Social Innovation and Sustainability in Rural Organizations in Southern Sonora

The study examines the impact of social innovation on sustainability in rural organizations in southern Sonora, within a context where these entities face economic, social, and environmental challenges that constrain regional development. The research addresses the limited understanding of how social innovation contributes to the sustainability of rural organizations in developing regions, which is an area still insufficiently explored in the existing literature. A quantitative correlational design was employed, using a 34-item questionnaire administered to 200 members of rural organizations in southern Sonora, Mexico. Sociodemographic data were processed using IBM SPSS version 23, and a structural equation model was constructed with SmartPLS V 4.0 to analyze the relationships among the variables. The results indicate a neutral trend in the responses, indicating a limited implementation of social innovation practices, likely associated with the small size, low level of development, and restricted technological capacity of these organizations, most of which are micro or small enterprises with limited infrastructure. Regarding the impact of social innovation dimensions on sustainability, the strongest effect was found in the social impact dimension, followed by type of innovation, economic viability, replicability, and intersectoral collaboration, with the latter showing the weakest effect. It is concluded that five hypotheses were accepted and one—related to intersectoral collaboration—was rejected, providing evidence on how social innovation contributes to the sustainable strengthening of rural organizations. These findings advance the theoretical understanding of social innovation in rural contexts and offer practical implications for the design of policies and management strategies aimed at enhancing sustainability within local development processes.