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This study investigates the drivers of social innovation in disability services with specific reference to the context of nonprofit organizations of social farming. In addition, it highlights the role of stakeholder networks in enhancing the social innovation process and the characteristics of stakeholders and networks driving and supporting social innovation.

Following a qualitative methodology, research was conducted through a case study survey with interviews to 13 nonprofit organizations of social farming for people with disability located in the northeast of Italy.

Insights gained from the interviews revealed that individual, organizational and contextual factors drive social innovation in disability nonprofits. In addition, networks play a key role in enhancing the three drivers of social innovation through the social innovation journey, from opportunity recognition to implementation of the innovation, to its consolidation phases. Characteristics of the networks and the stakeholders involved are also outlined.

Practical implications for social entrepreneurs include the need to establish cross-sectoral partnerships with diverse stakeholders, including private companies.

Implications for policy makers stress the need for ongoing support for nonprofit disability organizations. Social implications are not limited to the inclusion of socially weaker groups; rather, the entire community benefits from the social innovation process.

Social farming represents a valuable solution to meet the needs of disadvantaged people. While much research has investigated the topic of social innovation in social entrepreneurship, only a few studies have addressed social innovation in the context of disability nonprofits involved in social farming.

This study aims to analyze the theoretical complexity that underlies purchase managers’ perceptions of their ability to take part in the implementation of a new back-office service strategy.

A survey of purchasing department managers in the Antalya (Turkey) region was conducted. The purchasing managers of Antalya’s five-star accommodation businesses comprise the research sample.

Within the scope of the study, 205 questionnaires were gathered. Factor analysis, correlation and regression analysis were applied to the obtained data. The learning organization (LO) consists of three factors (organization, group/team and individual), service innovation (SI) consists of two factors (employee innovation behavior and new service development) and technology acceptance (TA) consists of four factors (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, facilitating situations and social factors), according to the findings of the factor analysis. According to correlation analysis, LO, SI and TA all have positive and significant relationships. The LO has been observed to play an intermediary function in the relationship between TA and SI as a consequence of the analysis that determines the mediation effect.

This study which dealt with the dimensions of SI, TA and LO showed a proposed model which gives a better understanding of how the development of back-office system strategies is affected by LOs.

This study aims to explore the ways that social enterprises (SE) create value by embedding themselves in networks through the process of social innovation (SI). The processes of achieving common social missions were studied through selected organizations using an open approach to SI. Novel operational structures as well as unique forms of created value were explored.

Two organizations embedded in local and international networks were studied and were chosen due to their SI profiles. The study was based on qualitative exploratory research. In-depth analysis was conducted through interviews, open discussions, document analysis as well as personal observation to understand the dynamic interrelatedness of the main factors influencing success of SI ventures.

This paper identified the role of SI in SEs embedded in networks. Furthermore, the social value creation processes of these organizations as well as the value they create were explored. Based on the findings, SI is rooted in the personality of the included members of the network. The tools of collaboration are platforms that connect the network members to each other. The embedded organizations apply the concept of community sharing with the aim of social value creation.

By focusing mainly on system design principles, the sample consists of mainly those at the core of organizations in facilitator roles, leaving peripheral actor perceptions to be determined by secondhand observations.

While providing a general summary of factors influencing SI activities from extent literature, the paper mainly contributes by providing deeper insight into complex models of SI practices used by SEs. The paper further contributes to popularizing the growing role of SI activities in SEs.

Operation and maintenance (O&M) processes projects such as identification, assessment, planning and execution, embody a variety of standards such as technical (method of statement), environmental, economic (campus development) and social (health and wellbeing). Because these standards have proven to be challenging to integrate, local governments are increasingly experimenting with social innovation (SI) as a bottom-up form of standard integration. This study aims to apply the concept of SI to the O&M processes of facilities management at polytechnics in Malaysia to identify problems with conventional working practices in this area and to recommend potential solutions.

The paper reviews evidence that conventional working methods generate significant problems related to paper-based forms, improper database management and flawed decision-making processes. Because of the lack knowledge about different ways of how standard integration is achieved, the comparison of three polytechnic institutions which are Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (SPCEET) in USA as well as Seberang Perai Polytechnic, Pulau Pinang (PSP) in Malaysia shares the ambition to realise standard integration of O&M through SI.

The findings reveal that SI leads to four ways of standard integration: computerised maintenance management system, online customer complaint, electronic form and relational database. Application of the concept of SI reveals the need for more sophisticated management solutions in the O&M processes of facilities management.

These standard integration arrangements unfortunately seem to mainly contribute to greater alignment between standard rather than true standard integration. The concept of SI will guide future improvements and developments in maintenance management systems to fulfil requirements in this area.

Based on the socio-technical systems theory, this study aims to investigate the impact of management innovation (MI) on organisational performance (OP), as well as the mediating role of technology (TEC) use and service innovation (SI) in linking MI and OP.

The research data was derived from 163 knowledge-intensive business services firms and analysed through structural equation modelling using SmartPLS software.

This study found a significant impact of MI on OP. The analysis also revealed that TEC use and SI influence OP and that MI influences performance indirectly through TEC use and SI.

This research reinforces the role of MI in firms aiming at improving their performance. The findings of this study suggest that managers’ regular initiatives in management practices, processes and structures influence the enabling role of TEC use and SI on OP.

