Creating Common Ground: Formalizing and Designing Employee-driven Innovation Processes with Decision Points

Striving for innovation and advancement, a phenomenon can be observed wherein organizations are progressively incorporating their \u27ordinary\u27 employees into the innovation process, capitalizing on their creativity, expertise, and knowledge to foster novel ideas. Such integration mandates formalized yet flexible processes to offer a common ground for both employees as idea contributors and managers as decision-makers, enabling control and governance. Despite this, a conspicuous knowledge gap exists within the realm of employee-driven innovation (EDI) concerning the design of EDI processes. In this paper, we present the outcomes of an action design research project conducted with a medium-sized organization, focusing on formalizing and designing an EDI process with decision points through three iterative cycles. This research contributes fourteen meta-requirements and eleven design principles for EDI process design, thereby expanding the theoretical (prescriptive) knowledge base. Additionally, the results offer practical implications, enabling organizations to adopt the EDI process accordingly

FACILITATING EMPLOYEE-DRIVEN DIGITAL INNOVATION THROUGH THE USE OF HACKATHONS – A CASE STUDY

Open innovation has challenged and redefined the way organizations approach innovation and interact with stakeholders in the business environment. The democratization of work life has led to an increasing degree of inclusion of ordinary employees in the innovation processes, known as employee-driven innovation. Research on employee-driven innovation has up until now strongly focused on the characteristics and prerequisites for this form of innovation to arise. To a lesser extent, research has looked at how to facilitate the process of employee-driven innovation within organizations. Hackathons have emerged as a structured way to approach innovation in many organizations, especially software companies. In this study, we use a major international software company as a case study to look at the extent to which hackathons can facilitate employee-driven innovation, and especially digital innovation. We name this employee-driven digital innovation for two reasons: 1) because innovation processes are digitally mediated and 2) because the innovation products are also digital. Finally, based on theory from employee-driven innovation, we provide guidelines on how hackathons should be designed to increase the effects of hackathons as an enabler of employee-driven digital innovation

The Influence of Mental Models on Employee-Driven Digital Process Innovation during Times of a Crisis

Digital technologies democratise the development of digital innovation. The resulting employee-driven digital innovation has become a major driver for digital transfor-mations and especially important during crisis times, such as the COVID 19 pandemic. To better understand cognitive factors influencing employee-driven digital process innovation (EDPI), we investigate the role of individual mental models for EDPI during times of a crisis compared to ‘normal’ times. Drawing from longitudinal data before and during the COVID 19 crisis, we find mental models having a significant influence on EDPI behaviour during ‘normal’ times. This relationship, however, loses robustness during the crisis, when employees with more accurate mental models show significant less EDPI behaviour before slowly recovering. We relate these findings to the mental models’ explanatory power and derive recommendations for management. Our study contributes explanatory knowledge on employee-driven digital innovation and related cognitive antecedents

INNOVATION ON THE VENDOR SIDE - ANALYZING THE EFFECTS OF INNOVATION INITIATIVES ON OUTSOURCING PROVIDERS\u27 PERFORMANCE

‘Innovation through outsourcing’ describes a firm’s strategy to receive innovation by outsourcing IT or IT-intensive processes to more competent and innovative service providers who, in turn, do not only operate their activities but also improve and innovate for or on behalf of their clients. This strategy has gathered some attention by recent research, though it has almost only examined the client perspective, yet. We contribute to this sub-field of IT outsourcing/BPO research by analyzing vendors’ strategies to improve their innovation capability and thus to be more innovative for their clients. Based on a longitudinal global dataset of 136 outsourcing vendors, we analyze which innovation-enabling initiatives are related to superior firm performance (in terms of revenue growth). We find that particularly employee-involving initiatives are promising: outsourcing vendors that have implemented, e.g., idea/innovation platforms that support employee-driven innovation, receive above-average revenue growth

A Case Study of Enterprise-wide Digital Innovation: Involving Non-IT Employees

Today’s incumbent organisations are under pressure to proactively leverage their resources for digital innovation. Enterprise-wide initiatives hold potential in this regard by enabling employees across departments to contribute their knowledge, skills, and creativity towards digital innovation. However, IT units often struggle to transfer the ideas of non-IT employees into marketable digital solutions. Our understanding of how organisations coordinate and integrate employees’ contributions to digital innovation is limited, yet critical to their survival and growth. Taking a resource-based approach, we identify three complementary competences –orchestration, self-orchestration, and choreography– that support enterprise-wide digital innovation. Specifically, we report how these competences helped an incumbent organisation initiate digital innovation with its non-IT employees while making efficient use of its IT resources. Our study further shows that building these competences requires the strategic use of digital artefacts and their multiple roles in the innovation process

