Responsible innovation by social entrepreneurs: an exploratory study of values integration in innovations

Figures & data

Figure 1. An overview of the right impacts of responsible innovation outcomes and their implications.

Figure 2. Occurrence of values embedded in innovations by the social enterprises.

Figure 3. The occurrence of rights, principles and freedoms that are part of ‘Solidarity’, and are integrated in the solutions by the social enterprises.

Table 1. Overview of descriptions how the most common rights, principles or freedoms of Solidarity are integrated into innovations.

Right, principle or Freedom addressed	Description how the right, principle or freedom is integrated into innovation
The right health care,	KEJO creates care systems for patients in rural areas, which improves survival rates for time-urgent medical issues and saving lives. […] It is bringing the Emergency Rescue out to the patients [by] building a network of highly trained volunteer emergency medical personnel who can provide near-intensive care level treatment in life threatening circumstances in order to stabilize lives […] [KEJO’s] model builds a powerful current of community demand, creating local associations that allow rural areas to support their own medical care, fundraise locally, and dramatically improve their own safety in times of emergency.
Social security and assistance	RINO works to break the cycle of chronic entrenched poverty that has devastated rural populations and marginalized communities. Based on a collective community process it transforms the habits, attitudes, practices and understanding of people and institutions who traditionally do not collaborate. Its strategy offers three types of services: crisis management, trainings, and small-scale crafts and work for income generation and self-sustainability.
Family and professional life	LEIS is bringing women and men together to create a new economy, one that values work-life balance and diverse management practices, and thus reinvents what it means to be successful at work and in the home. It identifies and empowers role models and champions [to] pursue corporate culture change and to legitimise them within their own companies. By recruiting and giving tools to a broad-based network of professional women, [LEIS] exponentially grows the number of female middle managers who have the tools, networks, and self-confidence to change their self-image and promote their own style of leadership.

Figure 4. The occurrence of rights, principles and freedoms that are part of ‘Freedom’, and are integrated in the solutions by the social enterprises.

Table 2. Overview of descriptions how the most common rights, principles or freedoms of the category freedom are integrated into innovations.

Right, principle or Freedom addressed	Description how the right, principle or freedom is integrated into the innovation
The right to education	OGTE has transformed the Polish education system by introducing alternative forms of preschool education […] so that every child has equal access to educational facilities and the chance to participate in diverse learning opportunities. [It] has done this by creating flexible and inexpensive community-based programs for children’s growth, that respond to the economic situations of rural and provincial areas in Poland.
The freedom to conduct a business	In Germany and throughout Europe, insolvency dooms one’s condition financially and also socially. Using the spirit, engagement, and skill of insolvent micro-entrepreneurs in a peer help group, VOAT empowers, destigmatizes and lobbies for insolvent peoples’ ability to restart their entrepreneurial lives.
Freedom of expression and information:	DRJE is developing the foundations for professional journalism in […] Central Asia, where independent journalism is constantly under threat, and Central Europe, where there is a strong need for industry standards. This is done by: (1) Creating a space for local reporters to uphold core industry standards while educating them in new media techniques to keep the flame of independent and professional journalism alive in some of the most repressive places. (2) Functioning as a ‘home’ and enabling platform for talented journalists frustrated with state-dominated media or commercial media, empowering them to have much greater impact than they would without support. And (3) raising international awareness around topics that local journalists believe are important and deserve direct action, [neglected] by mainstream media outlets.
Freedom to choose an occupation and right to engage in work	DUCH has introduced a nation-wide approach to connect some of the most excluded people to the labour market by addressing the challenges created by the Swiss government. It demonstrates the power of innovation and experimentation to address social challenges, and builds multi-sector networks across traditional siloes. [This] has resulted in the federation and professionalization of social organizations, the establishment of the social enterprise as a viable structure, and the engagement of all sectors of Swiss society in driving change.

Figure 5. The occurrence of rights, principles and freedoms that are part of ‘Equality’, and are integrated in the solutions by the social enterprises.

Table 3. Overview of descriptions how the most common rights, principles or freedoms of equality are integrated into innovations.

