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The purpose of this study hopes to encourage further research into the topic of local currencies, as well as specific research into increasing the efficiency of these systems through the use of blockchain technology. There is currently a lack of available research into the topic, which poses barriers for those who wish to study it, so the paper provides a general overview to be used as a starting point for those wishing to broaden their knowledge of local currency systems while also introducing a working implementation of a proof-of-concept for the proposed system.

A literature review of available studies on local currencies is conducted to provide an overview of the current systems and their shortcomings. Subsequently, blockchain technology is briefly introduced and an Ethereum-based model is proposed, which helps overcome the problems identified. The section exploring the Ethereum-based model draws code written by the author to simulate the features.

The paper concludes that blockchain technology can significantly help improve efficiency, transparency and security of local currency systems, while also helping cut costs associated with the implementation of a complementary monetary system. In the medium-term, local currency systems will most likely use a blockchain protocol as the underlying technology for the network.

Local currencies are an understudied topic by itself and the intersection between them and blockchain is a nearly non-existent research space. Thus, the paper takes a multidisciplinary approach, aiming to bridge the fields of computer science and economics to provide a foundation for further research.

Community currency (CC) is used as a tool for reviving local communities by promoting economic growth and facilitating the formation of social capital. Although the Japanese CC movement has stagnated since mid-2005, a new experiment, Fukkou Ouen Chiiki Tsuka (CC for supporting disaster recovery), was introduced across disaster-damaged areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Previous studies assessing the role of CC in these earthquake-damaged areas are rare; the purpose of this paper is to examine the micro processes of community rebuilding that underlie the transactional networks mediated by one of the experiments, Domo, in Kamaishi.

Using transactional records capturing residents’ CC activities during the five-month pilot period before actual implementation of Domo simultaneous investigation for empirical network analysis techniques identify the network configuration dynamics representing the multiple observed forms of social capital in this disaster-affected local community.

This study of the five-month pilot for the Domo system revealed: intensive dependence on the coordinating role of core members (i.e. the creation of weak ties), a lack of balanced support among members and the resulting uni-directional transactions (i.e. the avoidance of generalized exchanges), and the reinforcement of previous transactional ties via reciprocation or transitive triads (i.e. the formation of strong ties).

This study provides guidance for practitioners, researchers, and policy makers on how community residents’ engagement in CC activities could function as a potential tool for generating positive socio-economic effects for local communities in disaster areas.

Blockchain technology is an extension of distributed ledger technology and it is used in cryptocurrencies. Many studies describe blockchain technology and cryptocurrency is an application of it in a very broad sense. Blockchain technology has several applications. Some of these applications could have direct or indirect relevance to either or both pillars of sustainability advocated by Crowther, Seifi, and Wond (2019). Extending to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, one possible connection to sustainability may be the reduction of the use of paper for printing currency notes, which can save forests. Furthermore, the growing cryptocurrency market attracted the investors to focus on the price fluctuations but making them forget about the terrifying carbon problem associated with cryptocurrencies. However, this possibility has not been demonstrated anywhere so far. The issue examined here is how blockchain technology can be used for solving sustainability problems. We initiate a qualitative study of the blockchain technology/cryptocurrency and sustainability using the twin pillars of sustainability: (1) responsibility, (2) governance. An exploratory review linking blockchain technology/cryptocurrency and sustainability and its two pillars revealed many actual and trial applications by corporates as CSR initiatives and other novel programs by various agencies in various countries. In governance, corporates use the CSR route to address sustainability issues. However, no definition is an available linking cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and sustainability and we developed a definition to fill the gap. This paper stresses that the sustainability perspective has not been used to develop the cryptocurrency definition, but rather technological and legal perspectives have employed.

As the first decade of the 21st century drew to a close, the threats associated with economic crises, social inequalities, and human-induced environmental change focused unprecedented attention on global development trajectories. While questions about how the nature and impact of economic growth should be managed have long featured in environmentalist thought, the stark conditions created a new policy landscape of opportunity for alternative development strategies. National governments around the globe began to disseminate policy statements calling for ‘green growth’ and some, for example the United States, even developed stimulus packages aimed at restructuring economies towards a low carbon future. At the same time international non-governmental organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have developed entire initiatives focused on shaping what has come to be termed the ‘green economy’ (UNEP, 2011). Even large multinational corporations, such as Shell and their dialogues mechanism, are engaging with green economy discourses. New partnerships are emerging across governance sectors with Microsoft Corp and UNEP signing an agreement in 2009 to share knowledge collaboratively around green economy issues. In the United States, the BlueGreen Alliance is consolidating activity of labour unions and environmental organisations in order to maximise the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. With such a broad spectrum of actors and interests involved, it is unsurprising that there is no one agreed vision for a green economy. Some argue for development scenarios that promote reduced or no-growth pathways (Scott-Cato, 2009), others see the current crises creating innovation opportunities for new growth in different areas through processes of ‘creative destruction’ (Florida, 2010).

