Differential perception of innovation with particular reference to the organisational context

Differential perception of innovation is a research area which has been advocated as a suitable topic for study in recent years. It developed from the problems encountered within earlier perception of innovation studies which sought to establish what characteristics of an innovation affected the ease of its adoption. While some success was achieved In relating perception of innovation to adoption behaviour, variability encountered Within groups expected - to fercelve innovation similarly suggested that the needs and experiences of the potential adopter were significantly affecting the research findings. Such analysis being supported by both sociological and psychological perceptual research. The present study sought to identify the presence of differential perception of innovation and explore the nature of the process. It was decided to base the research in an organisational context and to concentrate upon manufacturing innovation. It has been recognised that such adoption of technological innovation is commonly the product of a collective decision-making process, involving individuals from a variety of occupational backgrounds, both in terms of occupational speciality and level within the hierarchy. Such roles appeared likely to significantly influence perception of technological innovation, as gathered through an appropriate measure and were readily identifiable. Data vas collected by means of a face-to-face card presentation technique, a questionnaire and through case study material. Differential perception of innovation effects were apparent In the results, many similarities and differences of perception being related to the needs and experiences of the individuals studied. Phenomenological analysis, which recognises the total nature of experience in infiuencing behaviour, offered the best means of explaining the findings. It was also clear that the bureaucratic model of role definition was not applicable to the area studied, it seeming likely that such definitions are weaker under conditions of uncertainty, such as encountered in innovative decision-making.

Success factors of product innovation:an updated meta-analysis

Assessing factors that predict new product success (NPS) holds critical importance for companies, as research shows that despite considerable new product investment, success rates are generally below 25%. Over the decades, meta-analytical attempts have been made to summarize empirical findings on NPS factors. However, market environment changes such as increased global competition, as well as methodological advancements in meta-analytical research, present a timely opportunity to augment their results. Hence, a key objective of this research is to provide an updated and extended meta-analytic investigation of the factors affecting NPS. Using Henard and Szymanski's meta-analysis as the most comprehensive recent summary of empirical findings, this study updates their findings by analyzing articles published from 1999 through 2011, the period following the original meta-analysis. Based on 233 empirical studies (from 204 manuscripts) on NPS, with a total 2618 effect sizes, this study also takes advantage of more recent methodological developments by re-calculating effects of the meta-analysis employing a random effects model. The study's scope broadens by including overlooked but important additional variables, notably “country culture,” and discusses substantive differences between the updated meta-analysis and its predecessor. Results reveal generally weaker effect sizes than those reported by Henard and Szymanski in 2001, and provide evolutionary evidence of decreased effects of common success factors over time. Moreover, culture emerges as an important moderating factor, weakening effect sizes for individualistic countries and strengthening effects for risk-averse countries, highlighting the importance of further investigating culture's role in product innovation studies, and of tracking changes of success factors of product innovations. Finally, a sharp increase since 1999 in studies investigating product and process characteristics identifies a significant shift in research interest in new product development success factors. The finding that the importance of success factors generally declines over time calls for new theoretical approaches to better capture the nature of new product development (NPD) success factors. One might speculate that the potential to create competitive advantages through an understanding of NPD success factors is reduced as knowledge of these factors becomes more widespread among managers. Results also imply that managers attempting to improve success rates of NPDs need to consider national culture as this factor exhibits a strong moderating effect: Working in varied cultural contexts will result in differing antecedents of successful new product ventures.

Institutional work at field-configuring events:shaping industry change within sustainable transitions

Adopting an institutional approach from organization studies, this paper explores the role of key actors on “purposeful governance for sustainability” (Smith, Voss et al. 2010: 444) through the case of smart metering in the UK. Institutions are enduring patterns in social life, reflected in identities, routines, rules, shared meanings and social relations, which enable, and constrain, the beliefs and behaviours of individual and collective actors within a field (Thornton and Ocasio 2008). Large-scale external initiatives designed to drive regime-level change prompt ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ to perform ‘institutional work’ – “purposive action aimed at creating, maintaining and disrupting institutions” (Lawrence and Suddaby, 2006). Organization scholars are giving increasing attention to ‘field-configuring events’ (FCEs) which provide social spaces for diverse organizational actors to come together to collectively shape socio-technical pathways (Lampel and Meyer 2008). Our starting point for this exploratory study is that FCEs can offer important insights to the dynamics, politics and governance of sustainability transitions. Methodologically, FCEs allow us to observe and “link field evolution at the macro-level with individual action at the micro-level” (Lampel and Meyer, 2008: 1025). We examine the work of actors during a series of smart metering industry forums over a three-year period (industry presentations [n= 77] and panel discussions [n= 16]). The findings reveal new insights about how institutional change unfolds, alongside technological transitions, in ways that are partial and aligned with the interests of powerful incumbents whose voices are frequently heard at FCEs. The paper offers three contributions. First, the study responds to calls for more research examining FCEs and the role they play in transforming institutional fields. Second, the emergent findings extend research on institutional work by advancing our understanding of a specific site of institutional work, namely a face-to-face inter-organizational arena. Finally, in line with the research agenda for innovation studies and sustainability transitions elaborated by Smith et al (2010), the paper illustrates how actors in a social system respond to, translate, and enact interventions designed to promote industrial transformation, ultimately shaping the sustainability transition pathway.

