Digitally Social: Review, Synthesis, and Future Directions for Digital Social Innovation

Innovation contributes to solving the grand challenges of our time. Currently, two innovation research streams coexist mostly separated, without leveraging the potential at their interface: 1) Digital innovation using the generative power of digital technologies to trigger novel, incremental and/or disruptive solutions, and 2) social innovation accelerating sustainable development. To leverage the potential of digital innovations for reaching the goals of social innovation, we aim at advancing research on digital social innovation (DSI). A comprehensive literature review reveals 78 current DSI studies. We analyse them via a theory-based multidimensional framework. In that, we bring together both research streams, identify relevant research gaps at their interface, and derive a research agenda based on eight clear-cut research questions for DSI scholars. Our findings guide advancing DSI research and enable practitioners to leverage DSI in light of the current societal challenges.