This chapter investigates public value co-creation by researching how people make experience of public value creation across sectors and from a place perspective. The study draws on a qualitative thematic analysis conducted on a crowdsourced dataset of more than 1,000 case examples of place leadership provided across three years (2017–2019) by a sample of students. The results identify 21 themes (ways of co-creating public value from four realms of place-based leadership – political, community, managerial and business). We contribute to public value co-creation by better understanding what are (or might be) the contributions and the rewards to engage public, private non-profit and citizens in processes of co-creation within collaborative governance.

Although the generation of social value is the focus of social entrepreneurship, little research attention is paid on how social value and transformation can be created. By adopting a market approach, this study aims to develop a framework showing how social enterprises in tourism/hospitality can generate social value and transformation.

A thorough literature review revealed that a market approach is an appropriate lens for understanding social entrepreneurship. Consequently, a framework based on “learning with the market” is proposed as a useful tool for identifying, managing and also creating (new) opportunities for social ventures. The justification and the theoretical underpinnings of the market-based framework are further supported by discussing various other theories and concepts.

The framework identifies three capabilities that social entrepreneurs need to develop for generating social value and transformation: network structure, market practices and market pictures. Several examples from tourism and hospitality social enterprises are analyzed for showing the applicability and usefulness of the framework.

The paper proposes a conceptual framework as well as several research directions for further testing, refining and expanding it.

By applying the framework on several tourism and hospitality social enterprises, the paper provides practical implications about the capabilities that social enterprises should develop for engaging with other market actors to identify and exploit (new) market opportunities for social value co-creation, and influence market plasticity for forming new markets and driving social change.

The suggested framework identifies the capabilities and the ways in which (tourism/hospitality) social enterprises can engage with and form markets for co-creating social value and escalating their social impacts through social transformation.

The paper provides a new marketing approach (that overcomes the limitations of traditional economic theories) for understanding how social enterprises can shape, manage and engage with social markets for generating social value.

Highly deprived urban contexts, such as informal settlements in the global south, can turn into niches of extreme innovation and sparkle ingenuity out of necessity. But what are the rationales behind the participation of disadvantaged communities in social innovations? Why do they engage in grassroots innovations? What is it that makes these grassroots try novelties and continue experimenting with them, even when the perceived benefits are not clear yet? This paper aims to examine and conceptualize the rationales for engaging in grassroots financial innovations in the context of extremely deprived urban settings.

This paper is based on the case of grassroots organizations which have started experimenting with the development of a community currency in Kisumu, Kenya. This paper is informed by in-depth interviews with members of three grassroots organizations involved in the community currency, together with observations and meeting participation since 2019.

The rationales argued by the participants for engaging in this grassroots innovation are framed in various ways: as a means for seeking poverty alleviation (the development framing); as a challenge to conventional imaginaries of innovations (the digital framing); and as an innovation embedded in community and trust relations (the community framing). These framings have a mobilizing effect that initially draws participants into the innovation. Yet, what explains persistent participation despite the decreasing influence of these framings over time is the organizational space and strategies of incompleteness accommodating these experiments.

This paper contributes to the emerging body of grassroots innovations movements literature. While research has progressed in its understandings of the challenges of scaling up innovative practices, the examination of the grassroots initiatives stemming from extremely deprived settings, and the rationales and framings behind, have been under examined. This paper comes to bridge this gap.

Growing inequality and socioeconomic and environmental degradation concerns forces us to think about how innovative technologies can contribute to reduce this problem. This study aims to analyze the potential of social cryptocurrencies to enhance the community development and cooperation between small businesses of the near environment. The evolution of these technology-based schemes could be key factors for generating innovative social enterprises, improving the quality of life in the community; in this way generate a conceptual model to sustainable development, while being more transparent, efficient and scalable as they are supported by technological applications.

Based on an in-depth study of the relevant literature, a conceptual model was designed. The concept of social cryptocurrency is proposed as a new approach to virtual currencies for social purposes and sustainable development.

The key findings point out that actors such as innovation and social entrepreneurship will come together in a new generation of social currencies, extending cryptocurrency technology to social business domains.

The impact of this will result in a better quality of life for society and the achievement of several sustainable development goals. However, a limitation would be that its scope depends on certain characteristics of the local environment. Furthermore, the proposed model will require validation in later phases through social experiments.

The main contribution of this paper is in structuring a formal model that, based on empirical experiences and the use of the technology that underlies cryptocurrencies, proposes a set of constituent elements and characterizes them to contribute to achievement of sustainable development.

It is generally accepted that massive tourism and a vibrant indigenous culture are mutually exclusive. Bali has so far proven to be an exception to this rule. This article explores a hitherto overlooked socio‐economic mechanism behind that exception. It is a dual complementary currency system used for centuries by highly decentralized and democratic decision‐making organizations. The reasons why such a dual currency system is so effective in mobilizing popular cultural creativity is investigated, and a systems framework is proposed to determine the conditions under which this model could be applicable outside of Bali. This framework is then tested with a second case study: traditional shell currencies in Papua New Guinea. Finally, some potential applications in areas in the world other than traditional cultures are portrayed.