Social innovation is identified as a mechanism response to burning social challenges and the evolution of hybrid organizations such as social enterprises. As a result, there is an overwhelming growing interest among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to know more about the significant concept of social innovation. Despite this significance, it is often argued that the meaning of social innovation is ambiguous and vague with theory lagging social innovation practice as the field is nascent, emerging, and remains underdeveloped. This may impede the research endeavors of conceptualizing and establishing its socio-economic underpinnings and the legitimization of the field. Theoretical and Practical Approaches to Social Innovation illuminates and consolidates multiple views of social innovation theory, research, and practice, which to date have not been presented in one publication. The book provides an in-depth theoretical and practical understanding coupled with an assessment of the current research in multidisciplinary perspectives complemented by case studies representing each knowledge cluster in social innovation research. In this unique way, this book links theory to practice demonstrating praxis. While highlighting topics such as social enterprise, urban studies, management, ecological resilience, and social policy and networks, this book is ideal for students, academics, practitioners, researchers, and entrepreneurs looking to expand their knowledge, skills, and passion, and to sustainably pursue their social missions to bring about real social change that can transform communities and ignite innovative approaches to solving social challenges.

Education badly needs effective innovations that can help produce high-quality learning outcomes across the system. The primary focus of educational innovations should be on teaching and learning theory and practice, as well as on the learner, parent, community, society, and culture. Technology applications need a solid theoretical foundation based on purposeful, systemic research, and a sound pedagogy. Theoretical and Practical Approaches to Innovation in Higher Education is an essential scholarly publication that outlines the classification of innovations, discusses the hurdles to innovation, and offers ways to increase the scale and rate of innovation-based transformations in the education system. The publication argues that raising the quality and scale of innovations in education will positively affect education itself and benefit society. Highlighting topics such as academic integrity, e-learning, and learner engagement, this book is vital for higher education professionals, academicians, educators, librarians, course designers, researchers, and students.

As we grapple with how to respond to some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as inequality, poverty and climate change, there is growing global interest in ‘social innovation’ as a potential solution. But what exactly is ‘social innovation’? This book describes three ways to theorise social innovation when seeking to manage and organize for both social and economic progress.

Mixed methods research is becoming prevalent in many fields, yet little has been done to elevate mixed methods research in information science. A comprehensive picture of information science and its problems is needed to further understand and address the issues associated with it as well as how mixed methods research can be adapted and used. The Handbook of Research on Mixed Methods Research in Information Science discusses the quality of mixed methods studies and methodological transparency, sampling in mixed methods research, and the application of theory in mixed methods research throughout various contexts. Covering topics such as the issues and potential directions for further research in mixed methods, this comprehensive major reference work is ideal for researchers, policymakers, academicians, librarians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Doing research is an ever-changing challenge for social scientists. This challenge is harder than ever today as current societies are changing quickly and in many, sometimes conflicting, directions. Social phenomena, personal interactions, and formal and informal relationships are becoming more borderless and disconnected from the anchors of the offline “reality.” These dynamics are heavily marking our time and are suggesting evolutionary challenges in the ways we know, interpret, and analyze the world. Internet and computer-mediated communication (CMC) is being incorporated into every aspect of daily life, and social life has been deeply penetrated by the internet. This is due to recent technological developments that increase the scope and range of online social spaces and the forms and time of participation such as Web 2.0, which widened the opportunities for user-generated content, the emergence of an “internet of things,” and of ubiquitous mobile devices that make it possible to always be connected. This implies an adjustment to epistemological and methodological stances for conducting social research and an adaption of traditional social research methods to the specificities of online interactions in the digital society. The Handbook of Research on Advanced Research Methodologies for a Digital Society covers the different strands of methods most affected by the change in a digital society and develops a broader theoretical reflection on the future of social research in its challenge to always be fitting, suitable, adaptable, and pertinent to the society to be studied. The chapters are geared towards unlocking the future frontiers and potential for social research in the digital society. They include theoretical, epistemological, and ontological reflections about the digital research methods as well as innovative methods and tools to collect, analyze, and interpret data. This book is ideal for social scientists, practitioners, librarians, researchers, academicians, and students interested in social research methodology and its developments in the digital scenario.

This book addresses ‘the economics of social innovation’, a widely neglected topic in regional development. The chapters in this edited volume cover distinct but complementary and related aspects concerning the existing gap between the hitherto unexploited potential of social innovation in relation to socio-economic challenges that regions across Europe and globally face. Research on social innovation has gained momentum over the last decade, spurred notably by the growing interest in social issues related to policy making, public management and entrepreneurship in response to the grand challenges societies in Europe and worldwide face. Accelerated by the normative turn in research and innovation policies towards ‘missions’, social innovation is nowadays a central element on policy agendas, from the urban and regional level to the national and subnational level of the European Commission and the OECD. However, for social innovations to unfold their full potential a better understanding of underlying mechanisms, processes and impacts is necessary. The first three chapters focus on framework conditions and characteristics of social innovation. The following two chapters emphasise the determinants of social innovation and translocal empowerment. In the last part, attention is devoted to social innovation in specific fields such as health care and greening society, and social innovations’ transformative potential. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, European Planning Studies.

Progression in sustainable sports practices is an up-and-coming area of research that also has an overarching impact on other professional fields. Analyzing the latest trends and methods in this niche area allows for further advancements in the field of sustainability. Grassroots Sustainability Innovations in Sports Management: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a crucial resource that offers an in-depth discussion on growth in the sports sector and how incorporating sustainable practices in this field’s rising trajectory can further enhance its impact. Highlighting pertinent topics including innovation dynamics, management studies, corporate social responsibility, and systemic change, this publication is ideal for academicians, students, and researchers that are interested in expanding their knowledge of intertwining sustainable actions with sports administration.

The book brings together perspectives on entrepreneurship research, education and practice to understand social entrepreneurship in its wider societal, political and economic context. Its unique contribution comes from its interdisciplinary approach that spans from the societal to the organizational level, with specific focus social innovation and management. It views management of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise in light of its societal context and employs social innovation to critically assess social entrepreneurship as driver of change. The emergence of social entrepreneurship as an academic field is linked to several societal trends such as public austerity, financial crises, new social challenges and a growing counter-movement to globalised capitalism. Generally seen as organisations serving both social and economic objectives, social enterprises, social innovation and social entrepreneurship have their roots in civil society, civic activism or the solidarity economy, but also manifest themselves as for-profit companies, with new organisational forms emerging and old ones changing. The contributions in this book elucidate these developments and the role of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises. Furthermore, the book offers great insight into the specific ways of managing, leading and creating innovation in social enterprises as well as perspectives on how to understand their social impact or value creation.

Social entrepreneurship and social innovation both seek to improve the world through social change. Whereas social entrepreneurship revolves around the business side of change, social innovation focuses on the processes through which that change is generated. This textbook provides a comprehensive analysis of both topics, covering all the characteristics and elements of social innovation and social entrepreneurship, from a conceptual and practical perspective. The book has four sections: 1) Basics and concepts of Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship; 2) Business models and generation of value in social enterprises; 3) Social innovation within traditional companies, and 4) Definition and alignment of the impact of social innovation and entrepreneurship. Students and any practitioners that want to know about social innovation or social entrepreneurship will be exposed to contemporary topics in the field as well as a variety of cases and tools for its development. With its learning objectives, reflective questions, the definition of key concepts, and exercises, this book is the definitive text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in social innovation and social entrepreneurship.