Human-Centric Social Innovation in Healthcare : Stakeholders and Collaborative Transformation

Abstract

Health systems across the world continue to face challenges relating to rising complexity, increased demand, and persistent fragmentation. Traditional hierarchical models often struggle to respond effectively to these pressures, resulting in limited flexibility for professionals and uneven patient experiences. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in human-centred, non-technological forms of social innovation that rely on collaboration, trust, and community-based problem-solving. This thesis examines how collaboration can serve as a catalyst for systemic transformation instead of just being a supportive organisational practice. The study was guided by one central research question: How does stakeholder collaboration drive systemic transformation through non-technological, human-centred social innovation in healthcare?. Two sub-questions examined the collaborative mechanisms that facilitate transformation and their interaction with broader systemic conditions. An integrated theoretical framework that combined Social Innovation Theory, Systems Thinking, and Diffusion of Innovation helped shape these questions. Combined, these perspectives provide a foundation for understanding collaboration as both a relational process and a structural mechanism that can reshape patterns of care and organisational behaviour. To answer these questions, the thesis used a qualitative single case study design, with Buurtzorg in the Netherlands as an example of collaborative social innovation. The analysis utilised organisational documents, practitioner materials, policy evaluations, and independent assessments, which were evaluated through thematic analysis. Coding, iterative comparison, and analytic memo writing supported the development of core themes. The methodological approach prioritised depth of insight, with an emphasis on analytical rather than statistical generalisation; it was supported by reflexive and ethical considerations throughout the research process. The findings show that collaboration at Buurtzorg is performed through four mechanisms: self-managed teams, holistic co-production with patients, partnerships across organisational boundaries, and regional peer learning networks. Conditions such as a culture of trust, flexible policy arrangements, and simple digital infrastructures facilitate these mechanisms. Barriers, including regulatory constraints and institutional pressures, were found to act as productive tensions that encouraged learning and adaptation rather than preventing innovation. The interactions between mechanisms, enablers, and barriers generate system outcomes, including enhanced professional autonomy, improved patient equity, and greater organisational adaptability. The thesis determined that collaboration operates as a self-reinforcing process in which learning continuously feeds back into practice. In doing so, through this study it is demonstrated that stakeholder collaboration can function as a central engine of sustainable, human-centred transformation in healthcare.