ICT-enabled Innovation Research Articles

A TRIZ-based product-service design approach for developing innovative products

As recent ICT-enabled innovations are becoming increasingly popular, there will inevitably be a need for enterprises to create innovative products and services to help improve people’s daily lives. Although current product-service systems (PSS) envision a future in coupling products and services to co-create more satisfying value for both customers and enterprises, most recent studies focus on a product’s service system design in the context of its use phase rather than a methodical support for implementing entire PSS design. This research aims to address the shifting interest of research and practices in Smart PSS from the viewpoint of product design and development (PDD). It presents a TRIZ-based product-service design approach to assist designers/engineers in developing innovative cyber-physical products (CPP) for use by customers. In the context of COVID-19 pandemic, an empirical study concerning a novel face mask design was conducted to verify the applicability and validity of the proposed design approach. The theoretical frameworks and practical implications of the proposed approach are also discussed.

Theorizing technological spatial intrusion for ICT enabled employee innovation: The mediating role of perceived usefulness

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has reiterated the importance of using ICTs not only for ensuring continuity of employee work and but also for facilitating innovation. However, extensive use of organizational ICTs presents the potential for employee monitoring, control, and surveillance, which could be viewed adversely by employees leading to negative outcomes. Motivated by this dilemma about the mixed influence of organizational ICTs on employee outcomes, we first draw upon the literature on spatial intrusion to identify the two dimensions of employee technological spatial intrusion (TSI) — employee accessibility and employee visibility. Next, taking a locus of causality perspective, we examine the mechanisms through which the two dimensions of TSI impact ICT enabled employee innovation. Our research suggests that TSI may advance or inhibit employee innovation depending on the interactional meaning that the employees attach to the experienced intrusions. We test the proposed research model via a survey of 163 employees from diverse organizations who regularly use ICTs for their work. Results indicate that employee accessibility generally has positive, while employee visibility has negative relationships with employee innovation. Further, we demonstrate that ‘ICT usefulness perceptions’ mediate the relationships between accessibility and ICT-enabled innovation. Our research is among the first to conceptualize TSI and theorize its impact on employee innovation. Demonstrating the positive and negative influence of TSI may help organizations to design technologies that are perceived as more useful by employees. Together, the results from our study have implications for undertaking technological assessments for facilitating employee innovation.

ICT-enabled innovation, enterprise value creation and the rise of electronic social enterprise

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a model of “electronic social entrepreneurship” by integrating social entrepreneurship and information and communication technology to enhance social enterprise effectiveness. Social enterprise has recently emerged as a contemporary form of enterprise to achieve sustainable social order. Thus, besides building economic value, a primary goal of these enterprises is to create superior social value. Although, a considerable number of studies exist on social enterprise, the literature is still lacking in the discussion on electronic social entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted inductive qualitative approach in which in-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted from 32 owners/managers/CEOs of registered social enterprises.FindingsThe analysis of interviews by qualified researchers resulted in the identification of four key themes. These themes included information and communication technology, information and communication technology–based innovation, environmental complexity and social value creation. Frequencies of all the identified themes were calculated, and based on these themes, literature review was conducted to find out the relationships between these themes and to introduce a model of electronic social entrepreneurship.Practical implicationsThe model developed could be used by social enterprises for achieving higher social and economic returns.Originality/valueBased on interviews and literature review, a unique model for electronic social entrepreneurship is developed.

Landscaping digital social innovation in the EU: Structuring the evidence and nurturing the science and policy debate towards a renewed agenda for social change

This paper discusses the results of analysis of mapping ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives promoting social investment across the European Union. The key goal of the research is to provide a deeper understanding of how EU Member States can make better use of ICT-enabled social innovation to implement the actions suggested in the EU Social Investment Package (SIP). The findings of the analysis shed light on the main characteristics and patterns of the initiatives assessed according to an original conceptual framework, and taking into account the characteristics of different welfare systems and service models. Building on the analysis, the paper draws conclusions in terms of the contribution made by ICT-enabled social innovation to the implementation of social investment policies. It also provides recommendations for future research, and outlines implications and possible directions for policy. The conclusions are set to help policymakers and practitioners to use ICT-enabled social innovation to modernise EU welfare systems, providing better and more efficient social services and increasing the wellbeing of citizens. At the same time, the documented research design, its proposed terminology, theoretical framework and empirical findings contribute to the growing scientific interest and debate about ICT-enabled innovation in the field of social services and social policy redesign within the scope of the emerging discussion on the renewed agenda for Social Innovation being shaped as part of the debate on the future of Europe.