Since not every MI lead to the planned performance, this research contributes to the literature on the influence of MI on OP by providing empirical evidence on the role of TEC use and SI on OP. TEC use and SI serve as complementary mediators. Higher levels of MI directly increase OP but also increase TEC use and SI, leading to OP.

This paper aims to derive a model that explores how the interplay between knowledge integration capability and innovation impacts strategic orientation, leading to the attainment of sustainable competitive advantage. The study considers the constituents of strategic orientation, namely, customer orientation, competitor orientation and technology orientation, as the basis for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. The study suggests that the firm’s capacity for integrating external and internal knowledge shapes how strategic orientation influences sustainable competitive advantage through service innovation.

This empirical research relies on qualitative and quantitative data gathered from telecom professionals to assess how knowledge integration and service innovation influence sustained competitive advantage. Structured equation modeling is used to examine the model and its interrelationships.

The research establishes significant relationships between strategic orientations, knowledge integration capability, service innovation and sustainable competitive advantage. Knowledge integration capability and service innovation are found to mediate the relationship between strategic orientations and the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage.

The study highlights the significant contribution of a firm’s knowledge integration capability in driving service innovation, especially in technology-intensive service industries facing hypercompetition. It also advocates prioritizing technology orientation and integrating knowledge from internal and external sources for competitive advantage.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to model the effect of knowledge integration capability and service innovation on strategic orientation-led sustainable competitive advantage.

This study aims to understand the linkage among sustainability initiatives (SIs), community development (CD) and community well-being (CW) in tourism.

The exploratory sequential methodology consists of expert interviews, a questionnaire survey and the model verified with analysis of moment structures 22.

This study shows that the direct relationship between community-level SIs and CD and CW is significant and positive. The direct relationship between CD and CW is significant and positive. CD partially mediates the relationship between community-level SIs and CW in Indigenous tourism business operations.

This study assumes significance in developing Indigenous tourism destinations and calls for an integrated development strategy at the community level to enhance CW. This study provides a path for examining the contribution of grassroots-level sustainable business initiatives, their development and the community’s well-being. This study was confined to protected area-based destinations and focused on CD and well-being as a result of local-level SIs.

This study extends the scope for further research in measuring other perceived linkages of SIs with Indigenous community’s quality of life.

This study provides a path for examining the contribution of grassroots-level sustainable business initiatives and their development contributions and the ‘community’s well-being.

This exploratory research examining the relationship among community-level SIs, CD and CW hitherto unexplored in tourism among grassroot-level communities.

This paper offers a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature on social finance. It provides an overview of the research field by identifying gaps in the existing academic literature and presenting future research directions.

The study uses co-word analysis and visualization mapping techniques.

This study's findings show that the social finance research field comprises five main research clusters and four main research hotspots—impact investing, social entrepreneurship, social impact bonds, and social innovation—which represent the core of this research domain. The authors also identify the researchers and the research institutions that have contributed to the development of social finance. In addition, emerging research areas are mapped and discussed.

Compared with most previous literature reviews, this work provides a more complete and objective analysis of the entire social finance landscape by revealing the trends and evolving dynamics that characterize its development. To this end, clear terminological boundaries have not yet been established in social finance. The field appears immature because only a few researchers have contributed to it, and papers have yet to be published by top finance journals. Finally, the findings of this research provide directions for future studies.

Strategy implementation is a critical component of firm performance and middle managers play a key role in the implementation process. This study was conducted to enhance the authors’ understanding of how middle managers influence strategy implementation (SI) effectiveness by investigating the impact of leadership and work team coordination.

A field study was conducted using interviews and survey data gathered from executive managers, middle managers and work team members within a large municipal organization undergoing a major strategic change.

Middle manager transformational and instrumental leadership have a direct positive impact on work team SI effectiveness. Additionally, middle manager transformational leadership has an indirect positive effect on work team SI effectiveness through coordination.

The study offers insights into managers and practitioners seeking to improve SI effectiveness by highlighting the importance of middle manager leadership development and the coordination of interdependent tasks within work teams.

The study provides valuable insight into an important but previously unstudied relationship between middle manager leadership and SI effectiveness. The work also helps bridge the chasm between leadership research and strategy research by linking leadership behavior to SI effectiveness – a key ingredient of firm performance.

Effective facility management (FM) can reduce environmental effects on buildings throughout their life cycle. This study aims to investigate the challenges in implementing building information modelling (BIM) for FM in government buildings in Thailand.

Eight government-building facility experts were interviewed using an in-depth interview method to identify FM challenges. The collected qualitative data were analysed via thematic analysis to ensure data saturation. The final questionnaire was designed with 45 FM problems, classified into management, technical and human resource problems, to collect quantitative data from 54 government FM officers. The data were used to prioritise the severity and frequency of the FM problems using the severity index (SI) and relative importance index (RII).

Management problems have the highest impact, with an average SI of 0.285, followed by human resource (average SI = 0.266) and technical (average SI = 0.264) problems.

This study identifies the government-building FM problems in Thailand that are critical to the development of a BIM execution plan (BEP) guideline. The findings can facilitate strategy development for government-building operations and management in line with the public procurement and supply administration of Thailand. These findings can serve as a guideline to inform the development of a BIM Roadmap for integration into the national digital roadmap and the Thailand 4.0 policy to mitigate construction-related environmental and climate issues.