Published In
Social Enterprise Journal
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
7-2021
Subjects
Homelessness -- United States, Homelessness -- Social aspects, Universities and colleges -- Research -- United States -- Management, Social change -- Research, Social justice
Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to determine whether a combined set of process models for university contributions to social innovation can be effectively used to describe how higher education institutions facilitate and disseminate research for social value.
Design/methodology/approach The author applies Cunha and Benneworth’s (2013) social innovation process model, with additions from the Nichols et al. (2013) model of campus-community collaboration and the Jain et al. (2020) social value framework, to a pair of case studies at Portland State University about research projects on homelessness. Information was gathered through primary sources, observation and secondary texts.
Findings Applying the models to the case studies provides additional detail on the types and value of Portland State University’s contributions to addressing homelessness through social innovation. The models are found to be effective in describing and providing guidance for social innovation research projects at other higher education institutions.
Research limitations/implications The models may have widespread applicability in understanding or designing university contributions to social innovation, but additional case studies and analysis are needed to understand the full range of project types and institutional contexts to which they can be successfully applied.
Originality/value The projects described in the paper’s case studies have not been analyzed elsewhere using social innovation frameworks and are valuable in their own right as social innovations worthy of replication. The findings of the paper extend the applicability of a process model for university contributions to social innovation.
Rights
Accepted version:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Final version:
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited
The definitive final version is available on the publisher website:
DOI
10.1108/SEJ-08-2020-0061
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35981
Citation Details
Greene, J. (2021), [Accepted Version] "The homelessness research and action collaborative: case studies of the social innovation process at a university research center", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. The definitive final version is available on the publisher website: