2017/01/03 by Eric Rice, Robin Petering, Erin J. Stringfellow +3
Business, Management and Accounting · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Innovation, Technology, and Society #Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development #Mental Health and Patient Involvement
paper · doi:10.1177/1049731516685620
openalex publication_date 2017/01/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
We present a preliminary theory of innovation in social work science. The focus of the piece is two case studies from our work that illustrate the social nature of innovations in the science of social work. This inductive theory focuses on a concept we refer to as transformative innovation, wherein two sets of individuals who possess different expertise and different network connections come together to solve a problem and in so doing transfer ideas from one network and field of expertise to the other. This transfer of ideas inevitably involves the transformation of ideas, such that the final innovation is something new to both groups of people, and as such innovative.