Insights from corporate social innovation: a research agenda

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyse the contributions, major discussions and trends in the literature driving the research agenda in corporate social innovation (CSI). This is done through a systematic review on CSI publications in an open time span. Salient themes and emerging research topics in this literature, as well as research questions and limitations, are identified, culminating in a discussion of what is next for CSI research. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review was undertaken from academic and grey literature. Results were analysed following a bibliometric and interpretative content analysis. Findings The study provides novel insights on CSI research by drawing attention to discussions around the consensus on a definition of CSI, its disciplinary origins and the denominations referring to this field. Although CSI struggles to gain independence as a research field, the evidence shows that CSI is a cross-disciplinary concept nourished by multiple disciplines. Research limitations/implications Analysis in this paper has implications for research by highlighting the state of scholarship on CSI. Given the use of multiple denominations of CSI, several studies using low diffused denominations could be discarded. Originality/value This research contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of CSI by bringing clarity to former discussions and by suggesting how the field can move forward to a more advanced and mature state in research.

Societal challenges and business leadership for social innovation

“…While social innovation has been predominantly linked with social entrepreneurship and the non-profit sector (Dacin et al , 2011; Mongelli and Rullani, 2017), the topic has also entered the corporate discourse, often as an advancement of the corporate social responsibility agenda (Agostini et al , 2017), sometimes labeled corporate social innovation (Mirvis et al , 2016), a research stream that is still in an exploratory and agenda-setting stage (Tabares, 2020) and yielded only seven hits in an ABI-inform databank search for document titles (27 February 2021) with the keyword “Corporate Social Innovation” (none of them had an explicit link to leadership).…”

An Overview of Corporate Social Innovation (CSI)

“…The concept of innovation has its historical origins in the early 1880s, when Schumpeter (1939) characterized the capitalist system and emphasized technological innovations as proficient, commercial, and beneficial to shareholders (Phillips et al, 2015). This idea is supported by previous literature which more focused on performance, profitability, and picture of the organization's benefit (Esen, & Maden-Eyiusta, 2019;Tabares, 2020). According to the OECD (2005), presented in the Oslo Manual, innovation is divided into four types: product, process, organizational, and marketing innovation, all of which affect an individual, group, organization, or society as a whole.…”

“…Unfortunately, the concept of social innovation lacks a strong conceptual foundation and does not focus on a specific field (Nicholls et al, 2016). Few authors argue that social innovations may not be suitable for all types of actors, but only relevance to a few sectors such as government, public services, social enterprise, not-for-profit organizations, NGOs, and so on (CRISES, 2010, Voorberg, Bekkers, & Tummers, 2015Cajaiba-Santana, 2014;Tabares, 2020).…”

“…Corporate Social Innovation Kanter (1999) departed the concept of corporate social innovation from social innovation since the impact of business on society is the major concern in the discussion (Tabares, 2020;Dionisio and de Vargas, 2020). As there are no formal definitions of corporate social innovation, the concept of social innovation at the corporate level are applied (Carrillo & Gomi, 2017;Dionisio and de Vargas, 2020).…”

“…According to some literature, there is a lack of clarity on corporate social innovation theory as a result of a gray area between corporate social innovation and social innovation, as well as a lack of clarity on corporate social innovation theory (Baker & Mehmood, 2015;Van der Have and Rubalcaba, 2016). Certainly, research on corporate social innovation has remained absent in the literature as the enthusiasm more towards social innovation instead of corporate social innovation (Martinez et al, 2017;Tabares, 2020). According to the previous literature, the current literature does not appear to reach a unified understanding and is unlikely to reach any consensus in the academic field due to the multidisciplinary nature of the field (Gagliardi, & Cox, 2018).…”