Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Dumfries Arts Award Project: towards building a programme theory of innovation transfer across two social organisations

The Dumfries Arts Award Project: towards building a programme theory of innovation transfer... The purpose of this paper is to critically understand a programme theory of the “transfer” of work in one social organisation and sector (an innovative and successful social enterprise community café, The Usual Place that seeks to enhance the employability of young people with additional support needs in “hospitality”) to another (Dumfries Theatre Royal, a regional theatre and registered charity, specifically the “Dumfries Arts Award Project” and more generally, “the arts”).Design/methodology/approachBy means of gaining insight into the complexity of the transfer of innovative practices between two socially oriented organisations and theoretical insights into associated conducive contexts and optimal processes, the work used realist evaluation resources within a longitudinal ethnographic approach. Within this, a series of specific methods were deployed, including semi structured key stakeholder interviews, non-participant observation and “walking” and “paired” interviews with service users in each organisation.FindingsThe principle finding is that with attention being paid to the context and intervention processes associated with transfer processes and having sufficient capacity and strong partnership working, it is possible to take an innovative idea from one context, transfer it to another setting and have relatively immediate “success” in terms of achieving a degree of sustainability. The authors propose a provisional programme theory that illuminates this transfer. They were also able to show that, whilst working with the potentially conservative concept of “employability”; both organisations were able to maintain a progressive ethos associated with social innovation.Originality/valueThe work offers theoretical and methodological originality. The significance of “scaling up” social innovation is recognised as under-researched and under-theorised and the use of a realistic evaluation approach and the associated development of provisional programme theory address this. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Social Enterprise Journal Emerald Publishing

The Dumfries Arts Award Project: towards building a programme theory of innovation transfer across two social organisations

Download PDF
20 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/the-dumfries-arts-award-project-towards-building-a-programme-theory-of-V6zQjUaGWR
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
1750-8614
eISSN
1750-8614
DOI
10.1108/sej-11-2019-0081
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to critically understand a programme theory of the “transfer” of work in one social organisation and sector (an innovative and successful social enterprise community café, The Usual Place that seeks to enhance the employability of young people with additional support needs in “hospitality”) to another (Dumfries Theatre Royal, a regional theatre and registered charity, specifically the “Dumfries Arts Award Project” and more generally, “the arts”).Design/methodology/approachBy means of gaining insight into the complexity of the transfer of innovative practices between two socially oriented organisations and theoretical insights into associated conducive contexts and optimal processes, the work used realist evaluation resources within a longitudinal ethnographic approach. Within this, a series of specific methods were deployed, including semi structured key stakeholder interviews, non-participant observation and “walking” and “paired” interviews with service users in each organisation.FindingsThe principle finding is that with attention being paid to the context and intervention processes associated with transfer processes and having sufficient capacity and strong partnership working, it is possible to take an innovative idea from one context, transfer it to another setting and have relatively immediate “success” in terms of achieving a degree of sustainability. The authors propose a provisional programme theory that illuminates this transfer. They were also able to show that, whilst working with the potentially conservative concept of “employability”; both organisations were able to maintain a progressive ethos associated with social innovation.Originality/valueThe work offers theoretical and methodological originality. The significance of “scaling up” social innovation is recognised as under-researched and under-theorised and the use of a realistic evaluation approach and the associated development of provisional programme theory address this.

Journal

Social Enterprise Journal – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 4, 2021

Keywords: Social innovation; Realistic evaluation; Policy transfer and translation

