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Challenge Social Innovation pp 107–118Cite as

What Is Social About Service Innovation? Contributions of Research on Social Innovation to Understanding Service Innovation

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Abstract

The emergent domain of Service Science is dominated by business management and technical views of services and their innovation potential. A sociological theory of services can supply a conceptual framework for services as processes of mediation, of mutual reference, or of interaction or communication between a production situation and a usage situation. On the users’ side, participation in service processes may be understood as productive activity (J. Gershuny) in the sense of purposeful proactive engagement with persons or artefacts (objects or symbols). This change in the mode of realising a particular desired “function” can be defined as social innovation. Current discussions on socially desirable forms of service innovation and their chances of gaining widespread acceptance could well profit from this concept. Investigation of each of the elements of productive activity (time, place, resources, objectives, hurdles) and the way they are changed by the diffusion of new services is the task of current studies in the sociology of service innovation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany

    Heike Jacobsen

  2. Social Research Centre, Dortmund University of Technology, Dortmund, Germany

    Milena Jostmeier

Authors
  1. Heike Jacobsen
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  2. Milena Jostmeier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heike Jacobsen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zentrale Wissenschaftliche Einrichtung, Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund, TU Dortmund, Evinger Platz 17, Dortmund, 44339, Germany

    Hans-Werner Franz

  2. Centre for Social Innovation, Linke Wienzeile 246, Vienna, 1150, Austria

    Josef Hochgerner

  3. Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund, Evinger Platz 17, Dortmund, 44339, Germany

    Jürgen Howaldt

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Jacobsen, H., Jostmeier, M. (2012). What Is Social About Service Innovation? Contributions of Research on Social Innovation to Understanding Service Innovation. In: Franz, HW., Hochgerner, J., Howaldt, J. (eds) Challenge Social Innovation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32879-4_7

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