ICT-based innovation and its competitive outcome: the role of information intensity

PurposePrior research highlights the vital role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for innovation in response to environmental conditions. However, there is a lack of studies that analyse the determinants of ICT investments on the innovation activities of firms in relation with their impacts on the industrial and competitive dynamics using large data sets. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the authors investigate the effects of ICT investments on the industrial and competitive dynamics for a large and representative panel data set. All the industries are included, and lagged effects of ICT investments are studied. The model is tested on a seven-year panel (2008–2014) of 231 Italian industries using two-stage least squares instrumental-variables estimators with industry time and fixed effects.FindingsThe results indicate that munificent industries and higher ICT spending are interrelated facts, showing that in sectors with more growth opportunities firms invest more in ICT and this leads to higher industry concentration, greater profit dispersion and higher competitive turbulence in the sector. Also, the paper shows that SMEs can rarely take advantage of their ICT-based innovation to start high-growth phenomena.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that ICT-based innovation may create competitive advantages that are hard to sustain over the long-term raising important implications for managers involved in ICT-enabled innovations and policy-makers involved in building programs to foster innovation.Originality/valueAgainst the backdrop of today’s digital transformation, the paper enriches our understanding on the disruptive effects exerted by the digitalization of the innovation process and provides a base to continue the investigation of industrial changes and competitive dynamics.

Reduction of ICT Investment Due to the 2008 Economic Crisis and ICT-Enabled Innovation Performance of Firms

In this paper, we examine empirically the possibility that an economic crisis could affect firms’ innovation performance through the ICT investment channel. In connection with this, it is also interesting to analyze the ICT characteristics of a firm (both ICT inputs and ICT infrastructures) that are associated with its ICT-enabled innovation performance. Our study is based on firm data from the glass/ceramics/cement industry of six European countries. We find a statistically significant negative relationship between ICT-enabled product/service innovation and firm’s crisis vulnerability with respect to ICT investment (pro-cyclical behavior) only for new products/services that contain ICT components. Employment of specialized ICT personnel, ICT infrastructure that supports firm’s internal functions (use of a series of standard administration and production support ICT applications), e-procurement, ICT outsourcing (only for process innovation), the awareness of the relevance of new ICTs, and quality competition (only for product/service innovation) are ICT characteristics that positively correlate with ICT-enabled innovation. Our findings have interesting implications for research and practice.

Does Technostress Inhibit Employee Innovation? Examining the Linear and Curvilinear Influence of Technostress Creators

Despite the increasing quantum of research on technostress, three particularly noteworthy gaps remain. First, though prior studies have described “technostress creators” through the five dimensions techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty in an aggregated way, they have not adequately considered how these technostress creators individually influence job outcomes. Second, though past organizational research suggests a curvilinear relationship between job stress and job outcomes, research has yet to examine whether the stress-performance dynamics for the technostress context follows the organizational stress literature. Third, even though the literature emphasizes information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled innovation in firms, research has not explored what influence the technostress creators have on ICT-enabled innovation in-depth. Grounding our arguments in the control theory of occupational stress and conservation of resources (COR) theory, we first theorize the linear and curvilinear relationships for each of the five technostress creators with ICT-enabled employee innovation and then test the hypothesized relationships via conducting a survey on organizational employees who regularly used ICTs for professional tasks. The results offer a nuanced understanding about the nature of individual technostress creators and their relationships with ICT-enabled employee innovation. On the practical front, our research paves the way for more meaningful technostress-management strategies in organizations.

ICT-enabled innovation in technology rich schools?

This article takes its point of departure from the main findings from research into four upper secondary schools that have implemented digital technology through one-to-one laptop initiatives. Various data sources have been used in order to identify and understand how teaching and learning are organised and the reasons why and how digital technologies are used in educational settings. This is a response to a demand for more knowledge regarding the ways in which desirable changes of education can be realised and the potential role of educational technology this process. The conclusion drawn is that fundamental transformations in education are less concerned with technology and have more to do with changing structures and discourses regarding teaching, learning and education.