Competing for knowledge:creating, connecting and growing

With the buzzwords of knowledge-based economy and knowledge-driven economy, policy-makers, as well as journalists and management consultants, are pushing forward a vision of change that transforms the way advanced economies work. Yet little is understood about how the knowledge-based economy differs from the old, traditional economy. It is generally agreed that the phenomenon has grown out of the branch of economic thought known as new growth theory. Digesting up-to-date thinking in economics, management, innovation studies and economic geography, this significant volume provides an account of these developments and how they have transformed advanced economies.

The role of SHRM in turning tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge:a cross-national study of the UK and Malta

We propose that strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices nurture a context of knowledge sharing where tacit knowledge can be turned into explicit knowledge and that this type of knowledge sharing promotes innovative behaviours. We draw on the fields of knowledge management and international human resource management to show why organisations need to turn tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge to gain most from their workforce skills and creativity. Findings from a couple of cross-national case studies show how SHRM promotes employees to interact and share knowledge so that there is a conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge that informs innovative behaviour. In Case Study 1, the focus is on a UK local authority that implemented a bundle of SHRM practices through a people management programme, which resulted in a flattened management structure. In Case Study 2, the focus is on a geriatric hospital in Malta that introduced a management presence to an interdisciplinary team working to improve patient care. The analysis also highlights the methodological contribution of qualitative research for enabling inductive enquiry that yields emergent themes - an approach not typically seen in SHRM innovation studies. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Entrepreneurship and innovation through experience:student and employer perspectives of the value of work-based learning in promoting entrepreneurialism

The 'internationalisation' of Business and Management education, reflective of EU enlargement and the unprecedented globalisation of education, has resulted in growing numbers of overseas students adding a diversity and richness to the learning environment within many contemporary European Higher Educational Institutions (Green, 2006, Sliwa & Grandy, 2006). However, cross-national studies analyzing the impact that the internationalisation of business education has on the employability of business and management graduates are rare. Furthermore, there exists a notable gap in research aimed at identifying and conceptualising the generic business skills and competencies required by European employers of business and management graduates. By proposing a conceptual framework based upon a working model of business graduate employability, this goes some way to addressing this gap.

Mild cognitive decline. A position statement of the Cognitive Decline Group of the European Innovation Partnership for Active and Healthy Ageing (EIPAHA)

Introduction Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a term used to describe a level of decline in cognition which is seen as an intermediate stage between normal ageing and dementia, and which many consider to be a prodromal stage of neurodegeneration that may become dementia. That is, it is perceived as a high risk level of cognitive change. The increasing burden of dementia in our society, but also our increasing understanding of its risk factors and potential interventions, require diligent management of MCI in order to find strategies that produce effective prevention of dementia. Aim To update knowledge regarding mild cognitive impairment, and to bring together and appraise evidence about the main features of clinical interest: definitions, prevalence and stability, risk factors, screening, and management and intervention. Methods Literature review and consensus of expert opinion. Results and conclusion MCI describes a level of impairment in which deteriorating cognitive functions still allow for reasonable independent living, including some compensatory strategies. While there is evidence for some early risk factors, there is still a need to more precisely delineate and distinguish early manifestations of frank dementia from cognitive impairment that is less likely to progress to dementia, and furthermore to develop improved prospective evidence for positive response to intervention. An important limitation derives from the scarcity of studies that take MCI as an endpoint. Strategies for effective management suffer from the same limitation, since most studies have focused on dementia. Behavioural changes may represent the most cost-effective approach.

The phenomenology of minority-majority status:effects on innovation in argument generation

In three experiments, we manipulated participants' perceived numerical status and compared the originality and creativity of arguments generated by members of numerical minorities and majorities. Independent judges, blind to experimental conditions, rated participants' written arguments. In Studies 1 and 2, we found that participants assigned to a numerical minority generated more original arguments when advocating their own position than did numerical majorities. In Study 3, an equal-factions control group was included in the design, and all participants were instructed to argue for a counter-attitudinal position. Those in the numerical minority generated more creative arguments than those in both the majority and equal-factions conditions, but not stronger arguments. We propose cognitive and social processes that may underlie our obtained effects and discuss implications for minority influence research.

