Technological Forecasting & Social Change 145 (2019) 195–206

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Technological Forecasting & Social Change

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/techfore

Transformative social innovation and (dis)empowerment T

a,⁎ a b c d e
Flor Avelino , Julia M. Wittmayer , Bonno Pel , Paul Weaver , Adina Dumitru , Alex Haxeltine ,
René Kempc, Michael S. Jørgensenf, Tom Baulerb, Saskia Ruijsinkg, Tim O'Riordane
a
DRIFT, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
b
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
c
ICIS, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands
d
University A Coruña, Spain
e
University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
f
Aalborg University, Denmark
g
IHS, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This article responds to increasing public and academic discourses on social innovation, which often rest on the
Transformative social innovation assumption that social innovation can drive societal change and empower actors to deal with societal challenges
Governance and a retreating welfare state. In order to scrutinise this assumption, this article proposes a set of concepts to
Empowerment study the dynamics of transformative social innovation and underlying processes of multi-actor (dis)empower-
Societal challenges
ment. First, the concept of transformative social innovation is unpacked by proposing four foundational concepts
Transformative change
to help distinguish between different pertinent ‘shades’ of change and innovation: 1) social innovation, (2)
system innovation, (3) game-changers, and (4) narratives of change. These concepts, invoking insights from
transitions studies and social innovations literature, are used to construct a conceptual account of how trans-
formative social innovation emerges as a co-evolutionary interaction between diverse shades of change and
innovation. Second, the paper critically discusses the dialectic nature of multi-actor (dis)empowerment that
underlies such processes of change and innovation. The paper then demonstrates how the conceptualisations are
applied to three empirical case-studies of transformative social innovation: Impact Hub, Time Banks and Credit
Unions. In the conclusion we synthesise how the concepts and the empirical examples help to understand
contemporary shifts in societal power relations and the changing role of the welfare state.

1. Introduction arrangements – especially social and co-operative models of economy –

are argued to “offer a way out of the stalemate that has resulted from a
Discussions about the changing status of the welfare state have re- decade and more of management-driven public sector ‘reforms’” (Scott-
voked interest into the role of ‘civil society’, the ‘Third Sector’ and the Cato, 2010:335-337). These crisis-enhanced evolutions are highly
‘social economy’. Before the economic crisis of 2008, some researchers context-sensitive, be it only because the nature and conduct of the
referred to a “remarkable revival” of the social economy as a solution ‘welfare state’ – even in such relatively coherent economic spaces as the
for “the problems facing neoliberalising states” (Fyfe, 2005: 537). European Union (EU) – widely differ from country to country. Yet in
Others spoke of a “spectacular growth” of the social economy in re- many of these contexts there is a shared drive towards seeking more
sponse to “the crisis of the Welfare state” by tackling “social needs that sophisticated welfare state models.
are not being sufficiently or adequately supplied either by private ca- In relation to this search, there is growing interest for ‘social in-
pitalist agents or by the public sector” (Ávila and Monzón Campos, novation’ (SI) in both public and academic discourses. Howaldt and
2005:15). Both public and academic discourses argue that the welfare Kopp (2012:48) argue that social innovations are gaining importance
state is being redefined, while “the individualist orientation of the over technical innovations when it comes to dealing with societal
market economy, and the marked decline in the levels of social capital challenges. Likewise, the idea that SI is an effective way for dealing
(…) leaves us vulnerable to economic shocks”. Third Sector with societal challenges, is manifested in policy discourses across the

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (F. Avelino), [email protected] (J.M. Wittmayer), [email protected] (B. Pel), [email protected] (P. Weaver),
[email protected] (A. Dumitru), [email protected] (A. Haxeltine), [email protected] (R. Kemp), [email protected] (M.S. Jørgensen),
[email protected] (T. Bauler), [email protected] (S. Ruijsink), [email protected] (T. O'Riordan).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.05.002
Received 4 May 2015; Received in revised form 19 December 2016; Accepted 2 May 2017
Available online 07 June 2017
0040-1625/ © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
F. Avelino et al. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 145 (2019) 195–206

EU. Illustrative is former EU president Barroso's statement that “if en- insights we have gained, and identify challenges for future research.
couraged and valued, social innovation can bring immediate solutions
to the pressing social issues citizens are confronted with” (Hubert, 2. Unpacking transformative social innovation: four shades of
2012:vi). The Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA) defines SI as change and innovation
“innovations that are social both in their ends and in their means” and
argues that they provide an effective way to “empower people” and We aim to unpack the process through which social innovation (SI)
“drive societal change” (BEPA, 2010). The ensuing claim made is that contributes to transformative change. We refer to this as ‘transformative
this is particularly the case in the context of the recent economic re- social innovation’ (TSI). The notion of “transformative” is taken to
cession and the general evolution towards retreating welfare states: “at mean an irreversible, persistent adjustment in societal values, outlooks
a time of major budgetary constraints, social innovation is an effective and behaviours. This concept of transformative SI implies a systemic
way of responding to social challenges, by mobilising people's creativity perspective on SI, similar to Westley's (2013) definition: “social in-
to develop solutions and make better use of scarce resources” (ibid). novation is any initiative product, process, programme, project, or
Even if diagnoses of societal challenges differ, there seem thus to be platform that challenges and over time contributes to changing the
shared expectations regarding the empowering potentials of SI, its defining routines, resources and authority flows of beliefs of the
mobilisation of civic creativity, and its problem-solving capacity. The broader social system in which it is introduced; successful social in-
optimistic assumptions of meeting major societal challenges merit novations have durability, scale and transformative impact”. However,
scrutiny however, as they seem to underestimate the complexity of rather than defining TSI as a particular successful type of SI, we consider
these challenges. Current societal challenges are interlinked and sys- TSI as a contingent process through which SI contributes to transfor-
temic in terms of their reach and impacts, and are characterised by the mative change.
features of wickedness and persistence (Mannheim, 1940; Rittel and
Webber, 1973; Schuitmaker, 2012). Systemic, transformative change 2.1. A co-evolutionary understanding of TSI
has therefore been identified as necessary to tackle such challenges
(Loorbach, 2014; Grin et al., 2010; Rotmans and Loorbach, 2010). More specifically, TSI is considered as the process through which
Piecemeal, short-term focused, and partial solutions easily turn out to social innovation challenges, alters and/or replaces dominant institu-
have unintended side effects, reinforcing persistent societal challenges, tions (Haxeltine et al., 2016). Hence, for it to become transformative,
or even creating new complexities. Considering the persistence and social innovation requires co-evolution with other types or ‘shades’ of
complexity of current societal challenges, the empowering and trans- change and innovation. This co-evolutionary understanding can rely on
forming potentials of social innovation are not self-evident. Hence it substantial earlier work on societal transformations and socio-technical
seems worthwhile to unpack the relations between social innovation, transitions (cf Frantzeskaki and Loorbach, 2010; Pel and Boons, 2010;
transformative change and empowerment. This leads us to two research Farla et al., 2012). A useful theoretical resource has been the Multi-
questions: (1) How does social innovation interact with other forms of Level Perspective (MLP) (Rip and Kemp, 1998; Geels, 2005, 2010). This
(transformative) change and innovation, and how do we distinguish those, framework theorises transition dynamics through the interactions be-
and (2) How are actors empowered – or disempowered – by/in processes of tween three levels of 1) the landscape (exogenous macro-trends), 2)
transformative social innovation? regimes (dominant institutions and practices), and 3) niches (places of
We conceptualise transformative social innovation (TSI) as social in- innovative practices). A transition occurs when changes at all three
novation that challenges, alters or replaces dominant institutions in the levels reinforce each other into an overall systemic transformation
social context (Haxeltine et al., 2016). In this article, we propose a co- (Schot and Geels, 2008; de Haan and Rotmans, 2011). Crucially, this
evolutionary understanding to unpack these processes. This helps us to enables the analysis of both stability and change as inherent parts of
think beyond simplistic linear causalities in order to reveal how dif- transformation processes. The framework also helps to grasp the in-
ferent manifestations of change and innovation interact with each other terplay of multiple change processes, which challenges linear under-
over longer periods of time. We build on sustainability transition stu- standings of transformative (social) innovation. Moreover, the transi-
dies (e.g. Grin et al., 2010; Markard et al., 2012), social innovation tions perspective has the analytical advantage that it transcends partial
research (e.g. Mulgan, 2006; Murray et al., 2010; Franz et al., 2012; analyses of either state or market failures (Unger, 1987), as system
Moulaert, 2013), and social psychology studies of empowerment (e.g. failure is the key diagnostic category (Geels, 2005; Rotmans, 2006).
Thomas and Velthouse, 1990; Ryan and Deci, 2000). Throughout the Notwithstanding these analytical advantages, the MLP also has its
article, we relate to on-going debates on welfare state reform and the limitations. The very distinctions between ‘levels’, for example, are
increasing role of citizen participation and social entrepreneurship (e.g. contested (Genus and Coles, 2008; Smith et al., 2010; Jørgensen, 2012)
Scott, 2010; Tonkens et al., 2013; Alvord et al., 2004). The research precisely because they undermine the idea of intricate co-evolutionary
presented in this article has been conducted in the first year of an EU- forces. Keeping in mind that the MLP needs to be adapted to the par-
funded 4-year research project entitled “TRANsformative Social In- ticular empirical phenomenon under study (Geels, 2010), the discus-
novation Theory” (TRANSIT). This project is focused on theoretical and sions of our shades of change and innovation will also indicate such
empirical research on transformative social innovation and empower- adaptations where relevant.
ment (Haxeltine et al., 2013; Avelino and Wittmayer, 2014; Pel and As summarized in Table 1, we distinguish four shades of change and
Bauler, 2014). innovation: 1) social innovation, (2) system innovation, (3) game-
The structure of this article is as follows. Section 2 starts by un- changers and (4) narratives of change. TSI is then the resulting inter-
packing the processes of transformative social innovation into four active, co-evolutionary process between distinct but intertwined di-
different ‘shades’ of change and innovation: 1) social innovation, (2) mensions of innovation and change. Following relational under-
system innovation, (3) game-changers, and (4) narratives of change. We standings of transformation processes (Jørgensen, 2012; Garud and
introduce each of these concepts and their interrelations, building on Gehman, 2012; Hargreaves et al., 2013) we speak of ‘shades’ of change
state-of-the-art literature and empirical illustrations. In Section 3, we and innovation, so as to underline that these are connected, partly
relate the issue of (dis)empowerment to the four shades of change and overlapping, and diffuse processes. Contrary to the MLP-levels, the four
innovation. In Section 4, we illustrate our conceptualization through shades of change therefore do not attribute specific types of innovation
three case-studies: the Impact Hubs, Time Banks and Credit Unions. The and change to specific levels of aggregation, nor do they imply strong
conceptual approach helps to articulate the significance of these in- distinctions of exogenous or endogenous developments. As overlapping
itiatives for transformative social innovation and the associated pro- and interacting shades, the categorisation explores interacting pro-
cesses of (dis)empowerment. In the conclusion, we summarise the cesses, rather than classifying types of change and innovation. In the

