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Open AccessConcept Paper
The Impact of Dissonance? A Valuation Perspective on Rural Social Innovation Processes
by
Jonathan Hussels
Jonathan Hussels 1,2,*
,
Ralph Richter
Ralph Richter 1
and
Suntje Schmidt
Suntje Schmidt 1,2
1
Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, 15537 Erkner, Germany
2
Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Societies 2024, 14(7), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070122 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 29 March 2024
/
Revised: 21 June 2024
/
Accepted: 10 July 2024
/
Published: 16 July 2024
Abstract
Social innovation (SI) has been credited with fostering novel solutions to the socio-economic challenges many rural areas face. The quest for a substantiated understanding of its potential for regional development has spawned a rich literature on SI impact assessments. Yet, having been instrumental, these assessments harbour several ambiguities as they seek to unveil objective impacts in a results-oriented manner. First, SI processes take diverse directionalities, questioning the idea of them being ‘straightforward facts’ and giving leeway to a more constructivist understanding. Second, a results-oriented perspective tends to obscure social processes that initially contribute to the emergence of impacts. In response to such concerns, we suggest a valuation perspective that explores how SI impacts are constructed iteratively throughout the innovation process. To do so, we operationalise the notion of dissonance as a critical factor embedded in innovative activities in three instances: impulses, turning points, and lock-ins. This perspective allows us to study how value is experienced, assigned, and strategically attracted while shedding light on how SI processes and their impacts are co-constructed in valuation processes. The article uses empirical vignettes from selected case studies with SI initiatives in Northern Germany.
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Hussels, J.; Richter, R.; Schmidt, S.
The Impact of Dissonance? A Valuation Perspective on Rural Social Innovation Processes. Societies 2024, 14, 122.
https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070122
AMA Style
Hussels J, Richter R, Schmidt S.
The Impact of Dissonance? A Valuation Perspective on Rural Social Innovation Processes. Societies. 2024; 14(7):122.
https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070122
Chicago/Turabian Style
Hussels, Jonathan, Ralph Richter, and Suntje Schmidt.
2024. "The Impact of Dissonance? A Valuation Perspective on Rural Social Innovation Processes" Societies 14, no. 7: 122.
https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070122
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