Enabling social innovation

Given the multitude of societal challenges we face today, addressing complex social problems is increasingly urgent. Social innovation, the process of developing and implementing novel solutions to social problems, is recognized as a powerful tool to do so. Aiming to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of how to foster social innovation, this dissertation investigates the conditions that enable social innovation. It comprises three studies. The first study focuses on the organizational level and identifies capabilities that enable the effective management of social innovation partnerships. The second study examines local contexts and identifies configurations of local conditions that enable impactful social innovation efforts. The third study examines national contexts and identifies configurations of institutional conditions that either enable or impede the emergence of social innovation efforts. By investigating enabling conditions across different levels of analysis and empirical examples, this dissertation offers vital insights into fostering social innovation and builds a foundation for future research to further explore and support the conditions that enable impactful solutions to social problems.