Social innovation in Asia: dominant themes and emerging research communities

Social innovation research has predominantly centred on Europe and North America, while Asian contributions to the field have received limited reception in Western academic discourse. This study explores the landscape of social innovation scholarship in Asia, namely relevant authors and research perspectives, their relationship to Western social innovation scholarship, as well as dominant themes. Using bibliometric- and thematic analysis, we identified active scholarly communities that have developed distinct conceptions of social innovation in their respective fields, namely community development, health care, and design disciplines. While these scholars have developed their ideas through critical engagement with European intellectual works and research, their social innovation conceptions are rooted in the distinct realities of societies in the region. To our knowledge, this study is the first to systematically map Asian social innovation research themes and communities, highlighting their critiques of Western paradigms as well as shared concerns centred on the need to adapt social innovation practice to suit the experiences of local marginalised communities.