Service Innovation Using Actor Network Theory

Abstract

Our economy is becoming more and more service-oriented, with distinctions between services and non-services making less and less sense. In today’s society, innovations are no longer luxury items. Instead, they are necessities and a means of economic development and competitiveness. The introduction of innovative new services is a priority for most companies. Innovation now holds the key to service performance. Currently there is a lack of understanding of the science underlying the design and operation of service systems. New conceptual understanding and theoretical underpinnings are required to systematically describe the nature and behaviour of service systems. We believe that Actor Network Theory (ANT) can be used as a theoretical lens to study the development and adoption of service innovation. ANT is a heterogeneous amalgamation of conceptual, textual and social actors. It is well suited to explain and help with the design of service systems. The development and adoption of service innovation requires the integration of multiple elements including people, technologies and networks across organisations. Technologies and interests of actors need to be aligned and coordinated for successful service innovation. In this paper we show how ANT is adopted as a theoretical framework for understanding the relationships among the actors and show how these actors have their needs shaped by the network formation during the development and adoption of service innovation for a university.