Exploring the learning context in shifts between online and offline learning

Exploring the learning context in shifts between online and offline learning

Did the Reduction of ICT Investment Due to the 2008 Economic Crisis Affect the Innovation Performance of Firms? An Exploratory Analysis Based on Firm Data for the European Glass, Ceramics, and Cement Industry

In this paper we investigate empirically, first, the characteristics of the firms that reduced their ICT investment due to the 2008 crisis, particularly the firms’ ICT-related characteristics in terms of ICT budget, skills and applications used. The analysis of the ICT characteristics that may influence the likelihood of having reduced ICT investment as a consequence of the crisis is primarily explorative, thus driven by available data and economic intuition. The second research question we examine empirically refers to the possibility that an economic crisis could affect innovation performance through the ICT investment channel. In connection with this, it is also interesting to analyze the ICT characteristics that are associated with ICT-enabled innovation performance. This is the third research question of this paper. Our study is based on firm data from the glass/ceramics/cement industry in six European countries.We find that ICT-related crisis vulnerability correlates positively with decreasing ICT budgets (pro-cyclical investment behaviour), the existence of skill deficits in ICT, the awareness of and interest in novel ICT applications that presumably request much additional ICT investment, the exposure to strong price competition and the strong presence in international markets, in which activities have significantly decreased due to the crisis. Further, statistically significant negative relationship between ICT-enabled product innovation and crisis vulnerability (pro-cyclical behaviour) is found only for new products or services that contain ICT components, and are therefore directly affected by crisis-related decreasing product demand. Employment of specialized ICT personnel, ICT outsourcing (only for process innovation), competition (only for product innovation), and the use of some ICT applications specific to the kind of innovation pursued are ICT characteristics that positively correlate with ICT-enabled innovation.

Shaping public sector innovation theory: an interpretative framework for ICT-enabled governance innovation

The paper discusses from a conceptual standpoint the need for renewing the lenses through which looking at the phenomenon of ICT-enabled innovation in governance and policy-making, suggesting that a possible `new theory of public sector innovation´ should be advanced. In doing this, it should be considered the specific networked structure of governance systems, the policy-making goals of public value, as well as the various constituencies and stakeholders' relationships that characterize the public sector. For this purpose, the paper first presents the key findings of an extensive literature review conducted to support the quest for renewing ICT-enabled innovation in the public sector and the manner in which it is measured and evaluated. Then, building on recent research conducted by the authors an interpretative framework to assess how ICT-enabled innovations produce changes in governance processes is proposed and discussed. The paper ends with conclusions and indications on future research.

An organizational competence model for innovation intermediaries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the role of intermediaries in open innovation networks in achieving ICT-enabled innovations. The ultimate goal of open innovation networks is to create value for endusers and providers, and to share the risks and rewards. The aim of this paper is to analyse the competences that intermediaries in open innovation networks need to master and exploit during the exploration and exploitation phases of an innovation process. Design/methodology/approach – Based on 14 cases, all of which are examples of collaborative multi-party projects with a focus on ICT-enabled innovations, the paper inductively develops a competence model for intermediaries that can be applied at different stages in the innovation. Findings – The research shows that intermediaries can play an effective role in open innovation, provided they have the right set of competences. It can be concluded that the role of innovation intermediary is most relevant in the creation and development phases. Research limitations/implications – This study certainly has its limitations. The researchers were involved in several cases, which may have biased their views, even though an external expert who was familiar with the case and the work of the intermediary was involved to minimize the risk. Most importantly, the cases all involved of a single intermediary, albeit with many different private and public partners. The cases were primarily located in the Netherlands. It would be interesting to complement this study with results from other innovation intermediaries. Practical implications – The paper identified which competences of organizations in innovation are required, and how to balance the competences between the different partners, including the innovation intermediary. The study allows to link the type of goal of the collaboration to a number of best practices, including the competences and roles that are required at different stages. Originality/value – The paper combines the core innovation competences with the innovation value chain concept developed, and evaluate the resulting model in 14 different cases. The model is new and relevant in practice.

Impact of ICT-Enabled Product and Process Innovations at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Market Separations Perspective

Innovations in products and processes enabled by ICT such as mobile phones and the Internet constitute a rapidly emerging means of market development at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP), which consists of people who earn less than US$2 a day. However, these ICT-enabled market development efforts have not always yielded positive developmental outcomes, in part because market development is hindered by remote location and geographic dispersion of BOP communities, their low and uncertain incomes, and informal local markets having exploitative intermediaries. These conditions imply that BOP consumers and producers are ‘separated’ from marketers and customers, respectively, through physical distance, lack of financial ability, and information asymmetry. The paper examines the question: How do ICT innovations in products and processes impact development at the BOP? Drawing perspectives from the information systems (IS) and marketing literatures, we analyze how and why ICT-enabled innovations in products and processes deployed for market development at the BOP, enable developmental outcomes through reduction of market separations. Analyzing qualitative data gathered from interviews with 33 respondents in India, including BOP individuals, social entrepreneurs, and managers from private organizations, we find that ICT-enabled product and process innovations do have the potential to reduce four types of separations that ‘disconnect’ BOP consumers (producers) from marketers (customers). However, situated social conditions influence the impact of ICT innovations on reduction of separations. The reduction of separations leads to developmental outcomes at the BOP. Implications of our findings for theory, practice, and policy are discussed.

