2019 Volume 16 Pages 141-156
This paper is an analysis of a case in which social innovation in the creation of elderly employment has spread among four small or medium-size companies. It is found that for-profit companies can provide employment to the elderly living in difficult circumstances to achieve social inclusion, such as providing them a place to belong—a value inherent to the labor process—as well as livelihood to support their economic independence, just as work integration social enterprises do. Previous studies have investigated cases in which social innovation began when a social entrepreneur becomes conscious of a social issue. However, the case study in this paper details a case in which the solution to an economic problem - a business model - rather than awareness of a social issue is the source of social innovation. This suggests the potential for unintended emergence of social innovation. In this case, the community’s complex learning network, or mixed membership in communities of practice, led these social entrepreneurs to recognize the social issue of elderly employment and encouraged them to develop and spread social innovation to create jobs for older people.
