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With the rise of social media, the practice of innovation management is changing rapidly as well. While the opening up of corporate innovation processes can be observed in literature as well as in practice (commonly known as “Open Innovation”), we draw the reader’s attention to the strategic potential of social media in innovation management. For this, a conceptual framework will be introduced.

In this chapter, we compare established concepts of knowledge management to potentials of social media in this field, which offer more efficient and promising ways to integrate external knowledge into innovation processes. This approach is discussed by considering the integration of customers and especially Lead-Users into corporate product development. Based on the concept of Open Innovation, we reflect the role of Lead-Users in the innovation process critically. Mounting on our reflections, we show the potentials of social media for integrating Lead-Users and develop a conceptual framework for the integration of Lead-Users using different social media applications.

In this paper, a conceptual framework for integrating Lead-Users by using different social media applications is developed and introduced.

The unique conceptual framework derived in this chapter is enriched with a discussion of the challenges resulting from the implementation of Lead-User integration along with social media in corporate innovation management. The chapter can help companies as well as researchers to implement a process for the integration of Lead-Users by using the potentials of social media applications.

This study aims to offer an empirical analysis to identify the relation between the adoption of knowledge management practices and the improvement of social innovation capabilities as an outcome of the knowledge sharing. Specifically, social innovation capabilities are triggered by knowledge-sharing enablers, such as intrinsic and extrinsic socially driven motivations.

Based on a sample from 300 nonprofit organizations, the study explains causal relationships in terms of the multiplicity of triggers that act on a social innovation capability. The research applied the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method through SmartPLS 3.3 software. Data are collected from an online survey and highlight the employees’ and volunteers’ boost in nonprofit organizations to seek positive social change as a priority goal of their business model.

The results support the existence of a direct and positive relationship between knowledge-sharing enablers (i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic socially driven motivations), the mechanism of the formation of knowledge-sharing behaviors (an inside-out and outside-in process) and social innovation capabilities.

The study combines the open innovation framework with social innovation activities and investigates the role of knowledge sharing in the building of social innovation capabilities. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is the first attempt to describe a synergic framework, including open innovation literature, social innovation capability and knowledge-sharing processes.

This paper is a part of the research stream that focuses on the processes of distribution of knowledge flows along the boundaries of the organization. Thus, this study broadens the field of knowledge management and social innovation initiatives.

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 avanços mais recentes nos campos da inovação gerencial e da inovação social, na busca de possíveis aspectos convergentes e divergentes entre essas temáticas.

Ao examinar o estado da arte da literatura em ambas as temáticas, propõe-se um framework de abordagens teóricas, dimensões conceituais, metas e objetivos, processos, agentes, resultados, métodos e lacunas da literatura.

Há diferenças substanciais entre inovação gerencial e social em termos de fundamentos teóricos e conceituais. Embora ambas compartilhem semelhanças, dado o seu foco nas relações sociais e a relevância da tecnologia, seus processos de geração e difusão, entre outras características, são distintos.

Como se trata de um artigo teórico sobre inovações que envolvem elementos sociais em sua essência, o desafio é incorporar a inovação tecnológica no framework teórico. Isso ajudaria pesquisas empiricamente orientadas sobre mais tipos de inovação.

A agenda de profissionais, acadêmicos, governo e sociedade civil deve levar em conta diferentes tipos de inovação, particularmente aquelas que vão além da tecnologia.

Este artigo contribui para uma melhor compreensão das inovações que vão além da tecnologia, ao analisar inovações (no caso, as gerenciais e sociais) que possuem aspectos sociais como elementos centrais. Poucos pesquisadores analisaram conjuntamente esses tipos de inovações.

The purpose of the current study is to address a debatable issue in the extant literature regarding lean management (LM), innovation and operational performance (OP) relationships in the manufacturing SMEs. It conceptualizes LM in terms of social and technical aspects and investigates their effects on process innovation, management innovation and OP. The mediating roles of process and management innovations on social/technical-OP relationships are also explored.

The study analyzes survey data gathered from 268 manufacturing SMEs belonging to different industry types in Jordan. Validity and reliability tests of the first and second order constructs were performed. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the study hypotheses.

