Varying involvement in digitally enhanced employee-driven innovation

Izabelle Bäckström and Malin Lindberg

European Journal of Innovation Management, 2019, vol. 22, issue 3, 524-540

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge about the mechanisms behind, and the implications of, varying involvement in digitally enhanced employee-driven innovation (EDI) by studying how a firm integrates a web-based tool in the organization of its EDI process. Design/methodology/approach - Based on a qualitative in-depth interview study with managers and employees at one high-performing and one low-performing office of a global IT firm, a critical discourse analysis was performed. It explored how the EDI discourse was produced, distributed and consumed in relation to the web-based tool for collecting and selecting employee ideas. Findings - The results demonstrate that the production of the innovation discourse by the top-level management, which emphasizes client satisfaction rather than employee engagement, restricts the employees’ utilization of the digital platform that distributes the discourse. However, at the high-performing office, employee participation is ensured because the local managers act as co-distributors of the digital tool. Research limitations/implications - The single case study design limits the generalizability of the results, but is nevertheless relevant for understanding the mechanisms and implications in similar contexts where web-based tools are used to enhance EDI processes. Practical implications - The study provides practical insights into the importance of local management’s active promotion of digital tools in order to ensure employee involvement. Originality/value - The study contributes to the EDI literature by identifying some mechanisms behind and the implications of varying employee involvement in digitally enhanced EDI processes.

Keywords: Employee participation; Critical discourse analysis; Managerial implications; Employee-driven innovation; Digitalization; Web-based tools (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ejimpp:ejim-01-2018-0008

DOI: 10.1108/EJIM-01-2018-0008

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