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Though a commitment to innovation is the key to successful growth, the level of uncertainty involved and the concomitant risk deter companies from committing themselves totally to its implementation. Contributing to managers’ reluctance to face innovation are an ignorance and fear of what exactly it represents. This article lists ingredients of and directions for successful innovation, which can lead to real competitive advantage if followed correctly. However, senior management must assimilate the message fully before it can possible cascade down the organisation.

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of organizational levers and information technology (IT) absorptive capacity on librarians' innovation.

This survey-analytic study investigated the librarians who were working in the libraries of the medical sciences universities in Iran. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire distributed randomly among the members of the sample. The SEM and the LISREL software for data analysis were used.

It was found that the librarians' job autonomy and fairness of rewards had an effect on acquiring new knowledge and applying transformed knowledge. Although the results did not confirm the effect of the librarians' job autonomy on knowledge assimilation and transformation, they showed a direct and positive effect of fairness of rewards on knowledge assimilation and transformation. Furthermore, this study confirmed the effect of acquiring and applying new knowledge about the library IT on enhancing the librarians' innovation. The effect of knowledge assimilation and transformation, from the application of IT in libraries, on the librarians' innovation was not confirmed.

Learning about the effect of organizational levers on librarians' knowledge absorptive capacities, in terms of applying technologies, to create innovation is an important issue. This will elucidate the gaps of disregarding the effect of organizational levers and librarians' knowledge absorptive capacities on librarians' innovation, and will pave the way for better planning to achieve the libraries' innovative goals.

This is among the few articles that have helped to fill the existing theoretical and research gap in knowledge absorptive capacity in Library and Information Science (LIS). In addition, this article has made a valuable contribution to understanding the role of IT knowledge absorptive capacity as a mediator variable between the organizational levers and librarians' innovation.

Services comprise of socio-technical (human and technological) factors which exchange various resources and competencies. Service networks are used to transfer resources and competencies, yet they remain an underexplored and “invisible” infrastructure. Considering the growth in technological investment in recent years, this research sets out to model the impact of IT-enabled innovation on a service network. In response to the growing importance placed on understanding these complexities, the field of “service science” has emerged to guide the effective design, implementation, and management of service systems. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of introducing an IT-enabled innovation in a public service network.

This is achieved through a case study of an Exam Administration Service Department (EASD) where an electronic grading system was introduced to improve the EASD grading process. Data are analysed using both actor-network theory (ANT) as a theoretical lens and social network analysis (SNA) for empirical purposes to visualise the impact of IT-enabled innovation on a service environment.

The research described in this paper makes a useful contribution to the service science and IT innovation community both in terms of its topic (public service networks) and in terms of its theoretical framework and application methods (ANT and SNA).

This paper demonstrates how we can investigate the impact of IT-enabled innovation within a service network. Most notably, the application of SNA enables us to visualise the impact of technology and gain insights on the socio-technical dynamics associated with introducing service innovations.

This paper aims to report and discuss findings from the first exploratory phase of a research project that examined how and in what ways the practice of vocational student work-placement contributes to innovation in host organisations. The focus of the paper is on identifying and clarifying how innovation is understood in this context and outlines six different meanings of innovation variably used by those involved in the work-placement provision – vocational education students, training providers and host organisation staff. The paper suggests that these six meanings evidence the disparity of work-based understandings of innovation and the need to be more explicit and accurate about what the term means in specific work contexts if innovation is to be realised.

The qualitative first phase of the project interviewed 41 students, trainers and organisational staff about the nature of their work and learning practices and the kinds of changes and improvements to those practices that they experienced through the placement program. Through these interview conversations participants were asked to describe and explain their understandings and experiences of innovation in their work. The interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed.

Interview analysis gave rise to a set of six distinguishable meanings that operate as definitions of innovation. These six meanings highlight the range of meanings the term innovation carries within small business work-learning contexts and the need of those who promote and encourage innovation to be mindful of these various usages.

The findings reported emerge from a small sample and are only one aspect of the overall project. Further larger scale research is needed.

The term innovation should not be considered commonly understood and accepted by those who promote it and within workplaces and organisational practice. Clear, accurate and specific work context consideration of the term is needed.

The project reports the voices and understandings of those whose work and learning are foundational to the emergence and enactment of innovation in work. These voices are all too often seldom heard and heeded. The six meanings they articulate for innovation contrast markedly with typical innovation research literature.

This paper has chosen a participatory action design (PAD) to approach the construction of KPIs in a novel way. A PAD will assist the researcher to encourage involvement, engagement of multiple stakeholders in the KPIs construction process.

A workshop series based on participatory action design was developed together with the researcher and stakeholders at the innovation department of a large international organization. PAD facilitated interaction between the researcher, stakeholders, and KPIs under construction.

The findings show that the PAD workshops created interlevel collaboration and group dynamics in constructing the KPI. The knowledge that was shared during the PAD workshops enabled an understanding of the process of constructing a KPI in innovation, where stakeholders design and implement simultaneously. In the end, it was a challenge to construct a KPI using the PAD, as certain conditions seemed not to be.

This paper enhances our empirical understanding of applying PAD to construct KPIs in innovation. This study adds to the growing interest in literature to implement novel methods such as PAD to construct a KPI in innovation.

Practically, the findings of this study will inform managers in innovation (projects) to use a method such as PAD to construct KPIs in innovation. This study shows the implication of using a PAD for a KPI and what opportunities and challenges it can bring.

This paper is one of the few papers that address using the participatory action design methodology for the construction of KPIs in innovation. To date, PAD is rarely used to construct KPIs in innovation.

Based on the dynamic capability theory (DCT), this study examines the role of digitalisation vision and the impact of key information technology (IT) strategies, such as IT flexibility, IT integration and IT agility, on organisations' process innovation capability and the subsequent impact these may have on innovation performance.

