Factors enabling social impact: The importance of institutional entrepreneurship in social science research

Abstract

This paper wants to shed light on organizational factors as conditions for the impact of academic research in social sciences. Organizations play a role as enablers of social impact, providing conditions that improve the probability of impacting on society. We try to ascertain whether this role is supported and stimulated through institutional entrepreneurship, changing the institutions’ organizational features, ideas, and beliefs to increase productive interactions and knowledge translation. Our work centres on exploring the actors’ social position and their ability to introduce changes that are likely to permanently engage the organizations in the pursuit of social impact and possibly support it in the long run. The empirical basis consists of three case studies about research projects in the social sciences, which brought together academic researchers from different universities and stakeholders. The analysis demonstrates that understanding impact requires adopting a broader perspective, considering also the transformations emerging at the organizational level.