Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide in Social Innovation Transfer: The Role of Values

Abstract

This study examines the process of knowledge transfer between a pair of social enterprises, organizations that are embedded in competing social and economic logics. Drawing on a longitudinal case study of the interaction between social enterprises operating in emerging economy settings, it uncovers factors which influence the transfer of a social innovation from a dense, population-rich setting to one where beneficiaries are geographically dispersed and the costs of service delivery are correspondingly elevated. Evidence from the case study suggests that institutional bricolage – the crafting of improvised solutions in resource-constrained settings – can serve as potent driving force in driving innovation transfer, and that this process of re-combining available resources may be facilitated by the extent to which the values between partner social enterprises are aligned. With such alignment, social enterprise partners may be able to increase trust, develop a smoother knowledge-transfer process, and find practical solutions which facilitate the transfer of life-enhancing social innovations to neglected rural settings.

Keywords: social entrepreneurship, institutional complexity, institutional logics, knowledge transfer, partnerships, values

JEL Classification: M10, M14, M16 Q01, Z13, I15, I38