Understanding the role of internal governance units in the process of social innovation: the case of shared lives plus in England

Purcell, Carl, Manthorpe, Jill and Malley, Juliette ORCID: 0000-0001-5759-1647 (2025) Understanding the role of internal governance units in the process of social innovation: the case of shared lives plus in England. Research Policy, 54 (1). ISSN 0048-7333

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Abstract

Amid increasing demand for public services and stretched resources policymakers often promote ‘social innovation’ to address these tensions. However, critics argue that social innovation may just be a ‘fashionable concept’ or ‘buzzword’ in public policy discourse and that more empirical research is needed to help improve our understanding of the actors and mechanisms that drive effective social innovations. In response this article draws upon a case study of the development of Shared Lives as an alternative national model of adult social care in England over the past 40 years. Drawing on interviews with 50 individuals carried-out between late-2021 and early-2023, including those involved in four different local schemes, we highlight the positive role played by the organisation Shared Lives Plus, which we conceptualise as an ‘internal governance unit’ (IGU), in terms of establishing and maintaining a ‘community innovation infrastructure’. However, the example of Shared Lives also illustrates the difficult challenges IGUs can face in trying to move social innovations beyond an institutional ‘niche’.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Authors
Divisions:	Care Policy and Evaluation Centre
Subjects:	H Social Sciences J Political Science
Date Deposited:	21 Oct 2024 11:33
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 04:32
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125812

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