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Table 1
Four shades of change and innovation: working definitions.

4 Shades of change & innovation Working definition

Social innovation Change in social relations, involving new ways of doing, organising, knowing and framing

System innovation Change at the level of societal sub-systems, including institutions, social structures and physical infrastructures

Game-changers Macro-developments that are perceived to change the (rules, fields and players in the) ‘game’ of societal interaction

Narratives of change Discourses on change and innovation, i.e. sets of ideas, concepts, metaphors, and/or story-lines about change and innovation

following subsections, each concept will be introduced building on collective social security systems, the modernization of agriculture and
existing literature. the generalisation of a food industry, the development of multi-modal
mobility and adaptive water management. As many developed nations
2.2. Social innovation (SI) are recently changing social support policies, limiting access to welfare,
decreasing budgets or arguing for more participation in the market
We conceptualise SI as changing social relations, involving new economy (Weaver, 2014), the ground is prepared for further system
ways of doing, organising, framing and knowing (Haxeltine et al., innovations.
2016). This builds on a number of state-of-the-art understandings of SI. System innovation implies interactions between social innovations,
The “decisive characteristic” of SI according to Franz et al. (2012:4), and other processes of (e.g. technical) innovation and change. Practice
lies in the “fact that people do things differently due to this innovation, theory (Schatzki, 1996, Shove et al., 2012), as the conceptual founda-
alone or together. What changes with SI is social practice, the way how tion of ‘social practices’, provides the frame to stress the multi-
people decide, act and behave, alone or together” (Franz et al., 2012:5). dimensional embeddedness of individual, structural, cultural and
Similarly, Howaldt and Kopp (2012:47) define SI as “a new combina- technical elements. From that perspective, system innovation can be
tion and/or new configuration of social practices in certain areas of viewed as the “co-evolution of innovations in material artefacts, so-
action or social contexts”. A slightly different approach is taken by cioeconomic conditions, organisational and institutional re-configura-
Moulaert (2013: 2), who define SI as “innovation in social relations (…) tions, while simultaneously accounting for evolutions in collective and
not just particular actions but also (…) outcome of actions which lead individual values, moral interpretations, lifestyles, social capital, body
to improvements in social relations, structures of governance, greater activities, emotions, or knowledge” (Rauschmayer et al., 2015: 216).
collective empowerment, and so on”. In the Multi-Level Perspective (see Section 2.1), system innovation
Social entrepreneurs, organisations and networks across the world is localised at the meso-level of ‘regimes’, i.e. the dominant structures
are working on a wide range of SIs, often through context-specific, and practices of a societal sub-system. As such, system innovation re-
grassroots initiatives. Such social innovators often operate at a very quires regime change. One of the particular strengths of the MLP is that
local scale, but connect to others on a global scale. Examples of locally its regime concept enables analysts to explain the stability-related
operating and globally connected SIs in the context of welfare are basic forces of existing institutions and practices, and how these often
income ideas or complementary currency exchange systems of the kind hamper processes of change and innovation. We adopt these MLP in-
we highlight later. At times, such initiatives directly address persistent sights and claim that system innovation inherently harbours a question
problems in current social systems, while seeking to establish viable about system stability. As such, system innovation is not only about a
alternative solutions. However, SI is not always necessarily intentional specific level of change (i.e. societal (sub)-systems), it is also about a
or oriented towards social goals. As such, we agree with Franz et al. particular type of innovation that challenges institutional stability in the
(2012:4), who question whether all social innovation are “really in- societal context.
tended as social and/or using social means” (ibid: 4), and invoke ex-
amples of SIs, such as fast food restaurants and the internet, which were
2.4. Game-changers
not intended as being social, neither in their ends nor in their means. In
this perspective, the ‘social’ in SI reflects that the object of innovation is
We broadly conceptualise game-changers as macro-phenomena
fundamentally a social phenomenon (i.e. a social practice or relation, as
(events, trends and developments) that change the ‘game’ of societal
opposed to e.g. a new technology or product1). The social’ relations or
interaction (the rules, fields and players) (Avelino and Wittmayer,
practices do not indicate any teleology or beneficial nature of innova-
2014; Loorbach et al., 2016). Such game-changers lay down new con-
tion. Neither the intention nor the outcome should therefore be in-
ditions for actors to face when seeking to influence and alter societal
cluded in the definition of SI.
orientations and interpretations. Examples of game-changers include
demographic developments (e.g. aging population), ecological phe-
2.3. System innovation
nomena (e.g. climate change, biodiversity loss), socio-technological
trends (e.g. the ICT-revolution), social movements (e.g. the environ-
We conceptualise system innovation as a process of structural
mental movement or the sharing economy), and socio-economic and
change at the level of societal (sub)-systems with functional and/or
political challenges (e.g. the economic ‘crisis’, and subsequent un-
spatial delineations (e.g. health, welfare, energy, transport, city, re-
employment, welfare state pressures, social system reform, etc.). The
gion). System innovations are “profound transformations in social sys-
dominant understandings, values, institutions and social relationships
tems”, which involve “changes in established patterns of action as well
through which society is organized and defined may fundamentally
as in structure, which includes dominant cultural assumptions and
change in response to game-changing developments. At issue is to ex-
discourses, legislation, physical infrastructure, the rules prevailing in
plore how game-changing macro-developments are perceived, inter-
economic chains, knowledge infrastructure, and so on” (Grin et al.,
preted, (re)constructed, contested and dealt with, rather than classifying in
2010). Examples of past system innovations include the development of
transcendental mode what is a game-changer or not.
Our notion of a game-changer builds upon the concept of ‘landscape
1
While at the same time, the ‘practice’ turn in social practices still gives room to developments’ in the MLP. However instead of considering these de-
conceptualise the performative importance of artefacts, or products or technologies. velopments as long term developments that are exogenous to a specific

