Title: Workplace innovation and social innovation: an introduction

Authors: Jürgen Howaldt; Peter R.A. Oeij; Steven Dhondt; Ben Fruytier

Addresses: Sozialforschungsstelle (sfs), TU-Dortmund, Evinger Platz 17, 44339 Dortmund, Germany ' TNO, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, P.O. Box 3005, 2301 DA Leiden, The Netherlands ' TNO, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, P.O. Box 3005, 2301 DA Leiden, The Netherlands; Catholic University Leuven, Parkstraat 45 – Box 3601, 3000 Leuven, Belgium ' Deceased; formerly of: Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

Abstract: This is the introduction to this special issue of World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development (WREMSD) dedicated to workplace innovation and social innovation related to work and organisation. As technological and business model innovations alone are not sufficient to enhance opportunities for businesses and employment, awareness is rising that better use should be made of human talents and new ways of organising and managing. In order to make working environments more receptive for innovation, and to enable people in organisations to take up an entrepreneurial role as intrapreneurs, a shift towards workplace innovation can be observed. Workplace innovation is complementary to technological and business model innovation, and a necessary ingredient for successful renewal, in that it addresses a type of management that seeks collaboration with employees through dialogue and employee engagement. Consequently, not only improvements of the quality of work for employees become beckoning perspectives, improving the business is at hand as well through successful innovations in the organisation's functioning, its culture of cooperation and leadership and the implementation of changes in the domain of HR-practices.

Keywords: workplace innovation; WPI; social innovation.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2016.073433

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2016 Vol.12 No.1, pp.1 - 12

Published online: 02 Dec 2015 *

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