Both social and technical LM were found to positively affect OP. Social LM positively affected both process and management innovations. However, the effect of technical LM on both types of innovation was not significant. In addition, process and management innovations positively mediated social LM-OP relationship. Nonetheless, neither type of innovation showed mediating effects on technical LM-OP relationship.

This study is one of the first to highlight the proposed relationships, in general, and in the context of SMEs in a developing country context, in particular. It offers important implications for the managers of SMEs to benefit from LM implementation and avoid its failure, enhance innovation efforts by focusing on social LM practices and subsequently achieve higher levels of OP.

Traditionally, most studies focus on institutionalized management-driven actors to understand technology management innovation. The purpose of this paper is to argue that there is a need for research to study the nature and role of dissident non-institutionalized actors’ (i.e. outsourced web designers and rapid application software developers). The authors propose that through online social knowledge sharing, non-institutionalized actors’ solution-finding tensions enable technology management innovation.

A synthesis of the literature and an analysis of the data (21 interviews) provided insights in three areas of solution-finding tensions enabling management innovation. The authors frame the analysis on the peripherally deviant work and the nature of the ways that dissident non-institutionalized actors deviate from their clients (understood as the firm) original contracted objectives.

The findings provide insights into the productive role of solution-finding tensions in enabling opportunities for management service innovation. Furthermore, deviant practices that leverage non-institutionalized actors’ online social knowledge to fulfill customers’ requirements are not interpreted negatively, but as a positive willingness to proactively explore alternative paths.

The findings demonstrate the importance of dissident non-institutionalized actors in technology management innovation. However, this work is based on a single country (USA) and additional research is needed to validate and generalize the findings in other cultural and institutional settings.

This paper provides new insights into the perceptions of dissident non-institutionalized actors in the practice of IT managerial decision making. The work departs from, but also extends, the previous literature, demonstrating that peripherally deviant work in solution-finding practice creates tensions, enabling management innovation between IT providers and users.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had an adverse impact on workforce diversity internationally. While in the Global North, many countries have sophisticated laws and organizational mechanisms and discourses to deal with such adverse impacts on workforce diversity, such structures of diversity management are either ceremonial or poorly developed in the Global South. The global pandemic disproportionately impacted Global North and Global South increases the existing gap due to vaccine rollout inequality and divergence in recoveries. The authors explore social innovation as a possible option for responding to the challenges induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study draws on interviews in 26 distinctive organizations operating in various industries in Turkey. The authors have adopted a qualitative design to explore how social innovation helps to respond to diversity concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors demonstrate that social innovation presents a viable option for a country with a poorly regulated context of diversity management. Social innovation could help overcome the challenge of the absence of supportive legislation, discourses and practices of diversity in poorly regulated contexts.

The field study revealed several distinct forms of social innovation for diversity management, which emerged as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors demonstrate that in the absence of supportive diversity management structures and frameworks, social innovation in diversity management at the organizational level could provide a viable response to the emergent needs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper reviews the development of knowledge creation theory in the last quarter-century and how it has contributed to innovation management and looks into social and human aspects of innovation in the era of “Society 5.0”.

This research aims to relate basic theoretical concepts: knowledge creation and knowledge assets, purpose, leadership, and place (Ba) for innovation to drive innovation and its management as a whole ecosystem. It also discusses the application to innovation management systems open innovation, and social innovation.

Today's innovation demands socio-economic fusion that goes beyond current corporate boundaries. By preparing the system (knowledge ecosystem) as the basis, we could build the bridge, and such fusion would be possible.

This paper shows the framework of the idea. Evidence-based research based on “knowledge assessment” will be discussed on another occasion.

This research is to explain knowledge management, innovation, and social innovation beyond the corporate framework.

The ongoing paradigm shift in the energy sector holds paramount implications for the realization of the sustainable development goals, encompassing critical domains such as resource optimization, environmental stewardship and workforce opportunities. Concurrently, this transformative trajectory within the power sector possesses a dual-edged nature; it may ameliorate certain challenges while accentuating others. In light of the burgeoning research stream on open innovation, this study aims to examine the intricate dynamics of knowledge-based industry-university-research networking, with an overarching objective to elucidate and calibrate the equilibrium of ambidextrous innovation within power systems.