Right, principle or Freedom addressed	Description how the right, principle or freedom is integrated into the innovation
Respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity	NEMI has created a code for colour blindness designed with multiple applications. As an augmentative tool, the code substitutes the role of colour in communication. Guided by the motto ‘Colours for All,’ NEMI combines the efficiency of a simple, attractive and scalable method for raising awareness around colour blindness with a dynamic process of implementation that assimilates the users’ inputs and needs. The implementation of the code has been developed and piloted with different methodologies and tailored to different industry or sector standards […] to guarantee an effective adoption of the code and allow it to become a mainstream language.
Non-discrimination	FOHA wants to empower Roma communities by developing sustainable solutions for their urgent needs, challenging the negative prejudices forced onto them and actively driving policies and plans that affect their common future. It […] brings together principles of community organizing with Roma culture, helping Roma identify and mobilize around social challenges, develop strategies, leverage resources and organize related stakeholders to launch new interventions, projects and organizations.
Right to integration of people with disabilities	JAAR wants to: (1) address the dependency of the disabled on state employment centres, (2) the dependency of these centres on government funding, and (3) change the stigma that the centres and the disabled. JAAR is convinced that disabled people need nothing different from what average people need. The organisation built a new system of transactions that exposes the work centres to the market forces in a cooperative way, [thereby] changing the perception of the disabled, and ensuring […] that its products are purchased out of need and desire, not pity.

Figure 6. Graphical representation of the iterative process to develop systems-shaping solutions, from bottom-up innovation to scaling systems-shaping solutions.

Table A1. The coding scheme that shows the category of the EUCFR, the underlying rights, principles and freedoms, and exemplary quotes that address these rights, principles and freedoms.

