Public procurement for social innovation: Building a collaboration logic through interactive spaces

Abstract

Public procurement of innovation is increasingly expected to address complex societal challenges, yet research has focused mainly on technological and environmental innovation, paying limited attention to social problems and innovations. Less is known about how public procurement can support social innovation in service settings where solutions cannot be specified in advance and innovation depends on reconfiguring cross-sectoral relations, roles, and practices. This study examines how public procurement can support social innovation through the organisation of interactive spaces that enable institutional work and the development of a collaboration logic. Drawing on institutional theory, we analyse a longitudinal case study of the Tesoma Wellbeing Centre in Tampere, Finland, where public, private, and third-sector actors jointly developed an integrated social and healthcare service model. The findings show how procurers deliberately orchestrated different forms of interaction over the procurement process, enabling actors to question established arrangements, develop shared goals and practices, and anchor them in governance and service delivery. Through this process, an impact-driven collaboration logic gradually emerged and became partially stabilised, reshaping actor relations, perceptions, and practices. We contribute to the research on public procurement and social innovation by explaining how the sequencing of interactive spaces across procurement phases can support social innovation in complex service settings.