Evaluating social innovations and their contribution to social value: the benefits of a 'blended value' approach

Abstract

Social innovation is viewed as a solution to developing new services that address complex needs and create 'social value', but what constitutes social value and how to measure it is contested. Drawing on a case study of a social prescribing pilot, this paper provides an example of how social value can be evaluated to support decisions by commissioners of socially innovative interventions. It argues that social value presents an epistemological and methodological challenge for commissioners seeking to embed it in decision making and recommends evaluating social innovations though a 'blended value' lens.