LOCAL PERSPECTIVE ON (SOCIAL) INNOVATION : A COLLECTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF REAL EXPERIENCES FROM ITALY

Intro: Scholars and experts are used to concepts such as innovation, adopting well know and consolidated definitions, but when going to the ground things get harder. Which experiences can be considered innovative? What do... [ view full abstract ]

Intro:
Scholars and experts are used to concepts such as innovation, adopting well know and consolidated definitions, but when going to the ground things get harder. Which experiences can be considered innovative? What do public managers do in practice when they want to implement innovative solutions? In the social care sector, where the social innovation rhetoric is growing and almost every new service and initiative seems to be included under this umbrella concept, what do public managers think and do about that?
Objective:
The aim of our research was to give voice to public managers at the local level, including their perspective about the meaning and features of (social) innovation. Many definition have been provided and are well known by scholars and experts, but we want to go down to the ground and collect public managers definition. From our point of view this will be very useful in providing a real understanding of the phenomenon and deep insights on mechanisms that lead to innovation at the local level.
We asked to a group of public managers from 14 social care districts representing 232 municipalities in the Lombardy region (north of Italy) which meanings and concepts they link to (social) innovation, and to report at least one “innovative” experience (according to their own definition) undergoing in their territory. Thus we collect an interesting list of concepts and 35 interesting “innovative” experiences in the social care sector.
Methods:
We used a questionnaire to collect data, with a double objective: 1) collect statements and texts written by public managers about a possible definition of innovation and its main features; 2) collect detailed information about innovative experiences in the social care field. Questionnaires were submitted to 14 public managers in charge of 14 social care districts. We pose three questions: i) when thinking about innovation in your everyday work, which are the first five things you think about? ii) If you think about innovation, who do you think about? iii) can you think about one or more experiences that fit with your definition of innovation? Questionnaires were collected in June 2016, analysed and then validated by public managers during a focus group in July 2016.
Evidences:
Our data provide a broad group of concepts that public managers associate with innovation, than grouped in six characteristics. This lead to an interesting insights of what is perceived as innovative at the local level. Moreover, public managers listed the actors that are considered as essentials to promote innovation in the social sector. Having collected detailed information about 35 experiences considered as innovative in the social care sector, we have been able to classifies the innovative experiences by targets, objectives, source of financing and partnerships and to identify features of innovation at the local level.