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regime, as is the case in the MLP (cf. Geels and Schot, 2010), the notion other processes of innovation and change” (Pel and Bauler, 2014:5). As
of a game-changer does not predefine the level of exogeneity or en- with game-changers, our interest in narratives of change focuses on
dogeneity in relation to the object under study, nor its temporal scale. how they are perceived, constructed and drawn upon.
Rather, these characteristics differ across different interpretations of
game-changers. Some macro-developments may be perceived to be 2.6. Transformative social innovation
more endogenous than others. A certain macro-trend may be perceived
to be exogenous by some actors while being perceived as endogenous We conceptualise transformative social innovation (TSI) as social in-
by others and having a recruiting effect on some actors for socially novation that challenges, alters or replaces dominant institutions in the
innovative action (Pel et al., 2016). As such, our conceptualisation of social context (Haxeltine et al., 2016). In our understanding, such
game-changers responds to arguments for unpacking the societal transformative change is an emergent outcome of co-evolutionary in-
landscape context (Riddell and Westley, 2013; van den Bergh, 2013) teractions between changing paradigms and mental models, political
and for acknowledging how situated actors creatively draw upon institutions, physical structures and innovative developments on the
landscape developments (Jørgensen, 2012). The concept helps articu- ground. Transformative change results from a specific interaction be-
late how macro-developments are perceived and constructed. tween game-changers, narratives of change, system innovation, and
social innovation, as distinct but intertwined shades of innovation and
2.5. Narratives of change change, each of which has a specific potential to challenge, alter and/or
replace dominant institutions.
TSI processes, of which new knowings and framings are important Social innovations challenge/alter/replace existing social relations
dimensions, are strongly mediated by language. We use ‘narratives of and practices, primarily by co-producing new social relations, involving
change’ to refer to “sets of ideas, concepts, metaphors, discourses or new ways of doing, organising, framing and knowing (ibid). System
story-lines about change and innovation” (Wittmayer et al., 2015: 2) innovations challenge/alter/replace specific functional and spatial
We thus subsume different linguistic devices under the concept of clusters of dominant institutions. Game-changers refer to macro-de-
‘narratives of change’. As put by Davies (2002: 11): “the boundary velopments that are perceived to challenge the dominant ‘rules of the
between narrative and other forms of discourse is simply not sharply game’ and with that altering the societal framework conditions.
marked off. Features characteristic of narrative, such as temporal se- Narratives of change can challenge/alter/replace hegemonic narratives
quencing, change and closure may be found in other discursive forms (a and dominant discourses. As such, each of these shades of innovation
sonnet, for instance, or an essay) and stories may be found that lack key and change can challenge/alter/replace specific dimensions of domi-
narrative features”. While Davies refers to narratives as a form of dis- nant institutions and do so in distinct ways. We postulate that the
course, Hajer (1995: 56) posits that discourses are “a generative sort of transformative potential of social innovation increases to the extent that
narrative that allows actors to draw upon various discursive categories it co-evolves with other shades of change and innovation, and we refer
to give meaning to specific physical or social phenomena. The key to this interactive, co-evolutionary process as ‘transformative social
function of story-lines is that they suggest unity in the bewildering innovation’ (TSI).
variety of separate discursive component parts of a problem”. He de-
fines a discourse as “a specific ensemble of ideas, concepts, and cate- 3. (Dis)empowerment in transformative social innovation
gorizations that are produced, reproduced, and transformed in a par-
ticular set of practices and through which meaning is given to physical Having addressed TSI as a co-evolutionary process, we now address
and social realities” (Hajer, 1995: 44). the second part of our research question: how are actors empowered – or
We distinguish between two types of narratives of change. Firstly, disempowered – by and through processes of TSI? As discussed in the in-
those on the level of society, e.g. the narrative of change on the ‘social troduction, many public discourses on SI are based on the assumption
economy’, which can be considered generative in the sense that actors that actors are empowered by/through SI to better deal with societal
can draw upon them to give meaning to specific phenomena (cf. Murray challenges (e.g. the economic crisis, or a weakening welfare state).
et al., 2010). And secondly, those narratives of change brought forth by These high expectations merit critical reflection on the empowering
social innovation initiatives to counter existing framings and dis- potential of SI.
courses. Social (counter-) movements, such as the environmental Generally speaking, the notion of empowerment refers to a person's
movement or the anti-globalisation movement, use narratives of change belief that “he or she can direct (…) events towards desired ends”
that counter dominant discourses and co-evolve with new paradigms on (Elmes and Smith, 2001:34). Building upon earlier work on the need for
how society deals with the environment or globalisation (cf. Polanyi, self-determination, Thomas and Velthouse (1990) conceptualise em-
1944; Worth, 2013). These social movements “struggle against pre- powerment in terms of intrinsic motivation. They argue that the extent
existing cultural and institutional narratives and the structures of to which individuals are empowered (i.e. intrinsically motivated) to
meaning and power they convey” (Davies, 2002:25). They do so partly engage in an activity, depends on the extent to which they have a sense
through counter-narratives, which “modify existing beliefs and sym- of: 1) Impact: ‘I can make a difference’; 2) Competence: ‘I am good at
bols” (ibid). Counter ideas often emerge locally and spread globally what I do’; 3) Meaning: ‘I care about what I do’; 4) Choice: ‘I can de-
through self-communication, allowing social movements to develop termine what I do’. Empowerment interacts with autonomy, understood
counter-narrative power. as integrated self-regulation, a process by which agents act in ac-
Contemporary counter-narratives embrace sustainability-oriented cordance to their core values and interests, and adapt flexibly to ex-
and socially inclusive ideas, but also socially-exclusive ideas as mani- ternal structures (Ryan and Deci, 2000).
fested in populist and/or more extremist political parties. Furthermore, Critical perspectives on empowerment emphasise that attempts to
apparent counter-narratives are not always easily discernible from empower others, may have the paradoxical effect of disempowering
mainstream discourses. While discourses on say ‘social economy’ or them. This may occur through the creation of a new dependency rela-
‘solidarity economy’ can be constructed as counter-narratives, they tion (e.g. Hardy and Leiba-O'Sullivan, 1998). Relations of power de-
overlap with mainstream policy discourses on ‘Big Society’ (UK) and pend on “one's location in the system”, and one cannot easily alter these
‘Participation Society’ (The Netherlands). Different discourses inter- relationships at the interpersonal level without changing the system
mingle, changing over time, to form multi-layered narratives of change. (Boje and Rosile, 2001:111, in reference to Clegg). The critical para-
Discourse on SI can itself be seen as a multi-layered narrative of change digm emphasises that empowerment is not a pure individual concept,
used differently by various actors at different moments. It can be po- and places collective action and changes of unequally distributed op-
sitioned as “a deeply political ‘boundary concept’ that co-evolves with portunity structures at the centre of empowerment (Craig and Mayo,

