International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management

To support trainers in implementing emerging educational technologies into their practices, training centers nominate one or several change agents. The aim of this study is to identify their individual human factors in this organizational change process. Twenty-one experts in organizational change, training, and educational technology participated in this study that combined semi-structured interviews with two job analysis questionnaires. The data were first treated separately with descriptive statistics and directed content analysis. They were then analyzed jointly with a factorial correspondence analysis completed with a hierarchical ascending classification. Results highlight the core activity of a project manager and eight additional activities with their own individual human factors. They provide to the change agents’ team benefits, such as management, strategy, communication, training, analysis, facilitation, and technological, pedagogical, and financial expertise. Those findings suggest a protean activity of the change agent, hardly manageable by a single person, which practitioners should anticipate when managing change. This research also proposes an original method to obtain a deeper understanding of an unexplored concept like change agents.

The combination of metaverses and other recent technologies has sparked innovations in different industries. Driven by this motivation, our work aimed to articulate a theoretical essay covering the potential for innovation in the metaverses and its impacts on sociotechnical relations. Initially, a systematic mapping study was carried out, which allowed us to provide an analytical view of how the metaverse has been discussed in the light of innovation research. Then, we designed a framework (called MetaInnovation) grounded on the innovation drivers as elements of these sets of physical (domain) and metaverse (image) realities that are linked by the technologies that mediate these two worlds (realities). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work which (i) conducts a systematic mapping study about the intersection between innovation and metaverse and (ii) offers an approach to address these specific sociotechnical constructs regarding metaverse innovation.

Digital transformation has transformed the business processes and operations of firms worldwide. Companies need to adopt new technologies capable of automating and boosting the business to maintain competitiveness in a global market. This study aims to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) that impact Cloud ERP implementation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A systematic literature review was conducted with the support of the PRISMA-P. The identified factors were classified following the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework. The CSFs that stood out most were system compatibility with the organization’s needs, data security, and senior management commitment support. This study contributes to the literature by identifying and grouping the CSFs that most impact the implementation of Cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) in SMEs and to the practice by serving as a guide for managers and decision-makers of SMEs.

Does international R&D collaboration produce patents of higher technological value? Applied to the case of Siemens, this paper utilizes the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and Google Patents statistics to identify patterns within invention and co-invention. For example, sole patenting by headquarters or subsidiaries is juxtaposed with co-invented patent filings, vertical versus horizontal co-patented applications and internal versus external. The paper compares the effect of different forms of co-invention on the technological value of patent filings, proxied by forward external citations. The results are based on 2013 and 2019 Siemens PCT data and confirm the positive effect of international co-invention, vis-à-vis sole patenting, on the technological value of patents. Patent applications co-invented by foreign subsidiaries, or vertically collaborated applications, create higher technological value, while headquarters or single subsidiaries generate fewer forward citations. Moreover, co-patenting by subsidiaries with external partners creates higher technological value than sole patenting by headquarters. Siemens has recognized the value of partnerships with outside inventors and leveraged these relationships in order to generate higher technological value. We contribute by building a unique and detailed classification of co-patenting patterns, and the paper develops a strong case for cross-country co-patenting, especially with external partners. From a managerial perspective, international co-patenting involving external partners has strategic value and must be fostered.

This study was conducted to explore barriers to ABC adoption in the Tanzanian manufacturing and service sectors, notwithstanding its superiority over the traditional costing system. It went further to suggest solutions to such barriers by evaluating the mediating role of behavioral preferences on the causal relationship between the innovation attributes composite and ABC adoption. Based on the cross-sectional survey design, primary data were collected from a sample of 188 companies located in the Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Dodoma regions. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) revealed that none of the behavioral preferences positively mediated the causal relationship between the innovation attributes composite and ABC adoption at level 1. At level 2, the findings show that, it was the mediating effect by the perceived usefulness ($p=0.001$, $\beta =0.238$) only that was statistically significant. With the exception of the perceived ease of use, the mediating effects by perceived usefulness ($p=0.009$, $\beta =0.018$) and normative beliefs ($p=0.045$, $\beta =0.016$) were further confirmed to be statistically significant at level 3 of adoption. Moreover, the mediating effects by the perceived ease of use ($p=0.039$, $\beta =0.123$) and normative beliefs ($p=0.005$, $\beta =0.115$) were found to be statistically significant at level 4 of adoption. At the highest level 5 of ABC adoption, it was the normative belief ($p<0.001$, $\beta =0.221$) only that positively mediated the causal relationship between the innovation attributes composite and ABC adoption.

