Exploring the Role of Social Innovation in Promoting Gender Inclusion among Retail Traders in Lagos

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated how the dimensions of social innovation—co-creation, social need orientation, novelty, capacity building, and systemic change—shape gender inclusion among retail trading enterprises in Lagos. Grounded in Institutional Theory, the research employed a cross-sectional design involving 430 traders selected through a multi-stage sampling process. Data were obtained via structured questionnaires validated by experts and internal consistency value of (Cronbach’s α ≥ 0.70) confirmed reliability assessments. The data was analyzed using multiple regression at the 0.05 significance level. The results revealed that co-creation (β = 0.27, p < 0.001), capacity building (β = 0.22, p = 0.001), and systemic change (β = 0.19, p = 0.004) significantly influence gender inclusion, while novelty and social need orientation do not. These findings indicated that meaningful inclusion is driven more by participatory governance, skills enhancement and institutional transformation than by symbolic interventions or isolated innovations. The study concluded that empowering women in Lagos’s retail trade demands institutional re-engineering rather than superficial initiatives and therefore recommends deliberate policy actions to embed women within governance frameworks, expand capacity-building programs and consolidate systemic reforms.