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1995). Moreover, power is a self-developing capacity: it is thus im- 4. Empirical cases: the cases of the Impact Hub, Time Banks and
possible to empower others in terms of ‘giving’ others power. (Quinn Credit Unions
and Spreitzer, 1997).
Taking account of these critical understandings, we argue that any So far, we have conceptualised the co-evolution between four
research on TSI empowerment should give explicit attention to power shades of change and innovation and its implications in terms of multi-
relations and processes of disempowerment (whether intentional or actor (dis)empowerment. These conceptualisations serve as a cognitive
unintentional). Hence our consistent reference to (dis)empowerment; map to empirically investigate the central research question: how does
they are two sides of the same coin. This also reasserts our earlier ar- SI interact with other forms of change and innovation, and how are actors
gument that SI does not necessarily lead to desirable social goals. (dis)empowered therein? In this section we draw on three empirical case-
These issues of (dis)empowerment are particularly intricate as TSI studies from the TRANSIT project (Jørgensen et al., 2014, 2015)2 to
tends to involve multiple groups of people and there is no obvious illustrate the application of these concepts.
group of actors that should empower or be empowered. Still, there is a For the empirical work, we followed an embedded case study ap-
strong tendency in public discourse to associate SI with initiatives by proach (Yin, 2003), which is a deliberate choice to analyse various units
‘civil society’, ‘the community’, ‘the Third Sector’ and/or ‘social en- of analysis at various (nested) scales within one and the same case
trepreneurship’. Mulgan et al. for instance, define SI in terms of “in- study. This approach allows case study researchers to deal flexibly with
novative activities and services that are motivated by the goal of the fact that the appropriate levels and units of analysis are not evident
meeting a social need and that are predominantly developed and diffused at the start of the research, which is inherent to the phenomenon of
through organisations whose primary purpose is social” (Mulgan et al., ‘emergent’ transformative social innovation (Jørgensen et al., 2014).
2007:8, emphasis added). Also, in public discourses there is a recurring We started with an analysis of the transnational networks as a whole,
idea of ‘the state’ and/or ‘Third Sector’ organisations, having/wanting and then zoomed in on specifically identified sub-units of analysis in the
to ‘empower’ ‘the community’. Such empowerment attempts might form of ‘local/regional/national’ manifestations of these networks (i.e.
have unintended counter-effects, in the sense that policies designed to projects and initiatives by specific groups of people in specific sites). All
empower people often require people to already be empowered enough three in-depth case studies were based on detailed methodological
to respond to a new policy (Avelino, 2009). guidelines, laying down key concepts and data-collection procedures:
In this regard, our co-evolutionary perspective starts from funda- interviews, participant observation and document reviews (ibid) The
mentally distributed agency: TSI, and associated processes of (dis)em- three illustrative case-descriptions presented here provide short sum-
powerment, can be initiated by any kind of actor, in any kind of con- maries of full case-study reports, which specify all details of the data-
text. TSI involves shifting relations between and within different collection process, including on average of 31 interviews, 50 h of par-
sectors, and redefinitions of the boundaries between their different in- ticipant observation and 40 document review sources for each case.3
stitutional logics. These reconfigurations between different yet inter-
penetrating and repositioning sectors, can be considered as key mani- 4.1. Impact Hub
festations of TSI in themselves (Nicholls and Murdock, 2012; Pel and
Bauler, 2014; Avelino and Wittmayer, 2016). Such shifting relations The Impact Hub (IH) is a ‘locally active and globally connected’
and contested boundaries inherently come with power struggles and network of social entrepreneurs that aims for positive social impact.
processes of (dis)empowerment between various actors. Therein the The aim is to create ‘ecosystems’ as enabling environments for en-
Third Sector plays a particularly important role, as it can be seen as an trepreneurial action, combining elements from co-working spaces, in-
intermediary institutional space, lying between government, market and novation labs and business incubators. Impact is sought through three
community (Evers and Laville, 2004; Pestoff, 1992). It has been char- value propositions: (1) an ‘inspiring space’, (2) a ‘vibrant community’
acterised as “a place where politics can be democratised, active citi- and (3) ‘meaningful content’. These are based on the globally shared IH
zenship strengthened, the public sphere reinvigorated and welfare values: ‘trust’, ‘courage’ and ‘collaboration’.
programs suited to pluralist needs designed and delivered” (Brown
“We believe a better world evolves through the combined accomplish-
et al., 2000:57). Individual actors (e.g. ‘social entrepreneurs’), inter-
ments of creative, committed, and compassionate individuals focused on
mediary organisations, and transnational networks act as crucial nodes
a common purpose. An innovation lab. A business Incubator. A social
at the intersection between market, government and community; they
enterprise community centre. Impact Hub offers you a unique ecosystem
translate, spread and connect SIs across different sectors and localities,
of resources, inspiration, and collaboration opportunities to grow the
and they co-shape narratives of change in relation to game-changing
positive impact of your work. Joining our diverse community of members
developments.
and collaborators will inspire, connect, and enable you to develop your
We position individual and organisational actors, operating collec-
best work every step of the way” (Impact Hub website 2015).
tively in initiatives and networks, as being empowered or dis-
empowered in processes of change and innovation, either as a condition
for TSI, and/or as a result of TSI. Furthermore, we hypothesise that 2
We selected at total of 12 transnational networks based on the hypotheses that these
‘social innovators’ with transformative ambitions can increase the networks (1) represent a collective of actors and initiatives working on SI, (2) have
transformative potential of SIs by playing into the co-evolutionary in- transformative ambitions and (3) relate specifically to a number of identified ‘clusters’ of
change and innovation. These networks are: Ashoka, Credit Unions, DESIS, FabLabs,
teractions between different shades of change and innovation. For in-
Global Ecovillage Network, Hackerspaces, Inforse, Impact Hub, Living Knowledge
stance, by linking with multi-layered ‘narratives of change’ in both Network, RIPESS, Time Banks, Transition Towns, Slow Food, Participatory Budgeting,
mainstream and grassroots movements, and by couching their in- Seed Exchange, Co-housing, Via Campesina, Shareable, Living labs and Basic Income. On
itiatives in a discourse that aligns well with other social innovations average, the cases included around 20 interviews, several days of observation and over a
(Smith, 2007; Pel and Bauler, 2014; Wittmayer et al., 2015). Or by dozen document reviews, all guided by extensive case study format (see Jørgensen et al.,
2014). The in-depth case-studies of these networks have been extended, analysed and
cleverly playing in to the ‘game-changers’ of their times, while si- collected (Jørgensen et al., 2015, 2016) and the TRANSIT project is now in the process of
multaneously connecting to ongoing ‘system innovation’. By antici- analysing and comparing all case-studies.
pating game-changers and the inevitable tensions in perceived crises, 3
The Impact Hub case-study included a total of 36 interviews, 45 instances of parti-
actors can strategically propose systemic alternatives when windows of cipant observation (including working on the report at the co-working space) and a dozen
document reviews (Wittmayer et al., 2015). The Timebanking case includes around 20 h
opportunity appear.
of interviews, 3 days of observations ca 50 books/reports (Weaver et al., 2015). The
Credit Cooperative case study included 45 in-depth interviews, about 20 h of participant
observation (e.g. attendance of meetings and info days) and over 50 documents reviewed
(including primary and secondary sources) (Dumitru et al., 2015).