Research Highlights

• •An assessment of institutional quality, innovation, and economic growth in developing countries.
• •Long-run causality from innovation and institutional quality to economic growth is present.
• •Short-run directions of causality are varied among variables of interest.
• •Innovation and institutional quality generally positively impact economic growth.

Continuous innovation is the lifeblood of a competitive economy. Furthermore, and arguably, the existence of institutions of governance of quality can be a catalyst for emerging economies to transition up the universal innovation value chain. In this context, we investigate temporal causal interactions among institutional quality, innovation, and economic growth for developing countries (DCs) spanning the period of 2005–2020. Employing a vector error-correction model (VECM), we find that for each case and specification (49 instances), there is evidence of the long-run causality from institutional quality and innovation to economic growth. Stated another way, in the long run, institutional quality and innovation Granger-cause economic growth. However, the short-run causality results differ depending on the specific measures of innovation and institutional quality. The strongest short-run conclusion is support for the feedback hypothesis for economic growth and innovation where there is a strong endogenous relationship between innovation, institutional governance, and economic growth. The empirical analysis shows over 70% of our observations support that economic growth and innovation jointly determine each other in the short run. The results suggest that DCs should develop and pursue long-term growth strategies that simultaneously develop innovation and improve institutional governance.

The multiplication of apparently similar Innovation Labs throughout the local territories raises questions about their role and their positioning. Innovation Labs are generally supplied by local resources. This substantial growth could facilitate the connection of various regions within a territory, thereby creating new areas for experimentation. The public authorities need these labs to bring added value to their territory. This study shows that a network of Innovation Labs could be a strategic means to support territorial dynamics at a local scale.

The literature does not provide concrete tools, resources, and methods to evaluate the territorial impacts of Innovation Labs. Furthermore, no literature review regarding the networking of Innovation Labs in a territory has yet been conducted. This paper begins to fill this gap and shows that the linking of innovation labs can support territorial dynamics. Through a review of the literature, research trends pertaining to territorial dynamics and innovation laboratories were identified. The contribution of this paper is the proposal of an approach to design a system of indicators to analyze a network of ILs adapted to a local territory as well as a portfolio of indicators. These results will allow us to follow the evolution of these labs, their interactions and their impacts on a local territory.

In the last few decades, the connection between innovation and sustainable development has been brought to the surface due to the concerns of academics, scientists, and policymakers regarding environmental and social issues. Although numerous studies have discussed the significance of innovation in achieving corporate sustainable development (CSD), the relationship between these two concepts remains vague. Under this background, the aim of this study was to examine which types of innovation have a significant impact on CSD. In particular, four types of innovation were tested — incremental, radical, product, and process innovation — with the three dimensions of CSD: the social, environmental, and economic dimensions. The data collected from medium- and large-sized firms revealed that incremental, radical, and process innovation had a significant positive impact on CSD. These results have substantial theoretical and managerial implications, as they indicate what types of innovation managers should focus on in order to improve their sustainable business performance.

Multinationals are showing a growing interest in developing corporate incubation programs. However, only a few papers analyzed this emerging topic. We conducted a study at a Brazilian multinational steel company subsidiary, aiming to elucidate the process of designing a corporate incubator through a three-phase Action Research program that spanned 12 months. As a result of this study, we offer (i) a sequential and evolutionary framework for implementing corporate incubators; (ii) an information management tool that captures and utilizes data for decision-making during venture development; and (iii) an uncertainty-based evaluation tool for venture evolution.

Given a mismatch between traditional paths and the opportunities resulting from new digital technologies, the aim of this paper is to understand why companies’ digital transformation may fail even before it starts. We analyze interviews with 20C-level managers from 15 traditional DAX-listed German companies that face digital transformations. Our objective is to integrate the different areas that have been studied in the field of digital transformation. We offer top management teams standpoints, as they concern how business decisions, including digital-transformation decisions, are made. We review the role of top management in digital business model innovation and identify value creation, leadership challenges, and culture development as the main factors that support or hinder business model innovation in a digital world. We further show that taking outside-in perspectives, implementing cross-sectional strategies, and having transformational capabilities represent important drivers on business model innovation. Employees are the most important factor. They should be brought in and guided by top managers to support the digital transformation. The patterns we identify might provide guidance for top managers engaging in digital business model innovation.