Gendering innovation process in an industrial plant – revisiting tokenism, gender and innovation

Abstract

Purpose – This article provides an analysis of the gendering process in product innovation. Interwoven into this process is the encapsulation of a token position. The article expands and deepens the tokenism theory through a discussion of gender in the innovation process. The article draws from recent and classical theories of gender, ranging from gendering approaches to Acker's theory of gendered organisations and processes within organisations, and Moss Kanter's tokenism theory. The main objective of the article is to address this gap in the tokenicsm discussion and introduce a new concept of “processual tokenism”. Design/methodology/approach – The article builds on an intensive single case study and uses a narrative methodology and approach in the analysis of the data of the case in question. The primary data used in the narratives consist of interview data. The article also uses documents and reports as secondary data in the narrative construction. The approach used is theoretical, interpretative and ...