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F. Avelino et al. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 145 (2019) 195–206

Fig. 1. Overview of Impact Hub network and local cases under study.

innovation’ coalesces with the creation of new urban innovation spaces

In 2005, the first IH site was opened in London, followed by our and (co-)working environments, which contribute to new systems of
local case-studies: São Paulo, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Currently, employment and economic exchange in IH's local contexts. Moreover,
there are 80 established local IHs across 5 continents and over 20 IHs in IH teams and members act as producers and launch customers of more
the making. All local IHs are members of the global Impact Hub ‘sustainable’ products and services, thereby aiming to contribute to
Association and are shared owners of the global Impact Hub Company. various system innovations (e.g. in food, construction, energy, mate-
Combined, the IHs have over 15,000 individual members, mostly social rial use, etc.).
entrepreneurs (see Fig. 1). The Impact Hub – both at the level of the global network as well as
Social innovations are manifested both at the level of Impact Hub at the local manifestations – has explicit transformative ambitions, in
as a network and organisation, as well as at the level of the individual the sense that it challenges existing economic paradigms such as the
entrepreneurs who offer new services and products. Impact Hub is so- distinction between for-profit and non-profit, and the notion of profit
cially innovative, primarily in the sense that it changes social relations maximization at the cost of social and environmental contexts, and aims
amongst entrepreneurs who become ‘co-workers’ and ‘members’ of the to alter and replace that by a new economic paradigm that has a po-
Impact Hub ‘community’. sitive impact on society and its environment, i.e. a ‘social impact
economy’. The interpretation and the language used to describe such
“It is about the quality of relationship and the way we operate with each
positive impact, differs across local, national and regional contexts.
other. (…). It's something around being part of a certain type of society,
Underlying such different interpretations, however, are the shared va-
which attracts people here. Not just pure service relationship or nice
lues and key value propositions introduced earlier.
products and services. That's nice, but people come in for something
The IH is experienced as empowering for many of its members,
bigger. The way of being together is why people come to our Hubs. We
visitors, and partners. These empowering dimensions include people
pride ourselves in building another kind of society.” (Member global
gaining access to and ownership over inspiring spaces in one's city and
Impact Hub team, quoted in Wittmayer et al., 2015).
across the globe; being locally active while also globally connected;
IH organisations as well as their members also display new ways of working towards a common purpose; belonging to a community and
doing (e.g. through the innovative services and products that they gaining a sense of impact through the collective strength of a group of
provide such e.g. recyclable jeans), new ways of organising (e.g. using like-minded people. The focus on social entrepreneurship has both
alternative decision-making methods such as Holacracy) and new ways empowering and disempowering dimensions. Social entrepreneurship
of knowing (e.g. learning specific skills such as how to attract impact is characterised by the combination of entrepreneurial and commercial
investment as a social entrepreneur, which differs from regular in- means with social goals (Alvord et al., 2004:262; Mair and Martí,
vestment seeking). New types of framing are manifested in how the IH 2006). It is ‘not-for-profit’ in the sense that while profit is made, it is not
network engages with and co-shapes various narratives of change, the main or only goal. Social enterprises are often celebrated as pro-
including explicit discourses on ‘social innovation, ‘social en- viding viable alternatives to privatization and re-regulation (Laville,
trepreneurship’, ‘sharing economy’, ‘ecosystems for innovation’, ‘impact 2003; Ridley-Duff, 2009; Dugger, 2010). One of the disempowering
makers', ‘trust’ and ‘collaboration’. Globalisation and transnationalisa- ‘risks’ of this concept lies in political discourses that present ‘social
tion constitute relevant macro-level game-changers, as many IH entrepreneurship’ as a replacement for publicly funded services and as a
founders and members meet in transnational networks. Poverty, re- ‘solution’ for budget cuts. A related concern lies in the increase of self-
source depletion, and climate change serve as drivers and legitimisers employed ‘social entrepreneurs’. In the Dutch context of two IH case-
for many new IH services and products. The economic downturn is studies, self-employment increased significantly during the economic
relevant for some IH contexts, in that it has spurred a growing critique downturn (CBS, 2015). While this might be empowering in terms of
towards existing economic systems and corporate cultures. It also re- increased independence/autonomy, it also obscures fragile and pre-
sulted in a search for new forms of self-employment and socially re- carious lives that many self-employed entrepreneurs are forced to live
sponsive entrepreneurship. The shared aim of creating ‘ecosystems for (e.g. limited access to social security benefits). In the Dutch public

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F. Avelino et al. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 145 (2019) 195–206

debate, worries have been expressed about this trend (e.g. Tonkens and of seeking to preserve family- and community- life and the work-life-
Duyvendak, 2015; Van Stigt, 2013). Notwithstanding any political po- home-community balance.
sition on this, the ideas and practices of the IHs are or may be (ab)used The transformative ambitions of timebanking proponents are re-
to legitimise certain political discourses, and the increase of social en- lated to challenging dominant paradigms, especially the market
trepreneurship may have unintended consequences in interaction with economy. The market economy is seen by timebanking proponents to
its socio-political contexts. undermine family and community relationships and to undervalue the
contribution of unpaid labour. “Co-production, in the form of time-
banking, taps into abundant but neglected human resources that can
4.2. Time Banks help meet people's needs and promote wellbeing for all” (Simon and
Boyle, NEF, 2008). Timebanking proponents challenge the idea that
Timebanking is a values-based mechanism for reciprocal service- money and wealth are the basis of security or wellbeing, seeing strong
exchange within a local community. All services in timebanking, inter-personal and community relationships as true sources of security.
however simple or sophisticated, are valued equally: the unit of ex- They challenge the scarcity theory of value, seeing the time and talents
change is the hours spent giving or receiving services. From roots in of people as the resources that matter most for security and wellbeing.
post-war Japan and later the US, timebanking has spread to all con- Simon and Boyle, who introduced timebanking to the UK, refer to
tinents. Within countries, individual time banks are often organized timebanking as a new form of recession-proof exchange and as a flex-
into local, regional or national networks, sometimes under the umbrella ible tool with core values that can help grow the core economy and
of membership organisations. There are also transnational networking build better public services. As a versatile mechanism, timebanking has
organisations, which offer software platforms to record service ex- been applied to the criminal justice system to help rehabilitate ex-of-
changes (see Fig. 2). fenders, to the education system in supporting children helping each
Time banks manifest social innovation by seeking to change social other to learn, and to support health and welfare reforms that focus on
relations through building more inclusive, stronger communities with preventative health and community based care.
relationships based on e.g. equality, reciprocity, mutual respect and Time banks are experienced as empowering by many individual
mutual help. There are no contracts between members, but rather re- members and by community representatives. Interviews and observa-
lationships of trust. No money changes hands; services are exchanged tions confirmed they help individuals in their self-development,
using time as the unit of account. Time banks further manifest social − confidence and -esteem by providing opportunities to learn and
innovation by forming a group whose members undertake the exchange practice skills and by expanding social networks. The claim that time-
of services and record these exchanges (doing). Members self-organise banking empowers individuals and communities by reducing depen-
on the basis of their service offers and requests, usually using service dence on money, markets, or state welfare arrangements is borne out by
exchange software, and often also supported by a time bank coordinator evidence, but the scale of time-banking activities is limited. (Both Spain
(organising). Ways of monitoring time banks and their impacts are and UK have around 300 banks with up to 250–300 members per bank).
developed and knowledge from social impact studies are disseminated, While the case provides evidence that time-banking is perceived
often via the websites of networking or membership organisations as positively by many mainstream actors – including in the form of reg-
well as on the websites of individual time banks (knowing). ulatory accommodations (US, UK), co-operations with established au-
Time banks have been framed as a response to game changers such thorities such as health trusts (Spain and UK), policing and justice au-
as economic downturn, unemployment, lack of opportunity, skills gap, thorities (UK), links with businesses (UK), and local authorities (Spain
austerity and population aging. In terms of systems innovation time and UK) – there is, nevertheless, still a lack of stable base-level financial
banking is framed as a response to the failings and retreat of the welfare support. Possible future funding avenues include seeing time-banking
state and as a mechanism for contributing to a ‘preventative infra- as part of a preventative welfare infrastructure worth funding for its
structure’ in areas such as mental and physical health, education, crime cost-saving potential. A downside, however, is that greater engagement
prevention, and employability. The transformative potential of the time with mainstream authorities can bring higher administrative burdens
banking mechanism is reflected in a set of narratives of change on e.g. and mission drift. This can be disempowering if the grassroots are
‘sharing economy’ and ‘commons-based economy’, as a response to alienated, if core values are threatened, or autonomy is lost. Further,
failures in the monetary system, the formal economy and economic the study reveals that regulatory and fiscal accommodations that pro-
globalisation, which are seen to exclude and to marginalize. Time tect time banks can limit innovation; for example, the study identified a
banking has also been linked to the women's movement, both from the concern that rigid definitions and differences in regulations between
perspective of elevating the status of women and of domestic work and

Fig. 2. Overview of Timebank network and local cases under study.

