In this article we want to argue that the outcome of a social innovation is dependent on the appropriate process. A social innovation process does not only require participation and good governance within the initiative, it can also be dependent on the wider political, administrative and organisational context.
An approach combining the concepts of ideas, community and deliberative democracy theory places social innovation firmly in the intersection between societal spheres and contributes to a more comprehensive theoretical view on social innovation as an integrated model of both process and outcome.