Category	code	Description	Example quotation
Dignity	Right to the integrity of the person	1. Everyone has the right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity.	By fostering social awareness through outreach and advocacy, ABAB seeks to change the traditional stereotypes and social stigmas common in Arab society toward the blind. Through his MyMind program, FIKR has created a movement for community-based mental health services, driven by a revenue-generating combination of paid and pro bono therapists and practitioners to make mental health care available and affordable without stigma. He uses both in-person and web-based support services to build his system for multi-layered support.
	Prohibition of slavery and forced labour	No one shall be held in slavery or servitude. No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour. Trafficking in human beings is prohibited.	Recognizing that truckers were largely unaware of the phenomenon of forced-prostitution, let alone that they could do something about it, PAKE is reversing the approach of the past by helping truckers reimagine the positive role their industry can play in tackling the issue. […] PAKE is also in the early stages of thinking through how Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) might play an instrumental role in ensuring that similar anti-trafficking protocols be implemented across every mode of transportation in the US.
Freedom	Right to liberty and security	Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person.	For security guards, IDR teaches how to maintain order and cleanliness in a station or a park with people who have little access to water, toilets, and showers, and how to manage possible confrontations between the homeless and passengers.
	Respect for private and family life And Protection of personal data	Everyone has the right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and communications, and the right to the protection of one’s personal data. This processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned. Everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified. This is subject to control by an independent authority.	Systematic impact evaluation of crime prevention is limited due to data and privacy restrictions. […] Most impact from GHJ is reported through positive feedback both from teachers and pedagogues, who state that working with the delinquents is much easier after they have completed the GHJ program.
	Freedom of expression and information	1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the right hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference.	Under the ROMFO umbrella, Turkey’s Roma people are co-creating solutions to their mutual problems, getting empowered by practicing changemaking first-hand, and consequently, challenging the stereotypes forced onto them. ROMFO is also acting as a platform to effectively plan Roma people’s future and communicate with decision makers, helping realize the potential of Roma NGOs to cause systematic change for Turkey’s most underserved populations.
		2. The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.	TOL has multiple levels of impact. First, through creating a space for local reporters to uphold core industry standards while educating them in new media techniques, DRJE and his team are keeping alive the flame of independent and professional journalism in some of the most repressive places.
	Freedom of assembly and of association	1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association at all levels, in particular in political, trade union and civic matters, which implies the right of everyone to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his or her interests.	Designed and led by young people, CAJE builds large-scale collective action to bring about a collective shift toward changemaking.
Freedom	Right to education	Everyone has the right to education and to have access to vocational and continuing training, including the possibility to receive free compulsory education. 2. The freedom to found educational establishments with due respect for democratic principles and the right of parents to ensure the education and teaching of their children in conformity with their religious, philosophical and pedagogical convictions shall be respected	OGTE has transformed the Polish education system by introducing alternative forms of preschool education. OGTE has done this by creating flexible and inexpensive community-based programs for children’s growth, that respond to the economic situations of rural and provincial areas in Poland. […] She has focused efforts on transforming the early education sector so that every child has equal access to educational facilities and the chance to participate in diverse learning opportunities.
	Freedom to choose an occupation and right to engage in work	1. Everyone has the right to engage in work and to pursue a freely chosen or accepted occupation, and can seek employment, to work, to exercise the right of establishment and to provide services in any Member State.	Gelecek Daha Net empowers and encourages youth self-determination with the ability to make informed education, career choices and life choices. This results in lower high school, university and job dropout rates, fulfilled personal lives and a more productive economy and society.
	Freedom to conduct a business	The freedom to conduct a business in accordance with Union law and national laws and practices is recognised.	In Germany and throughout Europe, insolvency dooms one’s condition financially and also socially. Using the spirit, engagement, and skill of insolvent micro-entrepreneurs in a peer help group, VOAT empowers, destigmatizes and lobbies for insolvent peoples’ ability to restart their entrepreneurial lives.
	Right to property	1. Everyone has the right to own, use, dispose of and bequeath his or her lawfully acquired possessions. No one may be deprived of his or her possessions, except in the public interest and in the cases and under the conditions provided for by law, subject to fair compensation being paid in good time for their loss. The use of property may be regulated by law in so far as is necessary for the general interest.	YOCH's new idea is on a trajectory towards correcting the flawed infrastructures of financing, land leasing and ownership that perpetuates the continuing decline of the North American family farmer.
Equality	Equality before the law	Everyone is equal before the law.	In addition to outreach and support, ABAB and his colleagues advocate through the Israeli court system to ensure equal access and the protection of inalienable rights.
	Non-discrimination And Equality between women and men	1. Any discrimination based on any ground such as nationality, sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited. 2. Equality between women and men must be ensured in all areas, including employment, work and pay; but this principle of equality shall not prevent the maintenance or adoption of measures providing for specific advantages in favour of the under-represented sex.	At the national level, RINO works on influencing the public opinion and the policy making process to combat social exclusion and eliminate stigma. She is part of various national committees such as the Antidiscrimination Roundtable. RINO has been central in generating a society-wide discourse in Hungary challenging stereotypes around marginalized kids and communities by using the multiplication effect of her media strategy drawing on her blog, a network of journalists, social media channels and movies.
	Cultural, religious and linguistic diversity	The organisation shall respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity.	The identification of problems, resources and strategies happen in traditional community meeting settings where [FOHA] facilitates the first meeting and passes on the role of the facilitator to others. […] She guides a unique process that brings together principles of community organizing with Roma culture, helping Roma identify and mobilize around social challenges, develop strategies, leverage resources and organize related stakeholders to launch new interventions, projects and organizations.
	The rights of the child	1. Children shall have the right to such protection and care as is necessary for their well-being. They may express their views freely, which are taken into account in accordance with their age and maturity. 2. In all actions relating to children, the child's best interests must be a primary consideration. 3. Every child shall have the right to maintain in direct personal contact with both his or her parents	By opening up venues and spaces where children can directly participate and be active agents in decision-making processes at their schools, neighborhoods, cities or parliament, KIEM's Agenda Children seeks to do exactly what the name entails: to put children’s will and issues on Turkey’s busy agenda
