Lynn Martin, Tamara McNeill and Izzy Warren-Smith
The purpose of this paper is to explore eco innovation in rural small firms. It looks at the motivations of rural small business owners for eco innovation and the extent to which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore eco innovation in rural small firms. It looks at the motivations of rural small business owners for eco innovation and the extent to which rurality is important. Owner-managers’ perceptions of how eco innovation had, or would, contributed to growth in the future are also explored.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative study involving micro-level exploration of eight growth-oriented rural small firms and their implementation of eco innovation. These case studies involved semi-structured interviews, observation of practices in the firm and review of documentation and web-based materials.
Findings
Within each of the case study businesses, eco innovation involved changing business processes to reduce waste and to reduce the amounts of raw materials consumed. Rurality was described as very important due to closeness to the impacts of climate change and firms’ visibility within their local communities. Although none of the businesses identified growth as a motivating factor, each enjoyed economic benefits as a result of their pro-environmental behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
As a small-scale study of eight atypical firms, the findings cannot be readily generalised. Rather, they provide insight to how eco innovation can address both the environmental and the economic.
Practical implications
The findings may be useful for those wishing to encourage pro-environmental behaviours and eco innovation among rural SMEs.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the currently limited literature on how and why SMEs are implementing pro-environmental practice, and also in relation to greener operational practice and business growth.
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Nico Meissner, Joanne McNeill and Matt Allen
This paper aims to examine how the fields of social enterprise, social entrepreneurship and social innovation have theorised and applied the concepts of narrative and storytelling.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how the fields of social enterprise, social entrepreneurship and social innovation have theorised and applied the concepts of narrative and storytelling.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review and subsequent thematic analysis were used. A keyword search of three databases identified 93 relevant articles that were subsequently reviewed for this paper.
Findings
Four main roles for storytelling and narrative were found in the literature: to gain support for social innovation, to inspire social change, to build a social-entrepreneurial identity and to debate the meaning and direction of social innovation itself.
Practical implications
Following the literature review, capacities and applications of storytelling and narrative in other, related fields are discussed to highlight practical use cases of storytelling that might currently be underdeveloped in the social enterprise and innovation sectors.
Originality/value
The paper argues that the social innovation and enterprise literature predominantly views storytelling as a form of mass communication, while often overlooking its ability to foster communal debate and organise intrapersonal dialogue as possible aspects of strategic thinking and innovation management in social enterprise, social entrepreneurship and social innovation.
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Anna-Maija Lämsä, Tommi Pekka Auvinen, Suvi Susanna Heikkinen and Teppo Sintonen
The purpose of this paper is to develop a narrative framework for doing empirical research into business ethics and shows, through two examples, how the framework can be applied…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a narrative framework for doing empirical research into business ethics and shows, through two examples, how the framework can be applied in practice in this context. The focus is on interview-based research.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical research based on literature review was conducted.
Findings
In the developed narrative framework, two main kinds of analysis are distinguished: an analysis of the narrative and a narrative analysis. An analysis of the narrative is a matter of classifying and producing taxonomies out of the data. The purpose of a narrative analysis is to construct a story or stories based on the data. Narrative analysis differs from the analysis of narratives in that the story does not exist prior to the analysis, but is created during the analysis.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed narrative framework helps those doing empirical research into business ethics avoid simplistic “black and white” interpretations of their material, and helps them to show that ethical realities in the business world are often complex, various and multiple.
Practical implications
The paper offers a methodological framework for those doing qualitative research into business ethics which will increase the quality and rigor of their studies.
Originality/value
A value of the narrative approach is that the stories offer researchers an entry point to understanding the complexity of ethics and how people make sense of this complexity. The paper shows in detail how the methods presented can be used in practice in empirical research.
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Healthcare quality improvement is a key concern for policy makers, regulators, carers and service users. Despite a contemporary consensus among policy makers that integrated care…
Abstract
Purpose
Healthcare quality improvement is a key concern for policy makers, regulators, carers and service users. Despite a contemporary consensus among policy makers that integrated care represents a means to substantially improve service outcomes, progress has been slow. Difficulties achieving sustained improvement at scale imply that methods employed are not sufficient and that healthcare improvement attributes may be different when compared to prior reference domains. The purpose of this paper is to examine and synthesise key improvement attributes relevant to a complex healthcare change process, specifically integrated care.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on an integrative literature review on systemic improvement in healthcare.
Findings
A central theme emerging from the literature review indicates that implementing systemic change needs to address the relationship between vision, methods and participant social dynamics.
Practical implications
Accommodating personal and professional network dynamics is required for systemic improvement, especially among high autonomy individuals. This reinforces the need to recognise the change process as taking place in a complex adaptive system where personal/professional purpose/meaning is central to the process.
Originality/value
Shared personal/professional narratives are insufficiently recognised as a powerful change force, under-represented in linear and rational empirical improvement approaches.