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F. Avelino et al. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 145 (2019) 195–206

jurisdictions could prevent time credits earned in one time bank being system of collaboration on goals that are understood as common and
spent in another. benefitting local communities as a whole, and to promote the embed-
ding of financial relations based on trust and cooperation in the web of
activities and social relationships already existing in a given location.
4.3. Credit Unions (FEBEA)
They promote new ways of framing through a switch of focus from
individual entrepreneurship to collective entrepreneurship, a focus on
Credit cooperatives are organisations that aim to provide financial
the relational dimension of economy and the understanding of access to
intermediation services guided by a set of ethical principles focusing on
financial support as a right. They display new forms of organising
social and environmental goals. They aim to transform the economy
through cooperative forms of governance in which both investors and
through switching the focus of economic activity from financial gains
credit recipients have shared ownership. New ways of knowing can be
and profit-making, to sustainable livelihoods. They have been defined,
identified in the acquisition of new knowledge and skills related to how
in the scarce literature that has studied them, as institutions that have
to set up a functioning financial institution, including regulatory, eco-
“ethical and sustainable development at the core of their mission, am-
nomic, governance and knowledge on local networks and resources;
bitions and practices” (De Clerck, 2009). Credit cooperatives match the
founders and volunteers of credit cooperatives do not normally have a
resource needs of social entrepreneurial initiatives in local communities
background in finance or economics. New ways of doing are displayed
with the increasing wish for socially-responsible investment alter-
in the the projects endorsed and supported. This includes developing
natives. Through this, they generate self-sustainable social economy
and implementing creative social and environmental initiatives that
networks in specific communities and geographical regions endorsing
entail radical change and which would not get support through the
values of social responsibility, cooperation, solidarity and trust. “Credit
mainstream financial system given the risks they entail. Credit co-
cooperatives respond to the increasing needs of individuals and institutions
operatives engage and contribute to the co-shaping of narratives of
that are excluded from the banking system as well as to the needs of investors
change on the ‘critical economy’, ‘community self-sufficiency and self-
interested in how their money is used. Ethical banks follow the path, inter-
empowerment’, emphasizing the ‘relational dimension of the economy’
rupted in the early twentieth century, and become instruments of territorial
and reformulating the human rights discourse to include ‘the human
development, for new social and environmental initiatives. These paths are
right to credit’. They also engage with ecological and feminist social
opposite to commercial banks (…) which have created the premises of a
transformation discourses and the humanistic discursive challenge of
financial crisis that have affected the lives of millions of citizens” (FEBEA
competitive and egoistic conceptions of human being.
2012).
The recent global financial crisis is perceived as a major game-
The historical origins of the concept of ethical banking can be found
changer by both the network and the local case studies. It led to en-
in the second half of the 19th century, inspired by the philosophy of
gagement with political legislators, enhanced transnational cooperation
Rudolf Steiner. Supported by churches and religious groups and later
as well as increased public exposure and knowledge regarding unethical
joined by environmental concerns and the growing mobilisation of
financial practices and their consequences. Further game-changing
ecological and peace movements they gradually developed. Starting in
dynamics include new social movements such as the 15th of May
2001, 26 credit cooperatives across Europe decided to formalize their
“Indignados” in Spain, and “Move your money” or “bank secrets” in the
previously informal meetings and created FEBEA, the European
UK, and the possibilities opened by the ICT revolution in banking
Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks, which constitutes the focus of
practices next to climate change, social exclusion and raising inequality
this study together with two local case studies, one belonging to FEBEA
which are background drivers and justifications for credit cooperatives.
in Spain, and another in the UK (see Fig. 3).
Credit cooperatives coalesce with the trends in ethical banking and
Social innovations are manifested in the creation of new relations
corporate social responsibility to produce system innovations that
between financial institutions, investors and the recipients of credits –
directly target financial regulations, a change towards ethical practices
local projects and entrepreneurs who pursue socially and en-
in banking, and a new embeddedness of financial relationships within a
vironmentally-beneficial goals. Credit cooperatives aim to create a

Fig. 3. Overview of credit cooperatives networks and local cases under study.

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F. Avelino et al. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 145 (2019) 195–206

