A proposal for an assessment tool of social innovation impact

Abstract

In response to the urgent need for an inclusive society, the demand for metrics to evaluate the impact of different types and scales of organizations has grown significantly in recent years. The challenge of how to evaluate the impact coming from social innovation (SI) has emerged as an important question posed by various actors, such as academic researchers, students, project managers, leaders of organizations, and policymakers. To find an answer to this question, this research seeks to contribute to bridging the gap between SI initiatives and the evaluation of their impacts. Despite the interest and popularity of the topic of SI, this gap can be justified due to the lack of tools and frameworks to help organizations approach SI impact assessment. Although indicators have been widely used by researchers in different fields of study, the current literature has failed to develop indicators, frameworks or methodologies to assess the impact of SI initiatives. The research includes an investigation of the state of the art in terms of measuring the impact of SI, based on both scientific literature and practitioners' reports. Based on this analysis, a set of thirty-eight indicators was identified to assess the impact of SI. From the literature consulted, it can be seen that the results highlight the gap in the literature regarding the lack of instruments and frameworks. Regarding the set of thirty-eight indicators identified, if applied as a complement to a measurement tool, the indicators can be used as a first attempt to help organizations address the evaluation and effectiveness of the SI impact on their actions. The proposal may contribute to bring to light new evidence in the SI domain for policymakers, researchers and governments, then contributing to a better understanding of the impact of SI.