidering the broader institutional logics in which those institutions are embedded; they do this by ‘travelling’ across different institutional logics, and by reinventing, recombining and transposing specific elements (Proposition 9)
Relations to institutional change
)
Social Innovation (SI) Initiative
Discourse formation and its mediation through communication infrastructures crucially enhances the reach of SI network formation (Proposition 6)
(c)
Legend
Legend
Finding a home
Strategic actions
)
SI initiatives employ a diverse range of strategies for bringing about institutional change; they must proactively adapt these strategies in response to changing circumstances, while navigating contestations with dominant institutions, and maintaining their original vision (Proposition 8)
SI initiatives need to find an institutional home in order to access to vital resources; this often entails a balancing against the desire for independence from (critiqued) dominant institutions (Proposition 7)
SI initiatives are only innovative against the background of an evolving socio-material context. Activities of innovating and invention present but one historical appearance of TSI, next to other less conspicuously innovative activities of re-invention, advocacy, and contextual adoption (Proposition 11)
(d) Relations to the sociomaterial context
Re-emergence
)
History matters in TSI processes
Legend
Social Innovation (SI) Initiative
Related SI Initiative
)
SI Promoted
Institutional Logics Institutions
SI action field
Diverse transformations Diversity is an integral element of TSI processes, reflecting the historical diversity of the people involved in them, who strive for diverse institutional forms that fit with their differing values, future visions and present circumstances (Proposition 12)
Sociomaterial context
Path dependencies The rise of SI initiatives and the particular transformative ambitions conveyed by them are strongly shaped by the historical development of the wider sociomaterial context (Proposition 10)
Further research findings on each of these 12 propositions can be found in the working paper: Haxeltine, A., Pel, B., Dumitru, A., Avelino, F., Kemp, R., F., Bauler, T., Kunze, I., Dorland, J., Wittmayer, J., and Søgaard Jørgensen, M.S. (2017) “Towards a TSI theory: a relational framework and 12 propositions”, TRANSIT working paper #16, December 2017 For more information on the TRANSIT research project please visit: www.transitsocialinnovation.eu