Organisational Narratives of Applied Knowledge in Technology-Based Organisations

Literature Review

Innovation as a process has been associated with uncertainty. According to Jalonen (2012), uncertainty results from: 1) events in the future which do not follow the course of past events; and, 2) the fact that knowledge of the future is always incomplete. The eight factors which create uncertainty in innovation processes are the following: technological, market, regulatory/institutional, social/political, acceptance/legitimacy, managerial, timing, and consequence uncertainty (Jalonen, 2012). In order to face uncertainty, it is essential to understand the social standards that exist within innovation processes. In this sense, innovation can be designed to be a set of daily activities through which organisations develop meaning and identity (Brow & Duguid, 1991; Weick, 1995). Given the existing definitions of innovation, this study assumes that innovation is a process, which includes ideas, outcomes, people, transactions and contexts. More specifically, innovation is defined as the process through which new ideas are developed and implemented to achieve desired outcomes, by people who are engaged in social transactions with others, in a changing institutional and organisational context (Van de Ven et al., 1999; 2000).

The literature identifies some organisational attributes which are essential for facilitating and fostering innovation, namely: culture, strategic decisions and facilitating structures and internal processes (Burns & Stalker, 1961; Mintzberg, 1979; Kanter, 1983, 1988; Ebadi & Utterback, 1984; Von Hippel, 1988). Furthermore, innovation processes are subject to two types of agents: 1) drivers, which actively contribute to the process; and, 2) context agents, i.e. the factors that create a context which encourages innovation in a more passive and gradual way.