Antecedents and outcomes of social innovation: A global study of sport for development and peace organizations. Issue 4 (August 2020) - Svensson, Per G.
Highlights: An empirical application of the Bridgespan Group's innovation capacity framework. Innovation capacity dimensions explain significant variance beyond five control variables. Product- and process-based social innovation predicted organizational performance. Social innovation partially mediated relationship between capacity and performance. Only idea pathways was a significant predictor across all types of social innovation. Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine antecedents and outcomes of social innovation in a global sample of sport for development and peace (SDP) organizations. Specifically, the authors used multiple regression analysis and parallel mediation analysis to test the relationships between innovation capacity, three types of social innovation, and organizational performance. An electronic survey was distributed to 817 SDP organizations. Results indicated five dimensions of innovation capacity explain a significant amount of variance in all three types of social innovation practices by SDP organizations when controlling for geographical location of agencies, where an organization's founders were from, program location, organizational age, and organizational size. An additional regression analysis indicated two of three types of social innovation were also significant predictors of organizational performance. A parallel mediation analysis revealed the relationship between capacity and organizational performance was partially mediated by social innovation, specifically by program-focused social innovations. The findings from this study provide a foundation for funders and practitioners to identify organizational practices needed for facilitating different types of social innovations in SDP.