Social Innovation, Individuals and Societies: An Empirical Investigation of Multi-layered Effects

Empirical investigation of social innovation and its effects is a much under-explored terrain. Difficulties range from the conceptual complexity of social innovation processes to empirical implementation. This study applies a conceptual framework (ESGM) that envisages multi-layered effects of social innovation on individuals and societies. It analyzes subjective, primary data to compare three different European cases, proposing an empirical strategy to capture their effects. Perceptions of participants report improvements in autonomy and that social innovations mainly produce intangible outcomes such as knowledge and personal relationships, which are unlikely to be captured in synthetic measures such as average effects or money metrics.