larger system of social relations in given geographical and political leaves little room for straightforward causal relations or prescriptions;
contexts: “there is a social demand for a new economy, and if we want but it does serve for descriptive, analytical work. From a similarly cri-
this new economy, it needs a different financial system, and that dif- tical perspective, we acknowledge the dialectic nature of empower-
ferent system is ethical financing” (Member FEBEA, quoted in Dumitru ment, by referring to its inverse of disempowerment as an ever-present
et al., 2015). FEBEA and the Spanish case are quite explicit about their shadow side. In (dis)empowerment processes, a multitude of actors gain
transformative ambitions, as they attempt to challenge the paradigm and/or lose a sense of impact, competence, meaning and choice to ef-
of profit-maximization by enabling the solidarity economy, supporting fect desired change. All empowering intentions are bound to unleash
a ´green´ economy and responsible consumption, and providing a processes of disempowerment and political struggle.
platform for larger processes of economic, social and political change. We illustrated these conceptual categorisations through empirical
They also attempt to replace existing institutional relations between case-studies from the TRANSIT research project. We discussed the dif-
investors, credit recipients and financial intermediaries with institu- ferent shades of innovation and change and (dis)empowerment dy-
tions that are based on relationships of trust and cooperation towards namics through the empirical findings of three TSI-cases: a network of
common socially and environmentally beneficial goals. social entrepreneurs (Impact Hub), an exchange system for local com-
Credit cooperatives are considered to be empowering by their munities (Time Banks), and a network of financial intermediating or-
members and by the communities in which they are embedded in a ganisations (Credit Unions). The three cases substantiate the im-
number of ways: 1) providing the context and the tools for financial portance of the conceptual categorisations.
autonomy, community self-reliance and the pursuit of positive social First, the three cases display an interesting overlap in their search
and environmental goals; 2) providing a framework of cooperative for new socio-economic practices, and for relations that are based on
partnership between the financial actor and the project it endorses, trust, reciprocity, collaboration and autonomy. Even when none of
which derives from an understanding that both social gains and bur- these initiatives can be considered immediate results of the economic
dens are shared within a community and that social entrepreneurship is downturn or other ‘game-changers’, they can all be seen to have been
a collective endeavour; 3) emphasizing participation and equal re- crucially reinvigorated by these developments. They are typically car-
presentation in cooperative governance structures, both in local case ried by associated narratives of change that are gaining currency, such
studies as well as at network level (´one person, one vote´); and 4) by as those on ‘social impact’, ‘sharing economy’, and ‘coproduction’ (cf.
providing examples of good practice and knowledge regarding ways of Wittmayer et al., 2015).
overcoming obstacles within existing legal and economic systems. Second, while all initiatives are primarily experienced as empow-
ering by involved actors, the cases also demonstrate disempowerment
“The way of thinking about the economy when you have a cooperative
processes, in particular in SI initiatives' interaction with public in-
(…), totally shifts: it's going towards creating self-sustainable commu-
stitutions. Whether it concerns social entrepreneurship (Impact Hub),
nities (…) it is more looking to the use of local resources, sharing these
complementary currency exchange (Time Banks), or alternative credit
local resources through the concept of the commons, using them in a
provision (Credit Unions), there are clear concerns of initiators and
democratic way, where you extend the concept of democracy from the
participants about SI being made subservient to certain political
political sphere to the economic.” (Member of FEBEA, quoted in
agendas, in particular the dismantling of welfare state arrangements.
Dumitru et al., 2015).
These observations clearly challenge idealistic beliefs of SI as a panacea
However, concerns regarding potentials for disempowerment are for current welfare state reform. They seem to support the critical
also expressed by at least some of the members. The main concern re- discourses that seek to unmask the much celebrated ‘self-reliant’ ca-
lates to whether the local cases and the network can stay independent, pacities of social entrepreneurs and citizens and ‘Big’ or ‘Participatory’
true to their principles and in control when directly engaging with Society (Scott, 2010; Jordan, 2012; WRR, 2012; Sterk et al., 2013;
powerful actors with direct influence over international banking reg- Tonkens, 2014) as justifications for far-reaching budget-cuts and out-
ulations, as well as global initiatives in the field of social and solidarity sourcing of public services. These critical concerns confirm the need to
economy. Staying close to the social entrepreneurship discourse, credit question optimistic assumptions about the ‘empowering’ potentials of
unions run similar risks to the IH, as the political enthusiasm for ‘social SI. Empowerment cannot be reduced to a requirement or facilitating
entrepreneurship’ presents it as a replacement for publicly funded ser- condition for transformative social innovation (cf. Moulaert, 2013), but
vices and a ‘solution’ for budget cuts. Indeed, network members are also can be seen as a separate, substantive ambition in itself.
concerned about Credit Union partners being (ab)used as an excuse for These two conclusions elaborate the intricate relations between
the dismantling of the welfare state. They regard social entrepreneur- (dis)empowerment and TSI that we have both conceptualised and ob-
ship of the kind that the credit cooperatives support and stimulate, as served. The understanding of co-evolving shades of change and in-
being only possible within strong welfare states as partners in processes novation, and the dialectical understanding of empowerment, seem to
of societal transformation. be important conceptual steps towards understanding those relations.
In this regard the exploration has also helped us to identify three par-
5. Conclusion ticular challenges for ongoing research on TSI. A first challenge is the
further development of dynamic accounts of social innovation in-
This article has proposed a way of conceptualising processes of itiatives, and better explaining processes of TSI development over time
transformative social innovation (TSI) and (dis)empowerment. We ar- and space. The conceptual framework presented here highlights the
gued that public discourses that display high expectations of social importance of co-evolution, and, as indicated in Section 4, one im-
innovation empowering people and solving major societal challenges, portant step is the crafting of accordingly dynamic case study designs. A
are in need of critical scrutiny and systematic unpacking. Building on further step is to embed the four ‘shades’ and (dis)empowerment con-
existing notions in transition studies and social innovation research, we cepts in a more fully developed theoretical framework that specifies TSI
distinguished between four ‘shades’ of change and innovation: 1) social in terms of complex, multi-layered processes of institutional change,
innovation, (2) system innovation, (3) game-changers, and (4) narra- including a further empirical exploration of specific mechanisms and
tives of change. TSI is conceptualised as social innovation that chal- process stages in ongoing and historical cases of TSI (Haxeltine et al.,
lenges, alters or replaces dominant institutions, as a result of a co- 2016). As such, further research is challenged to specify the co-evolving
evolutionary interaction between these distinct but intertwined di- shades of change and innovation, and the (dis)empowerment dialectics,
mensions of innovation and change. We speak of shades of change and as they unfold over time and space (Pel et al., 2015).
innovation, following a relational understanding that these are inter- Second, these challenges of developing process theory also point to
penetrating, partly overlapping and diffuse processes. This complexity a need to pay more explicit attention to the cultural, geographical,

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political and social contexts of transformative social innovation in- Cheltenham.

