Simulating the Role of Norms in Processes of Social Innovation: Three Case Studies

Abstract

Norms and values are critical drivers in social innovation processes, such as community projects on sustainable energy. Simulating such processes could help uncover conditions that support these social innovations. Capturing the rich literature on drivers of social innovation in more simple computational rules is a challenge however. In this paper, we present three empirically grounded case simulations addressing social innovations where norms and values play a role. The results emphasise that normative influences and values affecting opinions and behaviour cannot be addressed in isolation when studying real cases of social innovation. An integrated perspective is needed to identify who is most likely to deviate from a given norm, and how contagious this deviation is. These factors, such as needs, values, similarity and reputation, are embedded in a wider behavioural and social-cognitive context and hence require embedding into an integrated modelling framework of humans in the community. We conclude by considering how social-economic data can be used in combination with theory-based rules to simulate normative processes in a convincing way.