IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v160y2025ics0168851024001982.html

Social innovation management to support integrated care: Insights from an Italian revelatory case study

Author

Listed:
  • Costanza, Francesca
  • Li Calzi, Giada

Abstract

This research deals with Social Innovation (SI) and integrated and connected care in the hospital care, presenting a successful experience of telemedicine's implementation within the Italian context. Nowadays integrated care and connected care are relevant concepts for delivering people-centered healthcare; though their operationalization is challenging and requires accounting for systems’ complexity. In this regard, SI may be a catalyst, since it consists in a kind of innovation motivated by social needs. Extant research on SI in healthcare is scant and fragmentary, overlooking operational features and enabling conditions. Considering these gaps, the paper investigates the potential contribution of SI management to integrated and connected care. For the purpose, it offers a revelatory case study, concerning the pediatric research hospital Gaslini (Genoa, Italy), which is, to our knowledge, the first Italian public hospital to have hired a SI manager. By referring to a telemedicine pilot project, the study analyzes main features of the SI management process and its approach to promote integrated and connected care. Research data are analyzed by combining Gioia methodology and systems thinking. The resulting grounded theory model is causal loops-shaped and highlights virtuous mechanisms of SI unveiling generative voids and existing skills.

Suggested Citation

  • Costanza, Francesca & Li Calzi, Giada, 2025. "Social innovation management to support integrated care: Insights from an Italian revelatory case study," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:160:y:2025:i:c:s0168851024001982
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105188
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851024001982
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105188?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dennis A. Gioia & Kumar Chittipeddi, 1991. "Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 433-448, September.
    2. Ali Asghar Sadabadi & Zohreh Rahimi Rad, 2022. "How can Cross-sector Partnership Promote Social Innovation?," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 471-490, August.
    3. Geoff Mulgan, 2006. "The Process of Social Innovation," Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, MIT Press, vol. 1(2), pages 145-162, April.
    4. Frank Pot & Fietje Vaas, 2008. "Social innovation, the new challenge for Europe," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 57(6), pages 468-473, July.
    5. Chaloner Chute & Tara French, 2019. "Introducing Care 4.0: An Integrated Care Paradigm Built on Industry 4.0 Capabilities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-17, June.
    6. Majcherek, Dawid & Hegerty, Scott William & Kowalski, Arkadiusz Michał & Lewandowska, Małgorzata Stefania & Dikova, Desislava, 2024. "Opportunities for healthcare digitalization in Europe: Comparative analysis of inequalities in access to medical services," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Wendy Phillips & Elizabeth A. Alexander & Hazel Lee, 2019. "Going It Alone Won’t Work! The Relational Imperative for Social Innovation in Social Enterprises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 315-331, May.
    8. Sylvia Schweiger & Hendrik Stouten & Inge L. Bleijenbergh, 2018. "A System Dynamics Model of Resistance to Organizational Change: The Role of Participatory Strategies," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(6), pages 658-674, November.
    9. Devi Vijay & Philippe Monin, 2018. "Poisedness for social innovation : The genesis and propagation of community-based palliative care in Kerala (India)," Post-Print hal-02312268, HAL.
    10. Frank Pot & Fietje Vaas, 2008. "Social innovation, the new challenge for Europe," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 57(6), pages 468-473, July.
    11. Georgia Casanova & Andrea Principi & Giovanni Lamura, 2020. "Social Innovation in Long-Term Care: Lessons from the Italian Case," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-17, March.
    12. Henry, Ella & Newth, Jamie & Spiller, Chellie, 2017. "Emancipatory Indigenous social innovation: Shifting power through culture and technology," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(6), pages 786-802, November.
    13. Nicolas Petit & Gulliver Lux, 2020. "Uses of Management Control Tools in the Public Healthcare Sector," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 459-475, September.
