The routinization of innovation research: a constructively critical review of the state‐of‐the‐science

Abstract

SummaryIn this review we argue that facilitators of innovation at the individual, group, and organizational levels have been reliably identified, and that validated process models of innovation have been developed. However, a content analysis of selected research published between 1997 and 2002 suggests a routinization of innovation research, with a heavy focus on replication-extension, cross-sectional designs, and a single level of analysis. We discuss five innovative pathways for future work: Study innovation as an independent variable, across cultures, within a multi-level framework, and use meta-analysis and triangulation. To illustrate we propose a 'distress-related innovation' model of the relations between negatively connotated variables and innovation at the individual, group, and organizational levels of ana- Imaginative writers, the reader will have noticed, dropped out of this [Soviet] history when it moved from the 1920's into the period of Stalinism. Of course industrious typewriters continued to manufacture novels, plays and poems, but they no longer revealed authors in search of the authentic self and true community, as the works of Olesha and Babel had, not to speak of the pre-revolutionary masters. From 1930 to 1953 Stalin's engineers of human souls typed out their works to formula. Their product has its fascinations, like mass-market fiction and popular drama in the West, but hardly for understanding the psychologies of high culture. They help one understand mass psychology in its relation with the authorities.(Joravsky, Russian psychology: A critical history, 1989, pp. 463-464)

On the nature and importance of cultural tightness-looseness.

“…Yet with few exceptions (e.g., Elenkov & Manev, 2005;Herbig & Dunphy, 1998;Jones & Davis, 2000;Shane, 1992), research on societal predictors of these outcomes is still in its infancy. Indeed, Anderson, De Drue, and Nijstad (2004) recently argued that there is a "pointed gap in our understanding of innovation processes across different cultural contexts, and one that we raise as an important pathway for future research" (p. 160). Proposition 7 has the potential to explain additional variance in these organizational outcomes by advancing that societal level tightness-looseness, through its cross-level influences on organizational culture and culture strength, influences organizational innovation and change.…”

Closing the Energy Efficiency Gap—A Systematic Review of Empirical Articles on Drivers to Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Firms

“…A preliminary temporal analysis of the use of the three proxies shows a relatively stable distribution over the period in question (Table A2). In the literature, implementations are measured objectively as the implementation rate of external energy efficiency recommendations, e.g., [41,57,58], or as the participation rate in voluntary energy programs, e.g., [18,59]. Implementation is also expressed subjectively as a binary variable (yes or no)…”

“…Nevertheless, the most important financial drivers include investment costs and payback time [41]. Moreover, Anderson, De Dreu, and Nijstad [58] revealed that firms are about 40% more responsive to investment costs than to energy savings (operating costs). In fact, energy efficiency investments have a larger probability of being realized if the payback time is shorter than 2-3 years [72,86,87].…”

“…In studies where managers were interviewed about motives for energy efficiency investments, they considered reduced energy costs to be the most important, e.g., [29,73]. However, studies assessing investment decisions in retrospect found that payback time and investment costs are given higher significance, e.g., [41,58]. This paradox is a thought-provoking observation that calls for future investigation.…”

“…They stimulate energy efficiency through increasing energy taxes [52,91] and emission fees [26], or by providing investment subsidies [26,28,76,89,90]. Considering that firms are more responsive to initial costs than annual savings [41,58], one may assume that subsidies may be more effective at promoting energy-efficient technologies than energy price increases. Legal compliance [59,73,93] is dictated by prescriptive policies that compel specific actions by companies.…”