The authors scrutinize the role of different innovation organizations in three innovation models: ambidextrous, exploitative and exploratory, and use a multiobjective decision analysis method-entropy weight TOPSIS. The research was conducted within the sphere of the power industry, and the authors mined data from the widely used PatSnap database.

Results show that the breadth of knowledge search and the strength of an organization’s direct relationships are crucial for ambidextrous innovation, with research institutions having the highest impact. In contrast, for exploitative innovation, depth of knowledge search, the number of R&D patents and the number of innovative products are paramount, with universities playing the most significant role. For exploratory innovation, the depth of knowledge search and the quality of two-mode network relations are vital, with research institutions yielding the best effect. Regional analysis reveals Beijing as the primary hub for ambidextrous and exploratory innovation organizations, while Jiangsu leads for exploitative innovation.

The study offers valuable implications to cope with the dynamic state of ambidextrous innovation performance of the entire power system. In light of the findings, the dynamic state of ambidextrous innovation performance within the power system can be adeptly managed. By emphasizing a balance between exploratory and exploitative strategies, stakeholders are better positioned to respond to evolving challenges and opportunities. Thus, the study offers pivotal guidance to ensure sustained adaptability and growth in the power sector’s innovation landscape.

The primary originality is to extend and refine the theoretical understanding of ambidextrous innovation within power systems. By integrating several theoretical frameworks, including social network theory, knowledge-based theory and resource-based theory, the authors enrich the theoretical landscape of power system ambidextrous innovation. Also, this inclusive examination of two-mode network structures, including the interplay between knowledge and cooperation networks, unveils the intricate interdependencies between these networks and the ambidextrous innovation of power systems. This approach significantly widens the theoretical parameters of innovation network research.

Social innovations are defined as innovative products or services motivated by the goal of meeting a social need, with the opportunity to create new social relationships or collaborations. Although developing social innovations has been the primary concern of non-profit organizations so far, there are signs of an increasing involvement in this type of innovations of for-profit firms, in an attempt to accomplish their corporate social responsibility strategies. This notwithstanding, there is very limited knowledge on how for-profit organizations can develop a capability to manage social innovation projects. The purpose of this paper is to provide exploratory evidence to fill this gap.

The paper presents and discusses a case study of a firm that has been involved in social innovation for years. It is Intesa Sanpaolo, a for-profit organization that leads the Italian banking sector.

The case study points to the existence of three managerial antecedents of a superior ability in social innovation: integrating CSR in its business strategy with a strong commitment from the top management; separating the activities concerned with the development of social innovations from the rest of the organization, following to the structural ambidexterity model; applying the principles of open innovation to the development of social innovations, by involving in particular non-profit organizations as a source of ideas for new social innovation projects and leveraging them to enable adoption of the new products and services.

So far there is very limited knowledge on how for-profit organizations can develop a capability to manage social innovation projects. This paper provides exploratory evidence to fill this gap.

Identify the drivers of social innovation (SI) that bring together the main management tools and approaches associated with the creation of SI in social enterprises (SEs).

A systematic review was developed in the Web of Science, Scopus and EBSCO databases, using the keywords: social innovation, social enterprise and management. After analysis of quality and application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 54 articles were selected for full analysis.

SI process was systemised into four steps: mapping and development, consolidation, scaling up and evaluation. The drivers of SI were mapped and classified into three main factors: contextual, organisational and managerial.

In organisational factors, business model was emphasised, as well as partnerships, participatory culture and intrapreneurship, adequate levels of bricolage and continuous learning. The management factors included the characteristics of the entrepreneur/innovator and managerial practices, where those that facilitate teamwork and the participation of all involved are best suited. In contextual factors, the highlight was the need for support from policy makers; community participation and demand for innovations that consider local context and usability.

This study connects previously scattered knowledge in a generic model of SI, highlighting routines and processes used, and provides a starting point for innovators and social entrepreneurs in the complex, uncertain and often unknown process of SI. Additionally, several research gaps were identified to be addressed by future research in the context of SI management.