University’s receptivity to social innovations: theoretical aspect

Gintare Jaciune

Vilija Bite Fominiene

Abstract

The relevance of this study. Social innovations issues still cover a very small part of the scientific work in the field of education. It should be stressed that such innovations are particularly important in the education system, as their development not only contributes to the improvement of the quality of teaching or the progress of educational institutions, but also makes a significant contribution to the creation of a sustainable future and to highlighting and solving social problems in society. The main problem. What is the conceptual basis of a university that enables a university to be receptive to social innovations? Object of research: University receptivity to social innovations. The aim of this study is to reveal which concepts lead a university to be the most receptive to social innovations. Results. Social innovations can not only meet the needs of an individual, but also drive social inclusion. Susceptibility to innovation is traditionally defined as the ability of entities to apply innovative ideas and solutions, to be able to create innovations and disseminate them in society. A modern university should be open, innovative, dynamic, responsive to society and its needs. Regardless of the concept chosen by a university, the third mission of higher education should not be forgotten - to use the university's knowledge for a common goal, be socially responsible, and contribute to the well-being of society. Research methods. This analysis is prepared by using the methods of semi - systematic thematic analysis. Social innovations can not only meet the needs of an individual, but also drive social inclusion. In most cases, the benefits of social innovation reduce public spending by eliminating a specific social problem and creating some added value for the group of people targeted by social innovations. Susceptibility to innovation is traditionally defined as the ability of entities to apply innovative ideas and solutions, to be able to create innovations and disseminate them in society. Susceptibility to social innovations is determined by innovation potential and innovative activity. Management, which is determined by the choice of managerial staff, communication skills, applied methods and support of managers to apply social innovations, is particularly important in the structure of innovation potential. Internal and external factors/ components are also important in shaping receptivity to social innovations.

Keywords: innovations, social innovations, receptivity to innovations, university concepts, modern university.

Анотація

СПРИЙНЯТЛИВІСТЬ УНІВЕРСИТЕТУ ДО СОЦІАЛЬНИХ ІННОВАЦІЙ: ТЕОРЕТИЧНИЙ АСПЕКТ

ЮЦЮНЕ, ГІНТАРЕ - докторант Литовського Університету Спорту (Каунас, Литва)

Introduction

university social innovation

The development of the knowledge and consumer society shows that solutions to the problem sencountered both in everyday life and at work increasingly require intellectual effort and a scientific approach, which can be guaranteed by quality education systems. This situation leads to exceptional public attention to the phenomenon of higher education, where the priority for universities in creating and disseminating new knowledge becomes indisputable. And despite the existing resilience of universities to change (Blass & Hayward, 2014), ongoing technological developments, emerging policy challenges, new and diverse stakeholder needs, changing higher education funding systems, and increased expectations of students are forcing many universities around the world to gain a competitive advantage and survive through innovations (Elrehail et al., 2018) and more specifically, to seek to make innovation a natural part of the university's culture and day-to-day operations (Sciarelli et al., 2020; Elrehail et al., 2018).

In the article, in order to reveal the topic, a method of semi-systematic thematic analysis was chosen, which is useful in identifying theoretical perspectives or general problems in a particular discipline. The application of the semi-systematic literature analysis method is intended to review the research problems of researchers in various fields in a retrospective (Snyder, 2019).

Selection process of scientific literature

Literature search was carried out in 2021 October - 2022 April, using the SCOPUS and EBSCO databases. Sources are selected using keywords. The following keywords were used to find related publications: “innovations”, “social innovations”, “receptivity to innovations”, “university concepts”,”modern university”. Due to the lack of research on this topic, the literature was focused on sources not older than 14 years. The search for sources was carried out as long as duplication was avoided and the scientific sources met the selection criteria.

Literature selection criteria. Selected inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to select published sources for analysis (Table 1).

