Understanding social innovation processes in rural areas: empirical evidence from social enterprises in Germany

Katrin Martens, A. L. Wolff, Markus Hanisch · 2020 · Social enterprise journal

Summary. German rural communities increasingly rely on social enterprises called community cooperatives to address infrastructure loss and provide public goods. This study examines how these cooperatives drive social innovation through formalized collective action. The research finds that macro-level policy financing matters, but local public actors rarely initiate innovation alone—they need private incentives. Actor networks and resource patterns differ between establishing new infrastructure versus maintaining existing services, yet all successful innovations require legitimizing formal processes.

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@article{martens-2020-understanding-social-innovation-processes-rural,
  title   = {Understanding social innovation processes in rural areas: empirical evidence from social enterprises in Germany},
  author  = {Katrin Martens and A. L. Wolff and Markus Hanisch},
  journal = {Social enterprise journal},
  year    = {2020},
  doi     = {10.1108/sej-12-2019-0093},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1108/sej-12-2019-0093}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Understanding social innovation processes in rural areas: empirical evidence from social enterprises in Germany
AU  - Katrin Martens
AU  - A. L. Wolff
AU  - Markus Hanisch
JO  - Social enterprise journal
PY  - 2020
DO  - 10.1108/sej-12-2019-0093
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/sej-12-2019-0093
ER  - 

Details

DOI

10.1108/sej-12-2019-0093

Countries

Germany

Regions

Europe

Categories

regional-innovation-systems, entrepreneurship, policy

Added

2026-04-28