Paul Windrum, Doris Schartinger, Luis Rubalcaba, Faiz Gallouj and Marja Toivonen
The research fields of service innovation and social innovation have, until now, been largely disconnected. At the most basic level, a great many social innovations are services…
Abstract
Purpose
The research fields of service innovation and social innovation have, until now, been largely disconnected. At the most basic level, a great many social innovations are services, often public sector services with social entrepreneurs organizing and delivering service innovations. As well as this overlap in the focus of research, scholars in both research fields address socio-economic concerns using multidisciplinary perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework that can bridge the two research fields.
Design/methodology/approach
Inter-linkages between service and social innovation are shown by identifying research areas in which both find a joint heuristic field. This approach has been illustrated in a set of case studies in the health sector in Europe.
Findings
The bridge between social innovation and service innovation research can be built when social innovation is examined through a multi-agent framework. The authors focus on social innovations where the co-creation of novel services is guided by the prominent position taken by citizens, social entrepreneurs or third sector organizations (NGOs or charities) in the innovation process. Of particular interest are the ways in which the interests of individual users and citizens are “represented” by third sector organizations.
Practical implications
The case study of the Austrian nationwide public access defibrillation programme provides an exemplar of the process of co-creation by which this social innovation was developed, implemented and sustained. Here the Austrian Red Cross acted on behalf of citizens, organizing an innovation network capable of creating both the demand and the supply side of a sustainable market for the production and safe application of portable automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in Austria. This process involved, first, raising public awareness of the need for portable defibrillators and acting as a user representative when inducing changes in the design of portable AEDs. Later, there was the institutionalization of AED training in every first aid training in Austria, work with local manufacturers to produce this device, and with large user organizations to install AEDs on their premises.
Originality/value
The paper develops multi-agent model of innovation that enables one to synthesize key concepts in social and service innovation literatures and, thereby, examine the dynamics of invention and diffusion of social innovations.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles played by third sector organizations in forming and managing health innovation networks, and their contribution to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles played by third sector organizations in forming and managing health innovation networks, and their contribution to the co-production of new health services.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data collected in four case studies, the findings highlight the central role of third sector organizations in forming and organizing public-private health networks.
Findings
They are trusted organizations, commonly patient advocates, with perceived neutrality. Members of these organizations take leading roles in innovations networks, using their excellent network connections and their prominent positions within their organizations to leverage competences and funding. A key asset of key third sector individuals is their prior experience of public and private sector organizations and, hence, the ability to move across public-private boundaries.
Practical implications
The research findings have important implications for practitioners. The author identifies a set of key drivers and barriers for the successful organization of innovation networks and the innovative services they develop. Prior knowledge and experience of partners, often linked to personal ties, in initial partner selection but are also important for trust and the effective organization of complementary competences during innovation projects. The absence of direct competitors – whether public, private or third sector organizations – is also highlighted. Non-rivalry and different partners’ interests in the outcomes of the innovation reduces moral hazard and the associated costs of setting up and monitoring formal contracts. Heterogeneity requires flexibility by actors; to understand partners’ different values, cultures, and organizational drivers. Finally, the research findings identify policy and practitioner enrolment as critical for the successful roll out and diffusion of service innovations.
Originality/value
The paper examines an important, but under researched issue – the role of third-sector organizations in collaborative innovation projects.
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Matthew M.C. Allen, Heinz‐Josef Tüselmann, Hamed El‐Sa'id and Paul Windrum
This paper aims to map some of the diversity in employee relations in Germany that is overlooked, first, within assessments of the German labour market that focus on the national…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to map some of the diversity in employee relations in Germany that is overlooked, first, within assessments of the German labour market that focus on the national level and second, within separate studies in this area that emphasize attempts by employers to circumvent important institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopts a quantitative approach to examine data for German manufacturing and service sectors on both the spread of industry‐wide collective agreements and the extent to which workers are paid wage rates that are higher than those set out in those agreements. It also assesses the prevalence of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes.