From national innovation systems to national innovation capacity:internationalisation and technology transfer perspectives

The last decade or so has witnessed the emergence of the national innovation system (NIS) phenomenon. Since then, many scholars have investigated NIS and its implementation in different countries. However, there are very few investigations into the relationship between the NIS of a country and its national innovation capacity. This paper aims to make a contribution in this area by examining the link that currently exists between these two topics. Whilst examining this relationship, we also explore internationalisation and technology transfer, being cognate areas that have been investigated during the same period. This follows our assertion that the link between NIS and national innovation capacity is the mechanism of internationalisation and technology transfer. The NIS approach was introduced in the late 1980s (see Freeman, 1987; Dosi et al., 1988) and further elaborated later (see Lundvall, 1992; Nelson, 1993; Edquist, 1997). In essence, a country?s NIS is a historically grown subsystem of the entire national economy consisting of organisations and institutions which play a major role in the innovative activity in the country. In the NIS approach, interactions within organisations as well as the interplay between organisations and institutions are of central importance. The NIS approach has been used to reveal the structure of the innovation processes and the main actors involved in them in industrialised and emerging countries. Although the national focus remains strong, it has been accompanied by studies seeking to analyse the notion of systems of innovation at an international level and at a sub-national scale (Archibugi et al., 1999). Dosi in the edition of Archibugi et al. (1999) argues that the general background of the discussion of national systems is the observation of non-random distributions across countries of: corporate capabilities; organisational forms; strategies; and ultimately revealed performances, in terms of production efficiency and inputs productivities, rates of innovation, rates of adoption/diffusion of innovation themselves, dynamics of market shares on the world markets, growth of income and employment. They also mention that there are several approaches to NIS. Nelson (1993) focuses upon the specificities of national institutions and policies supporting directly or indirectly innovation, diffusion and skills accumulation. Patel and Pavitt (1991) have stressed the links between the national patterns of technological accumulation and the competencies and innovative strategies of a few major national companies. Amable et al (1997) and Soskice (1993) and Zysman (1994) focus on the specifics of national institutions including, for example, the forms of organization, financial and labour markets, training institutions, forms of state intervention in the economy etc. However, the most common reference is by Lundvall (1992) who argues that the focus on the national level is associated with the fact that national economies vary according to their production system and their institutional framework and these differences are in turn strengthened by different historical experiences, language and culture. On the other hand, the national innovation capability consists of abilities to create and carry new technological possibilities through to economic practice. The term covers a wide range of activities from capability to invent to capability to innovate and to capability to improve existing technology beyond the original design parameters (Kim, 1997). The term innovation is often associated by many with technological change at international frontiers. However, technological capability is not the same as innovation capability. Technological capability refers to assimilation, use, adaptation, and change to existing technologies. It also enables the creation of new technologies and development of new products and processes in response to changing economic environments. It denotes operational command over knowledge (Kim, 1997). It is manifested not merely by the knowledge possessed, but, more important, by the uses to which that knowledge can be put and by the proficiency with which it is applied in the activities of investment and production and in the creation of new knowledge (Westphal et al., 1985). Therefore, the analytical framework that is used in this paper is based on the way a country derives from its NIS a national innovation capacity. There are two perspectives that are identified on this way. These are internationalisation and technology transfer. Even though NIS is not directly related to national innovation capacity, to achieve national innovation capacity from NIS, the country should have the ability for technology transfer. Technology transfer is a link between these two phenomena. On the other hand, internationalisation can be either the input or the output of the relationship between NIS and national innovation capability. If a company is investing in a country because of its national innovation capacity, this can be regarded as an input to the relationship between NIS and national innovation capacity. If this company is investigating the national innovation capacity of a country then, for its internationalisation, the national innovation capacity should be important, which in turn means this company is active in innovation and innovation is also an important success factor. The interrelationship between the investment of the company and the NIS of the country (assuming that the country is competent and competitive in technology transfer) will generate and improve that country?s national innovation capacity. This is the output of internationalisation from the relationship between NIS and national innovation capacity. When companies are evaluating whether to internationalise, they investigate certain factors in the countries in which they are considering to invest. The ability to transfer technology is dependent on ability to adopt a new technology and also on the learning derived from this technology. If countries wish to attract innovation related investment they need to show their ability to have a NIS and also the capability to transfer technology. Without the technology transfer capability, the NIS is not functioning. Therefore, companies that internationalise will investigate the factors common to NIS, technology transfer, and their business needs. Through this paper we will demonstrate this link though its mechanisms. Our research will be through extensive literature review and identifying relevant aspects of previous research carried out by the authors. It will investigate certain factors of different countries that are successful in attracting innovation related foreign direct investment. Through these, we will point out the factors that are important for the link and mechanisms of NIS and national innovation capability.

