Coordinating service ecosystems for innovation: The case of tourism destination innovation projects

Abstract

The study aimed to provide an in-depth understanding of the coordination mechanisms that facilitate collaboration in service ecosystems for the development of an innovation project. Recent studies have shown that coordination mechanisms, rather than formal agreements, are necessary to manage collaboration in ecosystem settings. Although coordination mechanisms are well identified from a firm/organization perspective, the ecosystem perspective, where independent organizations manage their own agenda and priorities, has not yet been investigated. This study focused on tourism destination ecosystems to identify and examine the coordination mechanisms that facilitate collaboration for a new tourism destination project. It used the in-depth case research analysis of two tourism destination projects at their initial development stage to identify the coordination mechanisms. Moreover, empirical findings were used to identify the key challenges for the development of an innovation project in the context of tourism destination service ecosystems. A conceptual framework of coordination mechanisms in the development of an innovation project in ecosystems is proposed. This framework provides new insights on the role of coordination mechanisms in innovation ecosystems by proposing two sets of coordination mechanism concepts: the designing of an innovative service ecosystem and the designing of the new offering. This study contributes to emerging research on how coordination mechanisms facilitate collaboration among multiple and heterogeneous organizations for the development of an innovation project in the age of ecosystems.