Findings
Industry‐wide collective agreements are not the burden that they are often portrayed. Actual wage rates and the prevalence of profit sharing and ESOSs make German workplaces more heterogeneous than critics and advocates of the German economic model posit.
Research limitations/implications
The data are limited to Germany; however, Germany occupies a prominent position, not just within much of the employment relations literature, but also in terms of economic output. The research is also limited by an inability to provide evidence on workplaces that undercut sectoral collective agreements and to disaggregate the data further by sector and firm size/location.
Originality/value
The paper provides a counterpoint to the portrayals of employee relations in Germany that often present a homogeneous picture of those relations. For the first time, data on the spread of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes in German workplaces at the sectoral level are provided.
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Knowledge Chinyanyu Mpofu and Lorraine Watkins‐Mathys
This paper aims to examine information and communications technology (ICT) adoption among small hotel businesses in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine information and communications technology (ICT) adoption among small hotel businesses in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative research is based on seven case studies that fall within the South African and European Union small and medium enterprises (SMEs) definitions. The case studies are constructed on the basis of 60 semi‐structured interviews and supporting secondary data. The authors adopt the Gibbs et al. model which identifies and brings together ICT adoption factors that include government role, environmental attributes, owner/manager attributes, organisational attributes and social networks. Archer's epistemological bootstrapping technique is applied for analysing the data. In addition, Zappala and Gray's stage model is used to gauge the level of ICT uptake reached by each case study. In this way, the authors incorporate an important additional element for examining ICT adoption.
Findings
Apart from providing rich insights into the ICT adoption process, the results highlight the individual distinctive behavioural characteristics as well as the stage of ICT adoption reached by each case study. The paper finds that case studies that operated in a stable business environment; with organisational readiness; financial and owner manager support seemed readily engaged in ICT adoption. Social networks played a crucial role, especially among those small businesses with resource constraints.
Research limitations/implications
The findings from seven individual cases in the three South African Development Community (SADC) countries have limited cross‐case and cross‐national comparisons owing to the distinctive organisational characteristics of the SMEs. Furthermore, the selection of case studies from a single sector of small hotel businesses results in data which only reflect the experiences of SMEs in typical urban locations of Johannesburg, Gaborone and Harare. The implications of these limitations mean that further data are needed from other small firm sectors and more SADC countries in order to gain a better understanding of ICT adoption among SMEs in the region.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to the literature on ICT adoption among SMEs in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The results bring new insights from small hotel businesses and help to explain ICT adoption, which is relatively under‐researched in these SADC countries.
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Seleshi Sisaye and Jacob G. Birnberg
The paper extends the organizational learning framework: Structural-Functional (SF)-single-loop or Conflictual-Radical (CR)-double-loop learning to the management accounting…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper extends the organizational learning framework: Structural-Functional (SF)-single-loop or Conflictual-Radical (CR)-double-loop learning to the management accounting literature. The sociological approach of organizational learning is utilized to understand those contingent factors that can explain why management accounting innovations succeed or fail in organizations.
Approach
We view learning as enhancing an organization’s strategic competitive advantage by making it better able to adopt and diffuse innovation in respond to changes in its environment in order to manage improved performance. The success of management accounting innovations is contingent upon whether its learning process involves SF-single-loop or CR-double-loop learning to adopt and diffuse process innovation.
Findings
The paper suggests that the learning strategy that the organization chooses is the reason why some management accounting innovations are more successfully adopted than others and why some innovations are easily diffused in some organizations but not in others. We propose that the sociological approaches to learning provide an alternative framework with which to better understand the adoption and diffusion of process innovations in management accounting systems.
Originality
It has become evident that management accounting researchers need to pay particular attention to an organization’s approach to adoption and diffusion of innovation strategies, particularly when they are designing and implementing process innovation programs for an organization. According to Schulz (2001), there are two interrelated stages of the learning that can shape the outcome of the innovation process in an organization. The first stage is related to the acquisition/production (adoption) of knowledge that results in gathering information, codification, and exploration. This is followed by the second stage which is the distribution or dissemination (diffusion) processes. When these two stages – adoption and diffusion – are applied within an accounting context, they address issues that are commonly associated with the successes and/or failures of management accounting innovations.