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This article is based on research carried out as part of the Hargreaves, T., Longhurst, N., Seyfang, G., 2013. Up, down, round and round: connecting
Transformative Social Innovation Theory (“TRANSIT”) project which is regimes and practices in innovation for sustainability. Environ. Plan. A 45 (2),
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funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)
Haxeltine, A., Avelino, F., Wittmayer, J., Kemp, R., Weaver, P., Backhaus, J., O'Riordan,
under grant agreement 613169. The views expressed in this article are T., 2013. Transformative social innovation: a sustainability transitions perspective on
the collective responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect social innovation. In: Paper Presented at NESTA Social Innovation Research
the views of the European Union. Conference, November 14–15. 2013, London, UK, (Online at: http://www.scribd.
com/doc/191799102/Transformative-social-innovations-A-sustainability-transition-
perspective-on-social-innovation).
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Pel, B., Wallenborn, G., Bauler, T., 2016. Emergent transformation games: exploring so-
cial innovation agency and activation through the case of the Belgian electricity Flor Avelino works at DRIFT, Erasmus University Rotterdam, as an assistant professor,
blackout threat. Ecol. Soc. 21 (2). with a focus on the power and empowerment of civil society to self-organise social in-
Pestoff, V., 1992. Third sector and co-operative services – an alternative to privatization. novation and sustainability transitions. As the academic director of the Transition
J. Consum. Policy 15, 21–45. Academy, she co-creates new learning environments to challenge people to think and act
Polanyi, K., 1944. The Great Transformation. Beacon, Boston, pp. 2001. for radical change. As scientific coordinator of the TRANSIT (Transformative Social
Quinn, R.E., Spreitzer, G.M., 1997. The road to empowerment: seven questions every Innovation Theory)-project, she is currently involved in empirically and theoretically
leader should consider. Organ. Dyn. 26 (2), 37–49. investigating social innovation and transformation.
Rauschmayer, F., Bauler, T., Schäpke, N., 2015. Toward a thick understanding of sus-
tainability transitions – linking transition management, capabilities and social prac-
tices. Ecol. Econ. 109, 211–221. Dr. Julia M. Wittmayer works as senior researcher at the Dutch Research Institute for
Riddell, D.J., Westley, F., 2013. Mutual reinforcement dynamics and sustainability Transitions, Erasmus University Rotterdam, focusing on social innovation and social
sustainability in urban areas and on a local scale. She is interested in the roles, social
transitions: Civil Society's role in influencing Canadian forest sector transition. In:
Paper Presented at the 4th International Conference on Sustainability Transitions, relations and interactions of actors involved in processes and initiatives aiming to con-
Zurich, Switzerland, June 19–21, 2013, Special Session on “Social Innovation and tribute to sustainability transitions — with a specific interest for the role of science.
Systemic Change”, Paper nr. 193. Together with Flor Avelino, she currently coordinates the EU-FP7 funded
Ridley-Duff, R., 2009. Co-operative social enterprises: company rules, access to finance TRANsformative Social Innovation Theory (TRANSIT) project.
and management practice. Soc. Enterp. J. 5 (1), 50–68.
Rip, A., Kemp, R., 1998. Technological change. In: Rayner, S., Malone, E.L. (Eds.), Human Bonno Pel is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre d'Etudes du Développement Durable,
Choice and Climate Change Vol. 2. Battelle Press, Columbus, Ohio, pp. 327–399. Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. He specializes in the governance and politics of
Rittel, H.W.J., Webber, M.M., 1973. Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy. Sci. system innovations and transitions. Currently he is involved in the TRANSIT project on
4, 155–169. Transformative Social Innovation, investigating social innovation processes and their
Rotmans, J., 2006. Societal innovation: between dream and reality lies complexity. In: methodological challenges in particular.
Inaugural lecture. Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Rotterdam.
Rotmans, J., Loorbach, L., 2010. Towards a better understanding of transitions and their Paul Weaver is Professorial Research Fellow at ICIS, University of Maastricht, NL, and
governance: a systemic and reflexive approach. In: Grin, J., Rotmans, R., Schot, J. Adjunct Professor in Sustainability Science at LUCSUS, University of Lund, Sweden. He is
(Eds.), Transitions to Sustainable Development–new Directions in the Study of Long an economic geographer with interests in social-ecological systems and their dynamics.
Term Transformation Change. Routledge, New York, NY. Within the framework of the TRANSIT project, Paul is involved in case study research and
Ryan, R.M., Deci, E.L., 2000. Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic issues of social innovation resourcing.
motivation, social development, and well-being. Am. Psychol. 55 (1), 68.
Schatzki, T.R., 1996. Social Practices: A Wittgensteinian Approach to Human Activity and
Adina Dumitru works as a researcher at the University of A Coruna since 2011. With a
the Social. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
background in social psychology and political science, her research focuses on psycho-
Schot, J., Geels, F.W., 2008. Strategic niche management and sustainable innovation
logical factors involved in transitions to sustainable lifestyles and a green economy, the
journeys: theory, findings, research agenda, and policy. Tech. Anal. Strat. Manag. 20
role of social innovation initiatives in promoting societal learning and the individual and
(5), 537–554.
social factors contributing to the exercise of agency in processes of societal transforma-
Schuitmaker, T.J., 2012. Identifying and unravelling persistent problems. Technol.
tions. She is currently involved in the TRANSIT project on transformative social in-
Forecast. Soc. Chang. 79 (6), 1021–1031.
novation and in the GLAMURS project, researching transitions to sustainable lifestyles
Scott, M., 2010. Reflections on the big society. Commun. Dev. J. 46 (1), 132–137.
and a green economy.
Scott-Cato, M., 2010. Did the earth move? Social and co-operative models of economic
activity. Development 53, 333–337.
Shove, E., Pantzar, M., Watson, M., 2012. The dynamics of social practice. In: Everyday Alex Haxeltine is Senior Research Fellow in Transitions Research in 3S, where he is
Life and How It Changes. Sage Publications, London. currently leading on research into the role of social innovation and social movements in
Smith, A., 2007. Translating sustainabilities between green niches and socio-technical transformations to sustainability. His core research interest is in the new stories, and new
regimes. Tech. Anal. Strat. Manag. 19 (4), 427–450. worldviews, that are emerging at this time in history as society responds to un-
Smith, A., Voß, J.P., Grin, J., 2010. Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: the precedented global ecological and social challenges. He is currently a WP-lead on the EU
allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges. Res. Policy 39 (4), 435–448. TRANSIT project, which is developing a new theory of transformative social innovation.
Sterk, E., Specht, M., Walraven, G., 2013. Sociaal ondernemerschap in de participatie- Previously he has played a key role in a number of European research projects including
samenleving: Van de brave naar de eigenwijze burger. Maklu. ADAM: Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies and MATISSE: Methods and Tools for
Thomas, K.W., Velthouse, B.A., 1990. Cognitive elements of empowerment: an “inter- Integrated Sustainability Assessment (both Framework 6) in which he led a team from
pretative” model of intrinsic task motivation. Acad. Manag. Rev. 15 (4), 666–681. across Europe in developing a novel approaches to modelling the dynamics of social
Tonkens, E., 2014. Vijf misvattingen over de participatiesamenleving. Afscheidsrede change in sustainability transitions
Universiteit van Amsterdam. Online: http://www.actiefburgerschap.nl/wp-content/
uploads/2014/04/Afscheidsrede-16april14.pdf. René Kemp is professor of innovation and sustainable development in Maastricht, The
Tonkens, E., Duyvendak, J.W., 2015. Graag meer empirische en minder eufore kijk op Netherlands. He is one of the pioneers of sustainability transition research and has a long-
burgerinitiatieven, Sociale Vraagstukken Online. Online at. http://www. term interest in issues of change and stability. He has more than 100 publications in the
socialevraagstukken.nl/site/2015/01/17/graag-meer-empirische-en-minder-eufore- area of eco-innovation and sustainable development, several of which are viewed as
kijk-op-burgerinitiatieven/. seminal. He is advisory editor of Research Policy (the world-leading innovation journal),
Tonkens, E., Grootgegoed, E., Duyvendak, J.W., 2013. Introduction: welfare state reform, editor of Sustainability Science and editor of the journal Environmental Innovation and
recognition and emotional labour. Soc. Policy Soc. 12 (3), 407–413. Societal Transitions. Together with Jan Rotmans he developed the model of transition
Unger, R.M., 1987. False Necessity: Anti-necessitarian Social Theory in the Service of management for sustainability transition, which, following many discussions with policy
Radical Democracy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. makers, was used by the Dutch national government as a basis for its innovation policy for
van den Bergh, J.C.J.M., 2013. Economic-financial crisis and sustainability transition: sustainability energy. He is currently working on social innovation, urban labs, resource
introduction to the special issue. Environ. Innov. Soc. Transit. 6, 1–8. efficiency and the political economy of eco-innovation policy.
Van Stigt, M., 2013. Wat als iedereen straks zzp'er is, Sociale Vraagstukken online. Online
at. http://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/site/column/wat-als-iedereen-straks-zzper- Michael Søgaard Jørgensen is associate professor, M.Sc., PhD. His present research
is/. focuses on sustainable transitions, technology foresight, and employee and citizen par-
Weaver, P.M., 2014. The Informal, Collaborative and ‘zero Marginal-Cost’ Economies, ticipation in innovation processes. Coordinator of the Science Shop at Technical
Policy Brief, GLOBIS Project, Brussels Workshop, May, 2014. University of Denmark 1985–2010 and one of the founding members in 2001 of the in-
Weaver, P.M., Dumitru, A., García-Mira, R., Lema, I., Muijsers, L., Vasseur, V., 2015.
ternational network of science shops, Living Knowledge. MSJ has participated in several
TRANSIT case study report: Time banking. In: TRANSIT: EU SSH.2013.3.2–1 Grant EU projects about societal impacts of science shops, including SCIPAS, INTERACTS,
agreement no: 613169. ISSNET, TRAMS, and currently PERARES.
Westley, F., 2013. Key note speech, the history of social innovation, at NESTA Conference
Social Frontiers: the next edge of social science research, 14-15 November 2013,
London UK. Online at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/sites/default/files/key_note_speech_ Tom Bauler is Assistant Professor and Chair of Environment and Economics at the

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Université Libre de Bruxelles where he teaches ecological economics. His research focuses Amongst others, she currently is project manager and researcher in the project ‘Fostering
on the governance of alternative indicators for well-being, particularly on the dynamics of Partnerships for Equitable Cities’ in Albania and wrote an article about opportunities for
“beyond-GDP” indicators and the institutionalization of the policy agenda. Tom also the Netherlands to learn from countries in e.g. the Balkans, Latin America and Asia with
conducts a series of research efforts on “governance of transitions” from the perspective of respect to urban management approaches.
grassroots innovations.
Tim O'Riordan is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East
Saskia Ruijsink M.Sc. has a background in the field of urban planning and urban de- Anglia in Norwich, and a Fellow of the British Academy. His work has been for long in the
velopment. She joined the IHS in 2007, where she works on and manages training and realm of sustainability science research and he has been associated with governments,
advisory work in fields of participation, urban and regional planning and development. business, and community organisations all over the world, but most especially in the EU.

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