Management innovation and social innovation: convergences and divergences

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss recent developments in the fields of management innovation and social innovation, in order to discover any possible convergences and divergences between them.,By examining the state of the art of the literature in both fields of study, this paper proposes a framework of theoretical approaches, conceptual dimensions, goals and objectives, processes, agents, outcomes, methods, and literature gaps.,There are substantial differences between management and social innovation in terms of theoretical and conceptual foundations. Although both share similarities given the relevance of technology and their focus on social relations, their generation and diffusion processes, among their other characteristics, are distinct.,As this is a theoretical paper concerning innovations that involve social elements at their core, the challenge is to incorporate technological innovation into the theoretical framework. This would help empirically oriented research on more types of innovation.,The agenda of practitioners, scholars, government, and civil society should take different types of innovation into account, particularly those that go beyond technology.,This paper contributes to a better understanding of innovations that go beyond technology, by analysing innovations (i.e. management and social innovation) that involve social aspects at their core. Few researchers have analysed these types of innovations jointly.,O objetivo deste artigo consiste em discutir os avancos mais recentes nos campos da inovacao gerencial e da inovacao social, na busca de possiveis aspectos convergentes e divergentes entre essas tematicas.,Ao examinar o estado da arte da literatura em ambas as tematicas, propoe-se um framework de abordagens teoricas, dimensoes conceituais, metas e objetivos, processos, agentes, resultados, metodos e lacunas da literatura.,Ha diferencas substanciais entre inovacao gerencial e social em termos de fundamentos teoricos e conceituais. Embora ambas compartilhem semelhancas, dado o seu foco nas relacoes sociais e a relevância da tecnologia, seus processos de geracao e difusao, entre outras caracteristicas, sao distintos.,Como se trata de um artigo teorico sobre inovacoes que envolvem elementos sociais em sua essencia, o desafio e incorporar a inovacao tecnologica no framework teorico. Isso ajudaria pesquisas empiricamente orientadas sobre mais tipos de inovacao.,A agenda de profissionais, academicos, governo e sociedade civil deve levar em conta diferentes tipos de inovacao, particularmente aquelas que vao alem da tecnologia.,Este artigo contribui para uma melhor compreensao das inovacoes que vao alem da tecnologia, ao analisar inovacoes (no caso, as gerenciais e sociais) que possuem aspectos sociais como elementos centrais. Poucos pesquisadores analisaram conjuntamente esses tipos de inovacoes.