Characterizing and Comparing the Evolution of the Major Global Players in Information and Communications Technologies

Introduction: In this paper, we characterize and compare, using most recent official macro-economic data, the evolution of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry of the most important global players in ICT: China, the European Union (EU), Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the USA. The ICT industry includes IT and telecom hardware manufacturers, telecom operators and software and computer service firms. The ICT industry provides technologies and solutions necessary for the development of the digital economy and society. This analysis is particularly relevant for policy makers since the ICT industry and ICT-enabled innovation make an increasingly important contribution to economic growth. Our research is part of the policy support provided by JRC-IPTS to the European Commission, in particular to its Communications Networks, Content and Technology Directorate General. Approach and Data: We first identify the most important global players in ICT by comparing the economic weight of their ICT industry and their volume of Business Expenditures in RD and it approached in 2009 the level of ICT BERD of Korea. These initial results also provide substantial insights on the role of these economies in global ICT production networks.

Promoting ICT innovations for the ageing population in Japan

ObjectiveThe paper aims to explore effective measures and strategies for the promotion of ICT-enabled innovations for the elderly and people with special needs. MethodsThe paper begins by reviewing current government initiatives in the field of e-health and accessibility that are addressing challenges faced by Japan's rapidly ageing society. It then evaluates the results of Japanese government efforts in the promotion of ICT solutions for its older population against the availability of special infrastructure, device interfaces, and services and applications that meet five essential needs of the elderly with regard to quality of life in highly developed countries. Results and conclusionThe results of the study suggest that more efforts are needed to exploit ICT to transform all domains of society in order to meet the challenges produced by a rapidly ageing population. For that purpose the paper proposes 12 main areas in which to facilitate ICT innovations for an ageing population. It then outlines a number of strategic directions for the formulation of specific measures that will place Japan in the forefront of societal transformation.

A case study on entrepreneurship for sustained innovation

Organizations are facing challenges of continuous innovation to stay competitive in the business landscape. The present paper investigates the inter-relationship among entrepreneurship, dynamic capabilities and innovation. Entrepreneur’s foresights and insights of ICT tend to affect their choices of resources and development of dynamic capabilities, leading to different results of innovation. Based on the literature of business innovation and dynamic capabilities, this study provides a model addressing the links between leadership, with insights and foresights for technology exploration and exploitation, and organizational capabilities of resource integration, learning and transformation to accelerate innovation. A comparative analysis of the evolution of two textile manufacturers in Taiwan, Everest and Central revealed a cyclical process between the leadership decisions and dynamic capabilities of leveraging ICT for sustained competitiveness in these two SMEs. The result suggests that to build strong capabilities for continuous innovation in today’s dynamic business environment, firms need to have leadership with both the attitude and behavior of entrepreneurship, combining the foresight to capture opportunities through ICT and the insight to guide and manage internal resources to achieve ICT-enabled innovation. Key words: Continuous innovation, ICT adoption, SMEs, entrepreneurship, dynamic capabilities.

Bureaucratic Networks or Networked Bureaucracies? Knowledge Sharing in ICT-Enabled Innovation Projects

This paper examines knowledge sharing processes in digital government projects (DGPs). Although knowledge sharing processes are a central feature of the functioning of government, they have received little attention in the literature. The importance of knowledge sharing has become even more evident with the rise of digital government initiatives, as these have a networking effect on bureaucracies. With multiple agencies and multidisciplinary knowledge coming together, it is necessary to combine and reconnect the required knowledge. Based on empirical data from four DGPs in Switzerland and the United States, a theoretical model for knowledge sharing in DGPs is proposed. The model ties together processes and content of knowledge sharing through two task dimensions, each of them subdivided into two phases: (1) Conception and implementation of the project, and (2) Exploration and exploitation of knowledge. I show that the implementation of DG requires a balanced mix of exploration and exploitation of knowledge, where exploration is more important in the conceptual phase, and exploitation becomes more fruitful in the implementation phase. I found that different configurations of knowledge networks in DGPs are related to different stages in the advancement of the project: DGPs rely on sparse networks during the conceptual phase of the project, and tend to employ teams or tightly-bound groups when the project moves towards implementation. The study concludes with implications for research and practice.