Defining Our Own Future: Human Service Leaders on Social Innovation

Background: The human service sector faces tremendous challenges as the era of austerity has forced organizations to do more with less resources.  Decreases in government funding and competition for scarce resources create a need to find new approaches to social service provision. Additionally, the growing complexity of social problems and the tenacity of long-standing social issues, suggest the need for new solutions.  Social innovation has been lauded as an approach that supports these aims.  While the social innovation paradigm provides potential solutions to foster a new social sector, most of the research and conceptualizations of the field have come from outside the sector.  While social innovation has been conceptually explored in design and business, little research has examined human service perspectives of this emergent field and why organizations get involved in social innovation work. 

Method: This qualitative study engaged 23 human service leaders in structured interviews on social innovation.  Participants were purposefully selected by a state human service membership association as leaders of organizations that have engaged in social innovation activities. Structured interviews asked participants about their organization's social innovation activities, motivators, facilitators and barriers to this work, and definitions of social innovation.  Qualitative analysis relied on content analysis using constant comparative approaches for thematic coding.  Qualitative analysis was done by two researchers for reliability.   

Results: Participants identify with social innovation language but provide multiple paradigms to understand innovation.  Some respondents identify strongly with social innovation as related to alignment with business and market concepts, while others assert more inclusive definitions that focus on innovative solutions to complex social problems.  Others focus on the imperative integration between technology and innovation for human services.  Findings suggest social innovation projects were critical for many human service leaders given economic, contextual, and social issues. While some were motivated by scarce resources, more respondents saw innovation as a pathway to better solutions for social problems. Other themes highlighted an orientation towards the future, considering innovation as a critical pathway for human services, and the expectation of changes in the sector.           

Discussion: Study findings suggest social innovation projects are viewed as an imperative for these human service organizations.  While social innovation seems to be emerging as an important lens for social work management, the definitions provided suggest human service leaders view social innovation in a slightly different way than the paradigms that have emerged from other fields.  Proposing more inclusive definitions of social innovation provides opportunities to heighten awareness and bring attention to innovation within human services. As the social sector of the future will integrate work from across fields, the human service perspective is critical for defining that future. Insights on emergent trends for innovation suggest the need for additional training and distinct competencies. Implications for social work management are explored.