The Social Option Matrix to assess social innovations

Purpose - The goal of the paper is to clarify the concept of social innovation, by assuming a compact working definition of social innovation, which keeps its key elements, and providing a tool to understand which actors intervene in the process, in which phase, and according to which driver. Design/methodology/approach - Following the example of Dangelico and Pontrandolfo (2010), who developed the Green Option Matrix to characterize green products and practices, we propose a three-dimensional matrix called Social Option Matrix (SOM): its dimensions correspond to feature of social innovation mentioned by the literature, and the attendant cells represent the possible combinations of the values assumed by the dimensions. Finally, we populate the cells of the SOM by 25 real instances of social innovations discussed in the extant literature. Originality/value - The paper provides a tool to investigate those aspects raised by the scholars which needs deeper search. Moreover, by observing the population of each cell of the matrix, the tool can be used to investigate the existence of patterns in the distribution of the instances and to analyse whether other variables, besides the dimensions of analysis, generate specific patterns. Practical implications - Beside the theoretical implications (i.e. to make the concept of social innovation clearer and narrower), the identification of eventual patterns can be useful for practitioners. The actors involved in the development of social innovations, indeed, can adopt the SOM to better understand what a social innovation is as well as to increase their awareness on what they (can) do with respect to social innovation, and to improve communication towards stakeholders.