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China always acts as a large low‐cost manufacturing economy under globalization. However, her services are also active and innovative today although still small. The purpose of this paper is to exhibit the roadmap of service innovation research in China and to predict the future research trend.

A literature review was organized under a cross framework – innovation in services, and service innovation with manufacturing. All literature was selected from Chinese academic periodicals and monographs in the last decade. The search keywords include “service innovation”, “knowledge‐intensive business services”, and “new service development”.

Through the review of Chinese literature, two critical characteristics of service innovation were proved, i.e. organizational innovation and regulation environment; and for China, the marketalization of services is urgent for the motivation and accumulation of service innovation capability.

Policy makers should take services as significant as manufacturing, and put them into the national and regional innovation systems. Regulation should be reduced to a low level to stimulate service innovation. Government should also encourage the development of the services infrastructure, including social credit system, independent intermediary, grid, and NGOs, etc.

The paper gives an insight into the perspectives of management, sociology, and economics in the service innovation field using the Chinese research track as an illustration.

The purpose of this paper is to examine knowledge intensive business services, or KIBS for short. KIBS are one of the fastest growing areas of the European economy, and are increasingly important contributors to the performance of the sectors who are their clients.

KIBS are distinguished from other services and knowledge‐intensive activities, and statistics on KIBS in the European Union are examined, highlighting key similarities and differences in their development across Member States

KIBS are continuing to grow at rapid rates, and are experiencing qualitative change. The growth is associated with outsourcing, the internationalisation of services, and the growth in demand for certain forms of knowledge. Many KIBS sectors are becoming more concentrated (though most KIBS sectors feature a higher share of small firms than does the economy as a whole). As KIBS supply a wider range of services, overlap and convergence between different KIBS sectors has grown. But as some KIBS become more involved with their major clients' strategies, it is possible that some services will become specialised, while others integrate their inputs for clients.

Scenario analysis is used to examine policy issues concerning KIBS. These are based on deskwork: group discussion would be a valuable complement to this approach.

A range of policy issues, responses to these issues, and the rationales and challenges that policies may confront are spelled out. The article calls for much more explicit consideration of KIBS in innovation and other policy areas.

KIBS remain poorly studied, and their future development has rarely been considered. The implications for innovation and other policies are examined more explicitly and in greater depth than in previous studies.

The purpose of this paper is to review key research contributions that may be useful for rethinking service innovation. Service innovation is not a monolithic construct; therefore, the opportunities for further research are multidimensional and interdisciplinary.

A summary analysis of extant literature identifies valuable contributions and fundamental methodological issues from various perspectives. The proposed directions for future research entail where to innovate, how to innovate, and what to innovate in services.

The analysis and discussion lead to a multidimensional framework of service innovation, with a particular emphasis on organizational and customer cocreation perspectives.

This article contains guidelines and real‐world examples to help practitioners and policy makers develop service innovation strategies through the consideration of different levels, organizations, and perspectives.

This article offers a relevant source of ideas and guidance for anyone interested in research and practice related to rethinking service innovation.

This paper aims to explain and demonstrate how business model frameworks can be used to understand market developments and to assess the role of policy in (multi‐sided) ICT markets.

The research approach in the paper builds on integrated business model frameworks, which cover (much) more than the financial decisions of one single firm. A case study approach is implemented and tested in two studies on digital content platforms.

Relevant policy instruments are identified and explored. To some extent, the findings are complementary or contradictory to the findings of existing studies on digital content platforms. The paper includes policy recommendations related to mobile and fixed content platforms.

Limitations of the study are due to the explorative and qualitative approach, and are to be complemented by other approaches. Policy makers and researchers can use the approach to analyse digital content platform developments and the impact of policy. Stakeholders in innovation processes can use the approach to address business models as well as policy issues for emerging platforms and services.

The use of business model analysis in the context of policy analysis is a relatively new approach that is inspired by research findings on information communication technology (ICT) platforms and multi‐sided networks, progress in business model studies, challenges in the policy mix for ICT, and the importance of case study methods for impact assessment.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyse the diffusion of an innovative policy or service and the factors influencing it through an explorative study of the diffusion of the Bookstart program in Taiwan; and second, to provide an analytical framework for further study of this program.

The study is both empirical and theoretical. It uses data from existing studies and also agencies involved in Bookstart to explain the diffusion of the program. It then draws on theories of policy diffusion and the initial findings of this study to develop an analytical framework for the further study of the diffusion of the Bookstart program.

The Bookstart program, which is designed to promote reading habits for children 0 to 3 years old and to strengthen parent‐children relations, was originally initiated in the UK. It was first introduced into Taiwan in Taichung County in 2003. The paper shows how the program spread throughout Taiwan and indicates the role of the key players in the diffusion, including charitable institutions, local politicians and leaders, local authority agencies, and the Ministry of Education. The paper posits an analytical framework identifying factors which may help to promote or facilitate the diffusion. In this respect, the paper draws on the theoretical literature and also initial evidence from the research so far undertaken. This will guide the research in the next stage of the study.

This explorative study provides an example of the nature, process and direction of the diffusion of a policy or service innovation, and suggests the possible factors promoting or facilitating it, as identified in the initial findings of the research and in the relevant theoretical literature.

