Social Innovation: A Study of International Scientific Publication through Network Analysis

ABSTRACT Research on social innovation has grown significantly in the last decade. The objective of this study is to map the international scientific production on social innovation, in order to identify and cluster the variables of social innovation, through network analysis. The database used was Scopus, for the period ranging between 2010 and 2020. Through the analysis of the keywords of the articles, 35 categories were grouped, having as a criterion nature and the conceptual similarity, through the Node XL Software. The results demonstrate a network with four clusters: (1) Social Entrepreneurship, Social Value, and Innovation; (2) Co-creation, Technology, and Sustainability; (3) Social Innovation, Organizational Aspects, and Business Model; and (4) the Non-profit Sector, Strategy, and Learning. The most cited categories, beyond social innovation, were social entrepreneurship and organizational aspects, whose focus of analysis takes place at the organizational level, i.e., resources and capabilities needed for the process of developing social innovation. Also, research gaps have been identified, as networks of actors, community, and social innovation ecosystems.

摘要：近十年来，社会创新（social innovation）领域的学术研究显著增长。本研究旨在通过网络分析方法，梳理社会创新领域的国际学术产出全貌，以识别并聚类社会创新的相关变量。本研究采用斯库普斯数据库（Scopus），数据时间跨度为2010年至2020年。借助Node XL软件（Node XL Software），本研究以词条属性与概念相似度为分类标准，对文章关键词进行分析后，将其划分为35个类别。研究结果显示形成了包含四大聚类的网络结构：(1) 社会创业（Social Entrepreneurship）、社会价值（Social Value）与创新；(2) 协同共创（Co-creation）、技术（Technology）与可持续性（Sustainability）；(3) 社会创新（Social Innovation）、组织维度（Organizational Aspects）与商业模式（Business Model）；(4) 非营利部门（Non-profit Sector）、战略（Strategy）与学习（Learning）。除社会创新外，被引频次最高的类别为社会创业与组织维度，其分析聚焦于组织层面，即开展社会创新进程所需的资源与能力。此外，本研究还识别出若干研究空白，涵盖行动者网络、社区及社会创新生态系统相关研究方向。