Social impact evaluation analysis

“The modification of FMEA involves the introduction of positive and negative impacts, the inclusion of discrete and continuous impacts, the consideration of various stakeholder types, and the inclusion of uncertainty in place of detectability. This modified FMEA is referred to in this paper as Social Impact Effects Analysis (SIEA)”

Engineers routinely evaluate how product failures might physically injure users, yet they rarely measure how products change people's daily lives and communities over time. Traditional risk assessment frameworks like Failure Mode and Effects Analysis focus almost exclusively on hardware defects and immediate safety hazards. To address this gap, this paper introduces Social Impact Effects Analysis, a framework designed to systematically evaluate broader societal outcomes during the product design stage. The method adapts the structured logic of engineering failure analysis to score a wider range of social factors, including cultural identity, family dynamics, and access to education. By evaluating both positive benefits and negative drawbacks across diverse stakeholder groups, development teams can catch unintended societal consequences before manufacturing begins.

The framework replaces standard failure detection metrics with uncertainty tracking, allowing designers to account for unpredictable human behavior and changing social contexts. Instead of relying on single event triggers, the system evaluates both one-time occurrences and continuous, long-term community impacts. Design teams assign numerical priority scores to each potential outcome based on severity, likelihood, and uncertainty levels. These calculated scores highlight which design features require immediate modification or further research to maximize benefit and limit harm. Ultimately, integrating social evaluation directly into standard engineering workflows helps companies build products that better support the communities using them.

APA (7th Edition)

McKinnon, S. A., & Mattson, C. A. (2025). Graph-based social impact diffusion optimization across a theoretical socio-technical system. Proceedings of the Design Society, 5, 1963–1972. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2025.10210

MLA (9th Edition)

McKinnon, Samuel A., and Christopher A. Mattson. "Graph-Based Social Impact Diffusion Optimization across a Theoretical Socio-Technical System." Proceedings of the Design Society, vol. 5, 2025, pp. 1963–1972. Cambridge Core, https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2025.10210.

Chicago (17th Edition – Author-Date)

McKinnon, Samuel A., and Christopher A. Mattson. 2025. "Graph-Based Social Impact Diffusion Optimization across a Theoretical Socio-Technical System." Proceedings of the Design Society 5: 1963–1972. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2025.10210.

Chicago (17th Edition – Notes & Bibliography)

Bibliography Entry: McKinnon, Samuel A., and Christopher A. Mattson. "Graph-Based Social Impact Diffusion Optimization across a Theoretical Socio-Technical System." Proceedings of the Design Society 5 (2025): 1963–1972. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2025.10210.

Footnote / Endnote Format: Samuel A. McKinnon and Christopher A. Mattson, "Graph-Based Social Impact Diffusion Optimization across a Theoretical Socio-Technical System," Proceedings of the Design Society 5 (2025): 1963–1972, https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2025.10210.

IEEE

S. A. McKinnon and C. A. Mattson, "Graph-Based Social Impact Diffusion Optimization across a Theoretical Socio-Technical System," Proc. Des. Soc., vol. 5, pp. 1963–1972, 2025, doi: 10.1017/pds.2025.10210.

BibTeX

@article{mckinnon2025graph, author = {McKinnon, Samuel A. and Mattson, Christopher A.}, title = {Graph-Based Social Impact Diffusion Optimization across a Theoretical Socio-Technical System}, journal = {Proceedings of the Design Society}, volume = {5}, pages = {1963--1972}, year = {2025}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, doi = {10.1017/pds.2025.10210} }