Diversity management is of great importance in the hospitality industry, resulting in a host of constructive consequences if managed effectively. However, there is a deficiency of investigation surrounding the outcomes of diversity management on the employees' attitudes and behavior in the hospitality industry. This research sought to investigate the influence of diversity management on workers' performance and conduct in the hospitality industry.

This quantitative study used survey data from 565 hospitality industry employees. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships from the research model.

This study identified a relationship between diversity management and positive workforce-related outcomes, including job performance, service innovation behavior and employee engagement in the hospitality industry.

The findings of this study will push the confines of diversity management scholarship and initiate new paths of academic inquiry. Hospitality industry managers can also identify the benefits of effective diversity management as a consequence of this study.

This research contributes to the growing literature on diversity management as an essential aspect of human resources management in promoting positive employee attitudes and behaviors.

Innovations provide a vital stimulus for economic growth. Through innovations, public sector organisations (PSOs) need to grow the economy to provide for the needs of their citizens. The purpose of this study is to identify innovation drivers and barriers in PSOs in Kenya. The paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the antecedents of innovations and to offer insight to PSOs to foster such innovations.

This research was conducted in two PSOs in Kenya. The participants of the present study consisted of a sample of 186 managerial and non-managerial employees. Empirical data were analysed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.

First, the results indicate that drivers of innovation in PSOs are: leadership practices, social factors, technological factors and management practices. Second, the results reveal that poor management practices and over-reliance on existing resources, among others, are barriers to public sector innovation. Third, the study indicates that management practices and leadership practices are factors to consider in overcoming barriers.

As the present study was conducted with a convenience sample of 186 respondents from 2 purposively selected PSOs in Kenya, the extent to which the results could be generalized may be in doubt. However, as the aim of the study was theory testing, the study makes a contribution in this regard rather than doing a representative survey.

The study offers a first-hand insight into public sector innovation from the perspective of a developing country, Kenya, an area that has been neglected by researchers. The present study has implications for theory, practice, research and policy development, mainly in Kenya, but also for comparable situations worldwide.

The present study represents a first attempt to investigate the drivers, barriers, overcoming barriers and outcomes to innovations in a single study of PSOs from a developing nation. The present study provokes both academics and policy makers to rethink approaches to nurture innovations in the public sector.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and reflect on a set of dynamic capabilities for managing service innovation and applies a dynamic capabilities view (DCV) of firms for managing service innovation.

This theoretical paper offers a conceptual framework for managing service innovation by proposing six dynamic service innovation capabilities. This framework builds on and is integrated with a model of service innovation that covers the possible dimensions where service innovation can take place. On this basis, avenues for future research into managing service innovation are identified and managerial implications discussed.

The six dynamic service innovation capabilities identified are: signalling user needs and technological options; conceptualising; (un‐)bundling; co‐producing and orchestrating; scaling and stretching; and learning and adapting. It is hypothesized that successful service innovators, which may include manufacturing firms developing into providers of service solutions, outperform their competitors in at least some of these capabilities.

The six dynamic service innovation capabilities identified in this theoretical paper, their mutual links as well as links with dimensions of service innovation need to be tested further. Further refinement is required in order to be able to discriminate between various industries, sizes and types of firms.

Those involved in managing service innovation are offered a framework for systematically assessing dynamic service innovation capabilities.

The main contribution of this paper is that it links a service (innovation) perspective to a DCV of the firm by proposing a set of six dynamic service innovation capabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and implications of knowledge advanced through service employees’ innovative behaviour and leading to initiating innovation within the hotel service subsector.

A case study research method was applied to achieve the research objectives, which investigated two hotel properties resembling two personal–interactive service systems. In total, 52 semi-structured interviews were conducted along with other qualitative research methods, including the direct observation of employees, review of management archives/literature and the assessment of “micro cases”.

The research outcome highlights the role of knowledge as supplementary to the interlinked process of idea generation and development. A novel classification of two types of knowledge is revealed as pre-encounter and encounter-dependent knowledge, implicating four patterns of service employees’ innovative behaviour.

This paper recommends practical measures to nurture service employees’ innovative behaviour, leading to innovation.

This study contributes to service innovation research by providing an in-depth assessment at the micro level, overlooked to date, of the nature of knowledge and the service employees’ role in initiating innovation within the hotel service subsector.

Given the immense gains in productivity in agriculture and mining over the last decades, the purpose of this paper is to study knowledge transfer from Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) into primary sector producers. The authors inquire which of these RTOs are successfully competing for public funding, and how these funds are used. Also, the authors study what makes an RTO more (financially) successful in technology transfer than their peers and which RTOs transferred technology that was new to the Russian market.

This research is based on 62 RTOs which reported technology transfer to enterprises with main economic activities classified by NACE rev 1 as “A – agriculture, hunting and forestry” and “B – fishing” and “C – mining and quarrying,” including oil and gas extraction.

The authors found remarkable differences between the Russian RTOs and their OECD peers, but also differences between agriculture and mining. Interestingly, competitive funding plays a different role in both industries. In agriculture, a more conservative funding paradigm prevails, and competitive funding is less important and more reliance on classical annually revolving funds is given. Competitive funding here is more used to strengthen basic R&D and to generate patentable knowledge, while in mining, these funds support technology transfer.

This is, to the knowledge, the first detailed study on Russian RTOs servicing her primary sector. The authors believe that studying these RTOs is of great value as RTOs are broadly under-researched and various scholars have called for more fine-grained analyses to better understand their role in the innovation system.