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Start Over Topic community currency Publication Year Range Last 50 years Journal technology analysis & strategic management
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1. What influences the diffusion of grassroots innovations for sustainability? Investigating community currency niches.

Author

Seyfang, Gill and Longhurst, Noel

Subjects
GRASSROOTS movements, TECHNOLOGICAL innovations, SUSTAINABILITY, COMMUNITY currency, LOCAL exchange trading systems, TIME banks
Abstract

Community action for sustainability is a promising site of socio-technical innovation. Here we test the applicability of co-evolutionary niche theories of innovation diffusion (strategic niche management, SNM) to the context of ‘grassroots innovations’ (GIs). We present new empirical findings from an international study of 12 community currency niches (such as Local Exchange Trading Schemes, time banks, and local currencies). These are parallel systems of exchange, designed to operate alongside mainstream money, meeting additional sustainability needs. Our findings confirm SNM predictions that niche-level activity correlates with diffusion success, but we highlight additional or confounding factors, and how niche theories might be adapted to better fit civil society innovations. In so doing, we develop a model of GI niche diffusion which extends existing work and tailors it to this specific context. The paper concludes with a series of theoretically informed recommendations for practitioners and policy-makers to support the development and potential of GIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2016
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2. What influences the diffusion of grassroots innovations for sustainability? Investigating community currency niches

Author

Gill Seyfang and Noel Longhurst

Subjects
Ecological niche, Civil society, Strategy and Management, 05 social sciences, Niche, Context (language use), 010501 environmental sciences, Management Science and Operations Research, 01 natural sciences, ComputingMilieux_GENERAL, Grassroots, Community currency, 0502 economics and business, Sustainability, Economics, Mainstream, Marketing, 050203 business & management, Industrial organization, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Abstract

Community action for sustainability is a promising site of socio-technical innovation. Here we test the applicability of co-evolutionary niche theories of innovation diffusion (Strategic Niche Management, SNM) to the context of ‘grassroots innovations’. We present new empirical findings from an international study of 12 community currency niches (such as LETS, time banks, local currencies). These are parallel systems of exchange, designed to operate alongside mainstream money, meeting additional sustainability needs. Our findings confirm SNM predictions that niche-level activity correlates with diffusion success, but we highlight additional or confounding factors, and how niche theories might be adapted to better fit civil-society innovations. In so doing, we develop a model of grassroots innovation niche diffusion which builds on existing work and tailors it to this specific context. The paper concludes with a series of theoretically-informed recommendations for practitioners and policymakers to support the development and potential of grassroots innovations.

Published
2015