Table 1

Criteria for inclusion and exclusion of literature review

A total of 48 scientific sources were reviewed, and 29 sources were selected and analyzed according to the source inclusion and source exclusion criteria in Table 1. In presenting the results of the analysis of the scientific literature, first, the concept of social innovations and their problems in education and the receptivity of the organization to innovations are presented, then the influence of the university on its receptivity to social innovations is analyzed. Research Results and Discussion Social innovations and their problems in education The concept of “innovation” is quite complex and multifaceted, and as it is the subject of interest and research in many disciplines around the world, it still lacks a universally accepted definition and typology (classification) (Tierney & Lanford, 2016). One of the most commonly used and broadest definitions of innovation, encompassing its various forms, is given by Oslo Manual Report (OECD/Eurostat (2018): “The general definition of an innovation is as follows: An innovation is a new or improved product or process (or a combination thereof) that differs significantly from the unit's previous products or processes and that has been made available to potential users (product) or brought into use by the unit (process)”. However, this concept is more associated with the private sector. Nevertheless, innovation occurs in any sector, including the public sector. It is also relevant in education because education plays a crucial role in creating a sustainable future. In this sector, as claimed by Mykhailyshyn et al., (2019), innovation is considered to be a fairly broad concept encompassing education, as well as technological, infrastructural, scientific, legal, administrative, social and other innovations with different concepts. Still, in general, these are the innovations that “... are intended to raise productivity and efficiency of learning and/or improve learning quality”. (Serdyukov, 2017).

As the importance of education as a social institute serving the needs of society is growing, social innovations is gaining in importance in their activities and especially in higher education. The experience of Covid-19 has clearly confirmed this, showing that, together with teaching, learning and research, which are integral to defining the role of education in the wider social context, creating better youth employment opportunities, reducing societal disparities, ensuring better inclusion of vulnerable and marginalized groups, creating impactful research obviously generates sustainable socio-economic returns (McDonnell-Naughton & Pдunescu, 2022).

The first year of their mention as the object of research is considered to be 1970, but a breakthrough in the interest in social innovations is believed to be reached in the year 2000, especially related to the direction of business and management. And over 10 years of research, the number of publications related to social innovations has increased by 500 percent (Bataglin & Kruglianskas, 2022). Nevertheless, and with the growing recognition of these innovations and their contribution, social innovations remains under-explored (Rao-Nicholson et al., 2017) and their definitions still remain difficult to understand (Marques et al., 2018). Many authors who provide definitions of the term “social innovations” cite as their reference to a social area, the fulfilment of social needs and the promotion of social inclusion, which are reflected in vastly quoted Phills et al., (2008) definition of social innovations, as well as in the concept presented by the European Commission (Fougere et al., 2017; Oeij et al., 2019) definition given that social innovations is “.the invention, development and implementation of new ideas to solve social problems faced by individuals, groups or communities”. In this case, a social problem is any situation that prevents individuals, groups or communities from being included in society or from functioning qualitatively in it.

In education, social innovations can be understood as processes of knowledge resources, pedagogical and organizational practices and educational discourses, constellations of actors that identify or eliminate shortcomings, constraints and limitations in the education system and contribute to newer and better practices to address social problems and improve quality of life, education, productivity (Schrцder et al., 2018; Kappor et al., 2018, Osetskyy et al., 2020; Fahrenwald et al., 2021). While analyzing social innovations, important to note, that it can work at three levels. Socio-political reform, changes in regulatory frameworks and institutional norms - can be assigned to the macro level, new business models, new services, new management practices - meso level, and strengthening of user participation and new professional practices that generate added value for the addressees asat the micro level (Schrцer, 2021). However, despite the breadth of social innovations in the education system, and especially in higher education, it remains central to tackling a wide range of social problems, the value of which belongs to society but not to individuals, and the solutions themselves are not only more effective but also more sustainable (Bolz & Bruin, 2019) while increasing the use of resources to improve the high quality and competitiveness of human capital (Osetskyy et al., 2020).

Susceptibility to innovation is presented as the interaction of innovation activity (the need to consciously apply innovation) and innovation potential (material, technical, social readiness and capacity of the subject). In this context, performs the elements of the management system that regulate the business processes of all companies/ institutions and may have an impact on the receptivity of innovation. It is important to take specific economic activities into account when analyzing receptivity to innovation.

Fig. 1. Receptivity to innovation as an indicator of an organization's innovations activity and innovation potential (Войтешонок & Парамонова, 2015)

The division of innovation potential into internal and external elements is based on the existing conditions affecting the need for and efficiency of innovation, and it is, therefore, necessary to take into account the need for innovation and its efficiency. the role of external environmental conditions, the totality of all the possibilities and factors available to them. In this case, external innovation potential includes regulatory, infrastructure, scientific, social and business/operational components, internal - personnel, technical, technological, financial and scientific components (Войтешонок & Парамонова, 2015). The presented concept of innovations receptivity can be applied to the implementation of all types of innovations, including the assessment of the university's receptivity to social innovation as one of the most modern institutions of society.