Equality	The rights of the elderly	The organisation recognises and respects the rights of the elderly to lead a life of dignity and independence and to participate in social and cultural life.	KOLO is humanizing long-term care for the elderly in Norway by placing activity and social interaction at the center of the care regimens in nursing homes and empowering their occupants to play active roles in designing those regimens and reclaiming their rights as senior citizens.
	Integration of persons with disabilities	The organisation recognises and respects the right of persons with disabilities to benefit from measures designed to ensure their independence, social and occupational integration and participation in the life of the community.	NEMI is transforming visual communication through a simple, universal and inclusive code that represents colors. Through ColorADD, NEMI is building a world where the social inclusion of color blind people becomes the norm.
Solidarity	Fair and just working conditions	1. Every worker has the right to working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity. And a limitation of maximum working hours, to daily and weekly rest periods and to an annual period of paid leave.	JAAR is convinced that disabled people need nothing different from what average people need. They crave rewarding jobs and respect. Even those severely disabled want to feel needed and respected, even if they cannot perform to the same degree as people who are less severely disabled or not disabled at all. Aron’s aim is to ensure that every person employed in the work centers is driven to perform the best they can.
	Family and professional life	1. The family shall enjoy legal, economic and social protection. They are protected from dismissal due to maternity. And shall enjoy maternity leave after birth or adoption of a child. This to reconcile family and professional life.	While mainstream gender equality thinking focuses on equal pay for equal work, and of fairly shared responsibilities at home, LEIS shifts the debate to empower both men and women to embrace their true aspirations for personal and professional success, and then shows how this ultimately advances the economy.
	Social security and social assistance	The organisation provides social security benefits and social services providing protection in cases such as maternity, illness, industrial accidents, dependency or old age, and in the case of loss of employment. And/or the organisation combats social exclusion and poverty, and assistance for those who lack sufficient resources	Real Pearl’s complete engagement strategy offers three types of services: crisis management (provision of food, housing, clothing, debt management, contraception, drug prescriptions, etc.), training in literacy, technical and other traditional skills (designed with self-efficacy in mind) and specific work related training opportunities for local business initiatives. The Foundation provides small scale work and crafts activities to introduce parents to the labor market and give opportunities for easy wins. These ventures are for income generation and self-sustainability.
Solidarity	Health care	Everyone has the right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment under the conditions established by national laws and practices. A high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all the Union's policies and activities.	Dr. BLBR has pioneered a way to improve patients’ lives quickly and safely by repurposing existing drugs, treatments and medical devices. Rather than waiting for elusive scientific breakthroughs, BLBR brings researchers, clinicians and philanthropic partners together to speed promising research into patient care to improve quality and length of life for patients with debilitating, but often rare, diseases.
	Access to services of general economic interest	The Union recognises and respects access to services of general economic interest as provided for in national laws and practices, in accordance with the Treaties, in order to promote the social and territorial cohesion of the Union.	Key to each concept is the combination of (i) food supply (ii) services (iii) welfare offers like social and medical consultations and (iv) communication/community dialogue and (v) cultural offers – a combination that differentiates DORV from all other local (food) supply initiatives in Germany. This is, next to the local ownership, one of the main success factors.
	Environmental protection	A high level of environmental protection and the improvement of the quality of the environment must be integrated into the policies of the Union and ensured in accordance with the principle of sustainable development.	Since 1950, 20 percent of sea species have disappeared and the rate of extinction of marine species has been accelerating so fast that there could be few wild fish left by 2050. To reverse this situation, NOCL is building a collaborative research community that enables and pushes companies, citizen organizations (COs), and governments to change every step in how the world deals with the oceans. With her organization, Bloom, NOCL is enjoying early species preservation successes.
	Consumer protection	Union policies shall ensure a high level of consumer protection.	In parallel, still relying on scientific proof, NOCL denounces those who refuse to act and builds consumer and citizen sector pressure to incentivize them to change. For example, the unsustainable practices of supermarket chains have been one of her major battles. She has notably identified and revealed how a well-known supermarket chain was misleading consumers.
Citizens’ rights	Right to good administration And access to documents	1. Every person has the right to have his or her affairs handled impartially, fairly and within a reasonable time by the [company]. This right includes: (a) the right of every person to be heard, before any individual measure which would affect him or her adversely is taken; (b) the right of every person to have access to his or her file, while respecting the legitimate interests of confidentiality and of professional and business secrecy; (c) the obligation of the administration to give reasons for its decisions. 2. Any citizen, has a right of access to documents of the company	Athletes are also provided an infrastructure that helps them identify impactful, professional and transparent NGO projects which also takes care of the administrative issues related to fundraising and grantmaking. On the other hand, NGOAthletes are also provided an infrastructure that helps them identify impactful, professional and transparent NGO projects which also takes care of the administrative issues related to fundraising and grantmaking. On the other hand, NGOs are able to publicize their work and projects, are coached to implement their project professionally and report on them transparently while also encouraged to learn from other Adım Adım beneficiaries. While the donated funds go directly to research, the research institution contributes 10% of the research cost to cover P4C’s administrative costs. This contribution ensures quality and efficiency of the research, since the institution is equally invested. P4C stays very involved throughout the process to ensure business rigor to compress timelines, leverage investments, report widely and provide complete transparency. Especially within small disease communities, news of successes spreads rapidly, through medical journals and disease-specific support groups.
	Freedom of movement and of residence	1. Every citizen has the right to move and reside freely	FRKA is introducing a creative approach to public transit that helps members plan for and navigate the transition from driving to riding. She mobilizes volunteer drivers and their vehicles and redirects private money that is already getting spent on transportation (car ownership, insurance, and fuel) for use in a shared solution.
Justice	Principles of legality	An explicit focus on developing, implementing or scaling an innovative solution that stays within the legal boundaries	The second element is ensuring a transparent, agile and rigorous management model that guarantees effective coordination from the organ donation until the transplant. Every time a donation is authorized, more than 100 people have to activate and coordinate for the process to successfully take place. For this, the coordination network is accompanied by a management system that addresses with the utmost quality and transparency challenges such as transportation, legal matters or coordination between teams and hospitals.