Data for this study were collected from 153 public listed organisations in Malaysia. The survey questionnaire method was used to collect the data from the organisations' representatives.

Results showed that it is important for organisation to have a strategic digitalisation vision to improve their process innovation capabilities. IT agility and IT integration also had a significant positive relationship with the process innovation capabilities of the organisations, which in turn had a positive impact on innovation performance.

Digital transformation and innovation are crucial for organisations to survive in the era of Industry 4.0. However previous studies have not captured the role of digitalisation vision, strategic IT components and its impact on process innovation capabilities. The current study filled up the gap and examined these relationships. The outcome of this study provides valuable insights for managers to understand the importance of digitalisation and the need to focus on key IT strategies. Such insights can be used to improve organisations' process capability which is critical for innovation and performance.

Despite the existing literature on the impact of IT capability and innovation capabilities, this study examines how IT-enabled dynamic capability dimensions impact on firm innovative capability to achieve organizational performance.

Drawing on the dynamic capability theory, this study empirically investigates the entire chain of relationships among dynamic capability, innovative capability, organizational performance and turbulent environment.

Using the data from 254 Chinese firms, this study reveals IT-enabled dynamic capability dimensions have positive and significant relationship with firm innovative capability types, which in turn have significant relationship with organizational performance except the process innovation.

This study contributes to the growing information systems literature and also suggests theoretical and practical implications.

This study examines IT-enabled dynamic capability with firm innovative capability types, which has received limited attention in the past.

With the increasingly collaborative nature of innovation and the expanding role of digital platforms on inter-firm collaboration, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of digital platforms on collaborative innovation capability (CIC) under conditions of two distinctive governance mechanisms. Furthermore, the competitive benefits of CIC at different levels of environmental uncertainty are examined to clarify the performance of collaborative innovation.

The research model is proposed based on dynamic capabilities theory, information technology (IT)-enabled organizational capability and governance mechanisms literature, and then validated by using partial least squares with data collected from 200 Chinese firms that engage in digital collaboration with their major channel distributors.

Empirical results show that the enabling effect of digital platforms capability on CIC is positively moderated by relational governance while negatively moderated by formal governance, and both governance mechanisms directly and positively influence CIC; the positive relationship between CIC and competitive performance is stronger for higher level of environmental uncertainty; and CIC is the key mediator converting digital platforms capability into competitive performance.

This study enriches the existing literatures in IT-innovation relationship by not only surfacing the interplay of digital platforms capability with two distinctive governance mechanisms in building CIC, but also clarifying the competitive benefits of CIC in an uncertain environment. Moreover, this study helps explain the controversial issue of the business value of IT capability by discovering the mediating role of CIC.

The purpose of this paper is to address a gap in operations management empirical research through the use of diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory to develop further insight into patient flow and bed management, a problem that has been taxing healthcare organizations across the world.

The study used an action research (AR) approach and was conducted over an 18-month period within an acute hospital in the north east of England. Data were generated through enacting AR cycles, interviews, participant observation, document analysis, diaries, meetings, questionnaires and statistical analysis.

The research conducted within this study has not only led to practical outcomes for the hospital in terms of the successful adoption of a new patient flow system but has also led to new knowledge about the determinants of diffusion for technological and process innovations in healthcare organizations which are complex and highly political.

AR is not suited to all organizations and is most appropriate within those that are culturally attuned to participative and democratic ways of working. The results from this study are not generalizable but some similar organizations may see merits in this approach.

The AR approach has supported the hospital in adopting the new system, PFMS. This system is helping to improve the quality of patient care, providing facilities to support the work of clinicians, aiding timely discharge of well patients back into the community and saving the hospital money in terms of not needing to open emergency “winter” wards.

From an operations management perspective this work has demonstrated the potential to bring theory, in this case DOI theory, and practice closer together as well as show how academic research can impact organizations. Local-H intends to continue developing its AR approach and take it into other systems projects.

This paper aims to acquire underlying knowledge of how IT is adopted in private sector organisations and further explore what factors impact its adoption (optimistically and pessimistically).

An interpretive and qualitative multiple case study approach was selected to test and validate the conceptual model empirically. The selection of the interpretivism viewpoint in the context of this research is to understand how government organisations adopt new technologies and support their decisions and actions. The interpretive research methodology is related to data gathering and generating solid descriptions and interpretations and further allows theory building. Through a multiple case study strategy, factors influencing EAI adoption in the government sector are investigated. In doing so, various data collection methods such as interviews, documentation, and observation are adopted.

The author identified 42 critical success factors (CSF) for IT innovation adoption. These factors provide sufficient understanding of their importance when adopting an innovation (technology). The author exploits these factors further when developing a conceptual EAI adoption model and also presents a taxonomy of the IT innovation adoption process. This taxonomy is an eight‐stage adoption process based on studying 11 IT adoption models. Simply acquiring or adopting a technology is not sufficient – in order to obtain the anticipated benefits, IT must be deployed and used appropriately by the organisation and its intended users. However, this taxonomy would further assist in identifying factors affecting IT innovation adoption at each stage of the adoption process.

The proposed conceptual IT innovation adoption model is a contribution to theory. This model presents a detailed list of factors that impact IT adoption in government sector organisations. The author conjectures that each factor within this model signifies its importance and must be considered by organisations while adopting innovation (technology). The taxonomy of the IT innovation adoption process is another contribution. This taxonomy is developed by studying 11 IT adoption models as presented in this paper. This taxonomy identifies the pre‐adoption and post‐adoption stages of an adoption process. Further in this taxonomy, the author identifies stages where the organisation is impacted, i.e. the pre‐adoption stage and post‐adoption, where individual adopters are impacted.