INCREASING OR DECREASING FRUGALITY: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN DIGITALISATION AND FRUGAL INNOVATION

Erwin van Tuijl, Juan Carlo Intriago Zambrano and Peter Knorringa
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Erwin van Tuijl: International Centre for Frugal Innovation (ICFI) & International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, The Netherlands
Juan Carlo Intriago Zambrano: International Centre for Frugal Innovation (ICFI) & Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Peter Knorringa: International Centre for Frugal Innovation (ICFI) & International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, The Netherlands

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 2024, vol. 28, issue 03n04, 1-27

Abstract: Within wider debates on sustainability and digitalisation, frugal innovation (FI) scholars largely assume that digital technologies are important for FI in realising more sustainable outcomes. However, very few studies interrogate this causality. To tackle this challenge, we connect FI with digitalisation. Thereto, we conceptualise digital technologies as and within FIs and discuss three frugality dimensions to analyse three empirical case studies of digitally-enabled FIs. We use these cases to introduce new nuances on how digitalisation affects frugality and scaling. Our results unveil that digitalisation can increase frugality by enabling more accessible and affordable solutions through new flexible funding schemes and pay-as-you-go models. However, our evidence also implies decreasing frugality by an increase in end-user costs and digital exclusion. Likewise, increasing frugality through complexity reduction seems mainly to benefit intermediaries and frugal innovators themselves, whereas benefits of digitalisation in terms of complexity reduction for end-users seem to be limited. Digitalisation can even increase complexity for end-users, thus suggesting decreasing frugality. Finally, just like with non-digital innovations, scaling of digitally enabled innovations is dependent on the quality of logistical infrastructure and local adaptation practices. Moreover, scaling of digitally-enabled innovations is limited to users in regions with a proper ICT infrastructure.

Keywords: Digitalisation; frugal innovation; digital platforms; Africa; sustainability; qualitative case studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1142/S1363919624500130

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