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In recent decades, higher education institutes (HEIs) have come under pressure to cooperate with society as a whole. This shift towards an increased focus on third mission and social innovation activities implies a substantial organizational change process for many HEIs, as they need to initiate both structural and cultural changes. This paper provides guidance for such change processes by examining the views and attitudes of academic and administrative staff, as well as students within the HEIs over a period in which the HEIs increase their focus on social innovation.

The study uses a longitudinal quantitative approach consisting of a survey of administrative and academic staff, as well as students at two German HEIs. The authors studied members’ attitudes towards third mission and social innovation activities (N = 3470).

Results suggest that the university members’ attitudes towards third mission and social innovation are positive but change to some extent over time. Different aspects shape the attitudes within the three groups (administrative staff, academic staff and students). Furthermore, attitudes vary among academic employees who are involved in the process and those who are not.

The findings provide useful information for university managers and anyone aiming to promote social innovation at HEIs.

The study examines how attitudes of university members change whenever social innovation takes place at HEIs. This study includes data on the participation and empowerment of all HEI members in view of the important role that HEIs can play as supporters of social innovation.

Discusses the communist system, based on an èlite Party and the privileged nomenklatura which executes its orders. An ubiquitous secret police, whose tentacles reach into the most private spheres of the citizens, kills any opposition in its bud. The people are constantly indoctrinated with Marxist‐Leninist ideology which also justifies the total power of the Party. The ideals of egalitarianism and open‐ended social obligation, inculcated from early childhood on, led to “apathy, indifference, and the disdain of honest work” (Shmelev) as well as widespread dishonesty. The population was kept ignorant by hermetically sealed borders and subjected to constant humiliation. Advancement depended not on hard work, but on Party loyalty. Laws served only a decorative function. The mafia has flourished under these conditions, once clandestinely, now for all to see. The result is a moral vacuum, a spiritual and physical decline of the citizenry who, unfamiliar with self‐responsibility and freedom, feel threatened by change.