A Case Study of Enterprise-wide Digital Innovation: Involving Non-IT Employees

Today’s incumbent organisations are under pressure to proactively leverage their resources for digital innovation. Enterprise-wide initiatives hold potential in this regard by enabling employees across departments to contribute their knowledge, skills, and creativity towards digital innovation. However, IT units often struggle to transfer the ideas of non-IT employees into marketable digital solutions. Our understanding of how organisations coordinate and integrate employees’ contributions to digital innovation is limited, yet critical to their survival and growth. Taking a resource-based approach, we identify three complementary competences –orchestration, self-orchestration, and choreography– that support enterprise-wide digital innovation. Specifically, we report how these competences helped an incumbent organisation initiate digital innovation with its non-IT employees while making efficient use of its IT resources. Our study further shows that building these competences requires the strategic use of digital artefacts and their multiple roles in the innovation process

Rapid Intrapreneurship with a Human Touch

The pace of change in digital organisations necessitates the adoption of rapid innovation practices. While rapid innovation is typically reactive to external uncertainties and shocks, firms that are capable of generating internal disruptions and innovating quickly can gain a competitive edge. This research investigates the role of intrapreneurship in promoting rapid innovation within an organisation\u27s proprietary framework, employing an employee-led, human-centric approach. To explore this concept, the qualitative case study approach will be utilised, with MoMo, Vietnam\u27s leading E-Wallet, serving as a prime example of an organisation that has successfully implemented such practices. Through an analysis of MoMo\u27s internal processes and culture, this research aims to uncover the factors that contribute to the success of intrapreneurial endeavours and rapid innovation within digital organisations

Investigating the value of workplace-endorsed social media for improving deskbound employee physical activity program engagement and reducing sedentary behaviour health risks

Sedentary (prolonged sitting) behaviour is now recognised as an independent health risk factor contributing to a number of preventable lifestyle related diseases (Katzmarzyk, Church, Craig, & Bouchard, 2009). The widespread integration of computers into the office environment has seen an increase in employee work time participating in technology facilitated desk-based tasks requiring them to remain physically inactive (Philipson & Posner, 2003). According to recent research, workplace sedentary behavioural practices have objectively been measured as accounting for 81.8% of employee time, with a further 15.3% categorised as light activity within office based populations (Parry & Straker, 2013). With a recorded national employment rate of 11,613,900 employees representing 64.6% of the total population as at November 2014 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014b), this recognisably poses significant need to develop mitigating strategies in reducing sedentary related health and business impacts. In recognition of the employee health hazards associated with prolonged workplace sedentary behaviours, increasing numbers of organisations have sought to mitigate this risk by introducing a variety of workplace wellness programs, many of which incorporate a physical activity (PA) focus or component. Owing to the huge increase in popularity of social media in recent years, there has been increased research into the effectiveness of utilising internet-enabled social media to foster enhanced participant engagement with workplace PA programs (Williams, Hamm, Shulhan, Vandermeer, & Hartling, 2014). This research therefore sought to investigate the value of workplace-endorsed social media for improving the engagement of deskbound employees in workplace PA programs and reducing the health risks associated with sedentary behaviour. It also investigated the influence of organisational cultural on employee engagement with workplace physical activity programs including both the perceived and actual experiences of using social media in association with a globalised workplace physical activity program. In association with iconic West Australian health insurance organisation HBF Health, two studies were conducted using of a number of participant data collection techniques including focus groups, surveys, and interviews which were further complemented by the adoption of an ethnographic participant-observational approach over 24 months. This extensive workplace embedded exposure afforded a well-qualified perspective of workplace cultural influences, participatory responses and organisational endorsement for workplace wellbeing incorporating social media enabled PA programs. Within both studies, predominantly sedentary employees were questioned on their perceptions of workplace health enhancement through social media as well as following active participation in a globalised workplace PA program utilising various forms of social media. This research found that desk-based employees participating in a workplace PA program identified value in using peer-supportive social media to address sedentary behaviour and other health risks within their office workplace. It was also acknowledged that in-house organisational social media based communication systems were seen as offering localised benefits that more globally-oriented social media mechanisms could not deliver