When promoting positive feelings pays:Aggregate job satisfaction, work design features, and innovation in manufacturing organizations

This study investigates the relationship between aggregate job satisfaction and organizational innovation. In a sample of manufacturing companies, data were gathered from 3717 employees in 28 UK manufacturing organizations about their job satisfaction and aggregated to the organizational level. Data on innovation in technology/processes were gathered from multiple respondents in the same organizations 24 months later. The results revealed that aggregate job satisfaction was a significant predictor of subsequent organizational innovation, even after controlling for prior organizational innovation and profitability. Moreover the data indicated that the relationship between aggregate job satisfaction and innovation in production technology/processes was moderated by two factors: job variety and a commitment to "single status". Unlike previous studies, we conceptualize job satisfaction at the aggregate rather than the individual level and examine innovation rather than creativity. We propose that where the majority of employees experience job satisfaction, they will endorse rather than resist innovation and work collaboratively to implement as well as to generate creative ideas.

Minority dissent and team innovation:the importance of participation in decision making

This study integrates research on minority dissent and individual creativity, as well as team diversity and the quality of group decision making, with research on team participation in decision making. From these lines of research, it was proposed that minority dissent would predict innovation in teams but only when teams have high levels of participation in decision making. This hypothesis was tested in 2 studies, 1 involving a homogeneous sample of self-managed teams and 1 involving a heterogeneous sample of cross-functional teams. Study 1 suggested that a newly developed scale to measure minority dissent has discriminant validity. Both Study 1 and Study 2 showed more innovations under high rather than low levels of minority dissent but only when there was a high degree of participation in team decision making. It is concluded that minority dissent stimulates creativity and divergent thought, which, through participation, manifest as innovation.

Organizing the innovation process:complementarities in innovation networking

This paper contributes to the developing literature on complementarities in organizational design. We test for the existence of complementarities in the use of external networking between stages of the innovation process in a sample of UK and German manufacturing plants. Our evidence suggests some differences between the UK and Germany in terms of the optimal combination of innovation activities in which to implement external networking. Broadly, there is more evidence of complementarities in the case of Germany, with the exception of the product engineering stage. By contrast, the UK exhibits generally strong evidence of substitutability in external networking in different stages, except between the identification of new products and product design and development stages. These findings suggest that previous studies indicating strong complementarity between internal and external knowledge sources have provided only part of the picture of the strategic dilemmas facing firms.

Service innovation, embeddedness and business performance:evidence from Northern Ireland

This paper explores the factors that determine innovation by service firms, and in particular the contribution of intra- and extra-regional connectivity. Subsequently, it is examined how service firms' innovation activity relates to productivity and export behaviour. The empirical analysis is based on matched data from the 2005 UK Innovation Survey - the UK component of the 4th Community Innovation Survey (CIS) - and the Annual Business Inquiry for Northern Ireland. Evidence is found of negative intra-regional embeddedness effects, but there is a positive contribution to innovation from extra-regional connectivity, particularly links to customers. Relationships between innovation, exporting, and productivity prove complex, but suggest that innovation itself is not sufficient to generate productivity improvements. Only when innovation is combined with increased export activity are productivity gains evident.

The limits of open innovation:openness and (quasi-)markets in the organization of innovation

Recent studies have stressed the importance of ‘open innovation’ as a means of enhancing innovation performance. The essence of the open innovation model is to take advantage of external as well as internal knowledge sources in developing and commercialising innovation, so avoiding an excessively narrow internal focus in a key area of corporate activity. Although the external aspect of open innovation is often stressed, another key aspect involves maximising the flow of ideas and knowledge from different sources within the firm, for example through knowledge sharing via the use of cross-functional teams. A fully open innovation approach would therefore combine both aspects i.e. cross-functional teams with boundary-spanning knowledge linkages. This suggests that there should be complementarities between the use cross-functional teams with boundary-spanning knowledge linkages i.e. the returns to implementing open innovation in one innovation activity is should be greater if open innovation is already in place in another innovation activity. However, our findings – based on a large sample of UK and German manufacturing plants – do not support this view. Our results suggest that in practice the benefits envisaged in the open innovation model are not generally achievable by the majority of plants, and that instead the adoption of open innovation across the whole innovation process is likely to reduce innovation outputs. Our results provide some guidance on the type of activities where the adoption of a market-based governance structure such as open innovation may be most valuable. This is likely to be in innovation activities where search is deterministic, activities are separable, and where the required level of knowledge sharing is correspondingly moderate – in other words those activities which are more routinized. For this type of activity market-based governance mechanisms (i.e. open innovation) may well be more efficient than hierarchical governance structures. For other innovation activities where outcomes are more uncertain and unpredictable and the risks of knowledge exchange hazards are greater, quasi-market based governance structures such as open innovation are likely to be subject to rapidly diminishing returns in terms of innovation outputs.