    14. Dubois, Anna & Gadde, Lars-Erik, 2002. "Systematic combining: an abductive approach to case research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 553-560, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carmen Guzmán & Francisco J. Santos & Teresa Savall, 2024. "How to explain social innovation in elderly care services: The role of for-profit and non-profit social enterprises," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 1849-1877, September.
    2. María Arnal-Pastor & José-Miguel Berné-Martínez, 2025. "A semantic analysis of social innovation and corporate social responsibility in the Spanish digital press," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 19(7), pages 1983-2009, July.
    3. Baran Grzegorz, 2020. "Social Innovation Living Labs as Platforms to Co-design Social Innovations," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 36-57, March.
    4. Aurel Burciu & Rozalia Kicsi & Simona Buta & Mihaela State & Iulia Burlac & Denisa Alexandra Chifan & Beatrice Ipsalat, 2023. "The Study of the Relationship among GCI, GII, Disruptive Technology, and Social Innovations in MNCs: How Do We Evaluate Financial Innovations Made by Firms? A Preliminary Inquiry," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-42, August.
    5. Burghausen, Mario & Balmer, John M.T., 2014. "Corporate heritage identity management and the multi-modal implementation of a corporate heritage identity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 2311-2323.
    6. Petersen, Daniel Agerbech & Goodall, Keith, 2025. "Leadership development in the cross-cultural context of China: Who really cares?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(3).
    7. Nordin, Fredrik & Ravald, Annika, 2016. "Managing relationship gaps: A practitioner perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2490-2497.
    8. Fred Strønen & Thomas Hoholm & Kari Kværner & Linn Nathalie Støme, 2017. "Dynamic capabilities and innovation capabilities: The case of the ‘Innovation Clinic’," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 13(1), pages 89-116.
    9. Wowerath, Christine, 2026. "Objectives and key results as a tool for middle managers to enhance the process of strategy implementation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    10. Naegels, Vanessa & Mori, Neema & D'Espallier, Bert, 2022. "The process of female borrower discouragement," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    11. Prior, Daniel D. & Keränen, Joona & Koskela, Sami, 2018. "Sensemaking, sensegiving and absorptive capacity in complex procurements," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 79-90.
    12. Goretzki, Lukas & Reuter, Marek & Sandberg, Joanna & Thulin, Gabriella, 2022. "Making sense of employee satisfaction measurement – A technological frames of reference perspective," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    13. Mario Vázquez-Maguirre, 2020. "Building Sustainable Rural Communities through Indigenous Social Enterprises: A Humanistic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-21, November.
    14. Kirsti Iivonen & Johanna Moisander, 2015. "Rhetorical Construction of Narcissistic CSR Orientation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 649-664, October.
    15. Simone Guercini & Giulia Monteverde & Andrea Runfola & Matilde Milanesi, 2025. "To Tell or Not to Tell? On the Under Communicating of Sustainability in Digital Environments," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(7), pages 8118-8133, November.
    16. Gallan, Andrew S. & Helkkula, Anu & McConnell, William R., 2024. "Why did this happen to me? Causal attributions of illness and cultural health capital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    17. Wenyuan Li & Mohammed Abubakari Sadick & Abdul-Aziz Ibn Musah & Salisu Mustapha, 2018. "The Moderating Effect of Social Innovation in Perspectives of Shared Value Creation in the Educational Sector of Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-26, November.
    18. Schink, Alexander & Gutmann, Tobias & Brenk, Sebastian, 2026. "Transforming B2B platforms through interconnected digital twins: Enhancing situation awareness for decision-making," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    19. Laura Rodrigo & Isabel Ortiz-Marcos & Miguel Palacios, 2024. "A typology of social innovation: A comparative study of clustering methodologies," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 3283-3322, December.
    20. Ester Planells-Aleixandre & Adela García-Aracil & Rosa Isusi-Fagoaga, 2025. "University’s Contribution to Society: Benchmarking of Social Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-15, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:160:y:2025:i:c:s0168851024001982. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.