Responsible innovation to address grand societal challenges has become the raison d’être of international organizations, such as the United Nations. Although these entities are established to act responsibly, they struggle to innovate. Acknowledging the tensions of this unique context, this study applies an inductive research methodology drawing on eight case studies of intrapreneurial initiatives in socially oriented organizations. The initiatives originated in country offices and scaled either organically (country-by-country) or strategically (via headquarters). This distinguishes two ways how the initiatives mitigate different responsible innovation tensions to foster competence development, structural alignment, and mission stretch. The findings add to the literatures on responsible innovation and intrapreneurship in large, complex organizations by uncovering the boundary conditions of non-profit intrapreneurship, its tensions, and its scaling processes. This study builds theory that intrapreneurial initiatives can foster digital transformation and contribute to the development of an organizational capability for responsible innovation via organizational imprinting.

中文翻译：

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通过内部创业在国际组织中建立负责任的创新

应对重大社会挑战的负责任创新已成为联合国等国际组织存在的理由。尽管这些实体的建立是为了负责任地行事，但它们却难以创新。承认这一独特背景的紧张局势，本研究采用归纳研究方法，借鉴了社会导向组织中内部创业倡议的八个案例研究。这些举措起源于国家办事处，并以有机方式（逐个国家）或战略性（通过总部）规模化。这区分了这些举措如何缓解不同的负责任的创新紧张局势以促进能力发展、结构调整和使命延伸的两种方式。这些发现增加了关于负责任的创新和内部创业的文献，通过揭示非营利内部创业的边界条件、它的紧张关系和它的扩展过程来复杂的组织。本研究建立的理论认为，内部创业举措可以促进数字化转型，并通过组织印记促进负责任创新的组织能力的发展。