Research limitations/implications
Although innovation involves learning, the nature of the learning process does not completely describe the manner in which an innovation affects the organization. Accordingly, we suggest that the two interrelated organizational sociological dimensions of innovations processes, namely, (1) the adoption and diffusion theories of Rogers (1971 and 1995), to approach organizational learning, and (2) the SF (single loop) and CR (double loop) approaches to learning be used simultaneously to describe management accounting innovations.
Practical implications
When an innovation is implemented, it initially can be introduced as an incremental change, one that can be limited in both in its scope and its breadth of administrative changes. This means that situations which are most likely to benefit from its initiation can serve as the prototype for its adoption by the organization. If successful, this can be followed by systemic accounting innovations to instituting broader administrative changes within the existing accounting reporting and control systems.
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Aihie Osarenkhoe, Daniella Fjellström and Mabel Birungi Komunda
We examined the internationalization process of business promotion organizations. We focused on the key stages and strategies and how the networks formed during this process can…
Abstract
Purpose
We examined the internationalization process of business promotion organizations. We focused on the key stages and strategies and how the networks formed during this process can support their partners, particularly SMEs, in facilitating international expansion.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical lens: We combined the experiential learning-commitment interplay of the Uppsala model with a similar mechanism focused on business network relationships. A qualitative methodology: We used it to explore the question and the various forms of embeddedness within networks, offering an in-depth examination, particularly in the challenging natural settings of a cluster organization in geographic information systems (GIS).
Findings
We found that the cluster organization’s internationalization began regionally, forging connections with clusters in the Nordic and Baltic countries and Europe. Over time, the cluster recognized the importance of innovation leadership, leading to the integration of its core competencies with complementary technologies from other global geospatial technology hubs.
Research limitations/implications
The study fills research gaps by examining global linkages between regional clusters and international partners, focusing on external gaps. We explored how clusters can leverage global innovation systems and networks for matchmaking, capitalization and investment. Moreover, we addressed the need for more research on cross-cluster gaps and barriers to global market interaction. By providing insights into expanding beyond local interactions, the study enhances understanding of how clusters can increase the global reach and competitiveness of firms within them.
Originality/value
The platform established during the internationalization process was crucial, as SMEs within clusters often lack the resources, time and expertise to enter international markets alone. This platform helps SMEs overcome barriers such as size, resources and unfamiliarity with foreign markets.
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Hart O. Awa, Sunday C. Eze, Joseph E. Urieto and Benjamin J. Inyang
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of such demographic variables as age composition, gender sensitivity, experience, homogeneity/heterogeneity and educational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of such demographic variables as age composition, gender sensitivity, experience, homogeneity/heterogeneity and educational attainment of top management teams (TMT) on small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)' information technology (IT) adoption behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collection method was primarily field survey guided by the five working hypotheses and research objectives. Analysis of the data was made with multiple regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient as there were five independent variables that entered into the equation, though at different stages/times.
Findings
As the study unravelled, the age composition, experience and gender sensitivity of TMT members of SMEs were found to have significantly strong power of predicting the extent of adoption of IT. Group homogeneity, in terms of functional track, has negative impacts and education has weak impacts, contrary to many previous inquiries.
Practical implications
The paper takes a sample of subjects across industries from where findings are specifically generalized. Extended data and measures are required for further in‐depth investigation in specific areas and industries not covered by this work in order to build external validity and further expand knowledge. Also, the paper suggests that marketers of IT infrastructures are encouraged to focus more on individual and group idiosyncrasies of decision makers measured by age, gender and experience in order to accurately predict and timely package programmes that win trial, loyal, switching and viral/advocacy behaviours in this global age.
Originality/value
The paper bridges a knowledge gap by replicating and complementing upper echelon theory on the extent to which IT adoption is determined and shaped by the demographic factors of members of TMT in Nigeria, where such studies rarely exist.