Social Innovation for Cultural Heritage: new logic in action

Introduction Many studies and researches have studied how organizations respond to institutional logics and how this is reflected into organizational practices and forms. Organisational forms and institutional logics are key related concepts, as a matter of fact organisational forms are manifestations of institutional logics (Thornton 2004, Greenwood et al 2009). The research aims at understanding how do actors respond to different institutional logics and how they can influence the behaviour of organisations within a specific industry. It is worth to study the relationship among a institutional logics and their practices and the emergence of a new logic which influence a new type of organisation, both logic and organisation are mutually conditioned. Our work intend to contribute to this field of study by focusing on the emergence of a new logic in the cultural heritage field. Through a case study analysis we would describe the emergence of a new logic in the Italian cultural heritage field and we attempt to analyse how participants in the initiatives respond to institutional logic, creating new organisational forms and new managerial practices. Our research deals with projects and initiatives aimed at protecting and promoting the widespread cultural and natural heritage which has been re- functionalised, preserved and made accessible to local communities and visitors. These initiatives have applied the concepts of social innovation to the management of cultural field. The article is organised as follows. In the first section the institutional logic approach will be developed, analysing the multiple logic which animate the Italian cultural heritage field. Then, through a case study analysis, the study will describe the initiatives object of study. Moreover, from the cases we have observed the emergence of a new logic pervading the cultural sector which influence the behaviour of actors defining new organizational forms and different practices. The paper ends by discussing the implications of the findings for institutional logic approach.