Table A2. Actions.

Category	Definition	Codes	Example
Educating	SEO provides educational services or encourages schooling	Educating, schooling, provide education, curriculum, teaching,	… to educate people on the dangers of drugs and bring into the open taboo subjects like premarital sex and conflicts between the older generation and the young (Theater Group)
Training	SEO emphasizes activities to build skills of actors	Training, skill building activities, providing vocational services, building capabilities	Swayam organizes training in types of work where there is demand for workers, including sectors that have traditionally been reserved for men such as electrical services, plumbing and horticulture (Swayam)
Networking	SEO applies methods to connect people and organizations	Networking, interlocking, linking, connecting, bridging, build relationships, exchange programs, facilitate meeting, forums, summits	With just US$ 250,000 a year, he has been able to organize five World Summits that have brought together around 400 participants from 25 countries (World Toilet Organization)
Counseling	SEO advises and guides actors	Counseling, advising	The services Fenestra offers include crisis assistance and consultancy, counseling, legal advice and advocacy (Fenestra ZZZ)
Organizing	SEO develops management services	Managing, organizing	Gram Vikas works with the villagers to create and manage a ‘village corpus,’ a fund that draws cash and in-kind contributions from all families based on ability to pay (Gram Vikas)
Lending	SEO provides loans and financial services	Lending, provide financial services, credits, loans, financing	The mission of BASIX is to promote a critical mass of opportunities for the rural poor and attract commercial funding by proving that lending to the poor can be a viable business (BASIX)
Treating medically	SEO provides healthcare services	Health services, provide healthcare, medical treatment	CEGIN SRL is a completely self-financed and profitable company, which offers accessibly priced health services to mothers, their children and women in poor rural areas (Centro Ginecológico Integral – CEGIN SRL)
Supplying	SEO supplies or commercializes products	Supplying, buying, selling	To date, Freeplay Energy has sold more than 4.5 million products worldwide, the largest markets by far being North America and Europe (Freeplay Energy)
Lodging	SEO provides shelter or lodgings to actors	Lodging, provide shelter	To gain access to these women – a difficult problem, given their very long workdays and scattered housing – she has decided to create a series of selfsustaining safe residential hostels (Nari Uddug Kendra – NUK)
Employing	SEO employs actors or provides jobs	Hiring, employing, provide jobs	Each year, Job Factory offers 250 unemployed young people a six-month internship in one of 15 divisions (Job Factory)
Others	Those actions performed in <2% of the sample	Certifying, building houses, provide security services, provide translation, editing services, collecting waste materials	They recognize demonstrated growth in student achievement with RISE Rewards, certificates that teachers can redeem for a wide range of classroom supplies (Resources for Indispensable Schools and Educators – RISE)

Note: Reprinted from 'Organizing for Society: A Typology of Social Entrepreneuring Models' by Mair, J., J. Battilana, and J. Cardenas, 2012. Journal of Business Ethics 1: 370.

Table A3. Principles.

Principles	Worth	Typical Behavior	Relationship	Expressions	Key Words
Civic	Collective interest	Mobilizing people for a collective action	Common interest, solidarity	Cooperatives, federations, assemblies	Citizenship, collaboration, Community approach, Cooperative, Participatory, Representative, Unity: cohesion
Domestic	Trust and respect for tradition, hierarchy and kinship	Preserving and reproducing	Kinship, face-to-face	Household, customs, habits	Culture, Family: home, Stability, Tradition
Fame	Public opinion, opinion of others	Influencing, sensitizing and achieving signs of public esteem	Recognition	Press conferences, media campaigns	Campaign dissemination, Media, Public opinion, Publishing, Raise awareness
Industrial	Efficiency, productivity and operational effectiveness	Implementing tools, methods and plans	Functional, standardized, measurable	Organization	Efficiency, Experts, Functional, Method: standardize, Organization: management, Productive, Professionalize
Inspired	Creativeness, nonconformity	Dreaming, imagining and rebelling	Emotional, passion	Arts	Arts, Dreams, Games, Innovation: creativity, Wealth: profits, Valuable: salable
Market	Mediation of scarce goods and services; price serves as a mechanism to evaluate these scarce goods	Competing and spotting market opportunities	Exchange, competitive	Salable and marketable things	Commercial, Competitive, Income-generation, Ownership

Note: Reprinted from ‘Organizing for Society: A Typology of Social Entrepreneuring Models’ by Mair, J., J. Battilana, and J. Cardenas, 2012. Journal of Business Ethics 1: 371.

Note 2: ‘Boltanski and Thévenot (2006, pp. 159–210) argue that there is a plurality of modes of justification. People justify situations appealing to principles or “orders of worth”. Justifications fall into these six main principles’ (Mair, Battilana, and Cardenas 2012, 371).

Mair, J., J. Battilana, and J. Cardenas. 2012. “Organizing for Society: A Typology of Social Entrepreneuring Models.” Journal of Business Ethics 111 (3): 353–373. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1414-3.

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