References

  • Case study as a methodological approach
    Aaltio, I.; Heilmann, P.; Mills, A.; Durepos, G.; Wiebe, E.
  • How social innovation ‘came to be’: tracing the evolution of a contested concept
    Ayob, N.; Teasdale, S.; Fagan, K.
  • The potential and challenges of critical realist ethnography
    Barron, I.
  • Inter-organisational technology/knowledge transfer: a framework from critical literature review
    Battistella, C.; De Toni, A.; Pillon, R.
  • What to make of social innovation? Towards a framework for policy development
    Borzaga, C.; Bodini, R.
  • Using thematic analysis in psychology
    Braun, V.; Clarke, V.
  • Social entrepreneurship and enterprise: international and innovation perspectives
    Chell, E.
  • Social entrepreneurship: critique and the radical enactment of the social
    Dey, P.; Steyaert, C.
  • Who learns what from whom: a review of the policy transfer literature
    Dolowitz, D.; Marsh, D.
  • The process of transfer: the micro-influences of power, time and learning
    Dolowitz, D.; Plugaru, R.; Saurugger, S.
  • Care in trouble: ecologies of support from below and Beyond
    Duclos, V.; Sanchez Criado, T.
  • Constellations of human rights
    Falcón, S.
  • Copy and paste, or graft and transplant? Knowledge sharing through inter-organizational networks
    Hartley, J.; Benington, J.
  • The mental health of British adults with intellectual impairments living in general households
    Hatton, C.; Emerson, E.; Robertson, J.; Baines, S.
  • The strategic power of organisational values
    Humble, J.; Jackson, D.; Thompson, A.
  • Designing theoretically-informed implementation interventions
  • Social innovation research: a new stage in innovation analysis
    Jessop, B.; Moulaert, F.; Hulgård, L.; Hamdouch, A.; Moulaert, F.; MacCallum, D.; Mehmood, A.; Hamdouch, A.
  • The politics of rights-based, transformative social policy in South and Southeast Asia
    Koehler, G.
  • Discrimination and other barriers to employment for teens and young adults with disabilities
    Lindsay, S.
  • International development, disability, and education: towards a capabilities-focused discourse and praxis
    Le Fanu, G.
  • Typicality and the case study
    Mitchell, J.; Ellen, R.
  • Social enterprise innovation: a quantitative analysis of global patterns
    Monroe-White, T.; Zook, S.
  • Are social innovation paradigms incommensurable?
    Montgomery, T.
  • Verification strategies for establishing reliability and validity in qualitative research
    Morse, J.; Barrett, M.; Mayan, M.; Olson, K.; Spiers, J.
  • Defining the social economy and its governance at the neighbourhood level: a methodological reflection
    Moulaert, F.; Nussbaumer, J.
  • Social innovation: intuition, precept, concept, theory and practice
    Moulaert, F.; MacCallum, D.; Hillier, J.; Moulaert, F.; MacCallum, D.; Mehmood, A.; Hamdouch, A.
  • The process of social innovation
    Mulgan, G.
  • The nature of social innovation
    Nicholls, A.; Murdock, A.; Nicholls, A.; Murdock, A.
  • Distorted policy transfer? South Korea’s adaptation of UK social enterprise policy
    Park, C.; Lee, J.; Wilding, M.
  • Beyond 'employability
    Peck, J.; Theodore, N.
  • Social innovation and social entrepreneurship: a systematic review
    Phillips, W.; Lee, H.; Ghobadian, A.
  • Going it alone won’t work! The relational imperative for social innovation in social enterprises
    Phillips, W.; Alexander, E.; Lee, H.
  • Critical realist ethnography: the case of racism and professionalism in a medical setting
    Porter, S.
  • Self-building safe havens in a post-service landscape
    Power, A.; Bartlett, R.
  • Social innovation: worklessness, welfare and well-being
    Roy, M.; McHugh, N.; Hill, O.; Connor, C.
  • Social innovation and social policy – promises and risks
    Sinclair, S.; Baglioni, S.
  • Social innovation, social enterprise, and local public services
    Sinclair, S.; Mazzei, M.; Baglioni, S.; Roy, M.
  • How can social enterprise address disadvantage?
    Teasdale, S.
  • What’s in a name? Making sense of social enterprise discourses
    Teasdale, S.
  • Social enterprise and social inclusion: social enterprises in the sphere of work integration
    Vidal, I.
  • Improving environmental capacities for health promotion in support settings for people with intellectual disabilities
    Vlot-van Anrooij, A.; Naaldenberg, J.; Hilgenkamp, T.; Vaandrager, L.; van der Velden, K.; Leusink, G.
  • Negotiating tensions
    Teasdale, S.