A Taxonomy of Innovation: Configurations of Attributes in Healthcare Innovations

Abstract

In spite of the continued importance of an innovation's attributes to research methodologies, and the increasing tendency toward multidimensional conceptualizations, the lack of a theoretically derived and empirically developed classification of innovations, conceived in terms of these perceived characteristics, continues to deter substantive research in the area. The absence of a stable descriptive framework has constrained researchers' facility to develop cross-case and cumulative research. In this paper, in which innovations are conceptualized as complex and multi-dimensional, we report on a mixed-method, exploratory study addressing the question of innovation classification. Data from a rigorous thematic investigation of the literature and four case studies, are synthesized into a descriptive framework incorporating 13 variables (innovation attributes). Following operationalization of the framework, we conduct a cluster analysis of the returns from a post-adoption survey of 310 innovations. Three distinct innovation types are identified: readily-adopted, challenging and under-cover. The attributes disruption, observability, profile and risk were found to be particularly important in distinguishing clusters that offer opportunities for new theoretical development. The UK National Health Service (NHS) forms the context for the study. Implications for theory and practice are examined.

Process antecedents of challenging, under‐cover and readily‐adopted innovations

“…financial factors, trialability, etc.) are not included (for a discussion, see Adams et al, 2011b). That is, the sample is not sufficient to permit generalisation and the theoretical framework not rich enough to capture the JHOM 27,1 multidimensionality of the phenomenon fully (as the blank cells in Table I attest).…”

Factors affecting the adoption of quality assurance technologies in healthcare

“…We seek to attend to this research agenda by drawing on two types of literature and a number of case studies. The first set of literature that might be expected to illuminate the problem is that concerned with diffusion and adoption of innovations across industry sectors in general (Meyer and Goes, 1988;Rogers, 2003) and more specifically on adoption processes and barriers in healthcare (Greenhalgh et al, 2004a, b;Gravel et al, 2006;Adams et al, 2011;Johnston et al, 2000). The second set of literature is that Quality assurance technologies which has concerned itself directly and specifically with quality assurance methods in healthcare (Donabedian, 1980;Harvey, 1991;Balogh et al, 1998;Balogh et al, 2001;D'Avolio and Bui, 2008).…”

Análise das contribuições das competências individuais para a gestão da inovação com base na triangulação de métodos de pesquisa

“…It is worth noting that the proposed taxonomy meets the purpose of the statistical technique used, cluster analysis (Hair et al, 2006), and a natural tendency of the applied social sciences to classify objects of study into categories (Adams et al, 2011).…”