Social Innovation

Traditional policy approaches have failed to catalyze significant and lasting change for many complex social problems, such as homelessness, justice involvement and reentry, and educational achievement. Social innovation, which is an iterative, inclusive process that intends to generate more effective and just solutions to solve complex social problems, provides an alternative to traditional problem solving approaches. The Price Center conducts research on all aspects of social innovation, which offers both new processes and new models for solving society’s most persistent social challenges.

The Social Innovation Trap: Critical Insights into an Emerging Field

Academy of Management Annals

Year: 2023

We present an integrative approach to social innovation research to build a unified understanding of this emerging field. Based on a systematic literature review of articles about social innovation published in top-tier journals from2003 to 2021, we argue that a … Continue reading


Can a focus on co-created, strengths-based services facilitate early-stage innovation within social impact bonds?

International Public Management Journal

Year: 2022

While many commentators recognize the potential for Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) to encourage innovation, empirical evidence is less clear cut. We argue that for SIBs to realize their full potential as incubators of innovation they needed to incorporate a stronger … Continue reading


Are Social Impact Bonds an Innovation in Finance or Do They Help Finance Social Innovation?

Journal of Social Policy

Year: 2022

Outcomes Based Commissioning (OBC) – for example, Pay for Success (in the US) or Payment by Results (in the UK) – has been suggested as a way to provide ‘more’ social services for ‘less’ public resources. Such commissioning is often … Continue reading


Report: Decisions of firm risk and the role of organizational identity

USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation

Year: 2021

The risk-averse nature of nonprofit organizations has led many to believe that these firms are slower to innovate than their for-profit counterparts. As a result, hybrid firms have arisen as a new type of organization that combine a for-profit structure—often … Continue reading


Social Impact Bonds 2.0? Findings from a Study of Four UK SIBs

Policy Evaluation and Research Unit at Manchester Metropolitan University and USC Price Center for Social Innovation

Year: 2020


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