4th International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC)
Third Sector Research Centre, Birmingham, 12-14 September 2012

Stream 3: Impact and Performance

Fergus Lyon (Middlesex University) and Alibeth Somers (Goldsmiths University)

There is growing interest in the issues related to assessing impact and performance of social enterprises. The demand for information about performance and outcomes has led to a new industry of impact measurement, with multiple approaches and different ways of presenting or reporting.  It is therefore timely that researchers take stock of how impact assessment and performance monitoring is evolving, the motivations of organisations investing in social and environmental reporting, and how the results are being used by different actors.

This stream welcomes both empirical and original conceptual papers. In particular the following themes are suggested:

• the motivations of organisations assessing their impact;
• the approaches used by organisations;
• the challenges faced by those attempting to report impact;
• the different meanings given to types of accountability;
• the definition and construction of the ‘social’ or ‘environmental’;
• the ways different people interpret and use impact reporting;
• the role of performance measuring as a management tool;
• the role of impact reporting in building legitimacy;
• the origins and background of different impact or performance assessment approaches;
• the role of impact reporting in strategy development;
• the concepts of social value and wellbeing.

Abstract submissions for single papers and panel sessions should be sent directly to ISIRC@tsrc.ac.uk. See call for papers for more details.

Enquiries should be directed to the stream convenors: Fergus Lyon (f.lyon@mdx.ac.uk) and Alibeth Somers (a.somers@gold.ac.uk )

Full stream description (PDF, 16KB)