Social Services, Social Innovation and Multi-Actor Collaboration : A Civil Society Organisation Perspective

Abstract

A central focus of this PhD dissertation is to advance an understanding of how social innovation is generated through the perspective of civil society organisations (CSOs) that provide social services to vulnerable groups through collaboration with multiple actors in the fragile context, with a legacy of war. An “agency-structure” approach has been applied as an overarching perspective throughout this dissertation. Theories such as institutional theory (new institutionalism and institutional networking), resource-dependency theory as well as the concepts of social innovation, collaboration, non-state service provision, NGO-isation and the third sector-public services provision present the main theoretical framework of this dissertation. Using Bosnia and Herzegovina as a case, this dissertation adopts an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design, in which the overarching study has consisted of three constituent articles. The data source for this study consists of 15 semi-structured interviews with representatives from local CSOs, international aid/development donors and the public social sector institutions, as well as a survey of 120 CSO representatives from a variety of social service CSOs with the experience of the implementation of socially innovative services, models and interventions.