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The Process of Technological Innovation PDF

278 Pages·2007·3.67 MB·English
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 233 697 IR 010 787 TITLE The Process of Technological Innovation: Reviewing the Literature. INSTITUTION National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. PUB DATE May 83 NOTE 284p. PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Government Role; *Individual Activities; Industry; Literature Reviews; Organizational Climate; *Organizations (Groups); Research and Development Centers; Research Utilization; School Business Relationship; *Technological Advancement; *Technology Transfer IDENTIFIERS *Innovators; *Technological Change ABSTRACT This review of literature concerned with technological innovation and innovation process research is divided into five general parts. Part I defines basic concepts and terms and outlines major analytical themes. Part II develops the individual and organizational dimensions within which innovative activities take place. In Part III, the sequence of events from technology generation to implementation and dissemination is described, and strategic options available to organizations in the management of innovation are discussed. An assessment of the role of government in affecting organizational technology is provided in Part IV and Part V presents a list of conclusions drawn from the review. These conclusions focus on the stages of innovation, the social units involved in the innovation process, perceptions of innovation by technology producers and users, indices of innovation, uncertainty about new technologies, the relationship between innovation and organizational size and structure, innovation in public and private sector organizations, characteristics of innovative individuals, the relationship of the research and development (R&D) function to innovation, the implementation of innovation, technology transfer, university/industry research interactions, the innovativeness of small high-technology based firms, and the effects of regulation and other government policies on innovation. An extensive list of references concludes the publication. (ESR) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION . NATIOUAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) lit This document has been reproduced as received from the person ur organization originating it. 1_1 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this docu- ment do not necessarily represent official NIE Position or policy. THE PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION: REVIEWING THE LITERATURE Productivity Improvement Research Section Division of Industrial Science and Technological Innovation National Science Foundation May 1983 O Louis G. Tornatzky National Science Foundation J. D. Eveland National Science Foundation Myles G. Boylan Colby College William A. Hetzner National Science Foundation Elmima C. Johnson National Science Foundation David Roitman Michigan State University Janet Schneider University of Tennessee Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Science Foundation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The assistance and cooperation of the following persons in the preparation and review of this document is gratefully acknowledged: Tora Kay Bikson Irwin Feller Jerald Hage Andrea Lodahl Barbara Lucas Jaime Oaxaca Everett Rogers Lynne Schlaaff Henry Tosi A.B. Van Rennes Amy Walton 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface vii PART I: DEFINITIONS AND APPROACHES TO INNOVATION Technological Innovation: Definitions I and Characteristics 1 Technology: Macro-Organizational Perspectives 3 Innovation Characteristics: Technology as it is Perceived 8 Causal Links Between Technology and Innovation 12 Summary 10 II Stage-Process Models of Innovation 17 Stages and Processes in Innovation 18 Technology Source-Centered Models 20 Technology User-Centered Models 22 Problems With Stage Models 23 Difficulties in Defining Adoption of Innovations 24 Defining Levels and Units of Analysis 25 Dependent Variables: A Cautionary Note 31 Innovation Processes and the Limits of Disciplinary Inquiry 36 Economics 39 Engineering 41 Political Science 42 Psychology 44 Sociology 45 Summary 47 - - 1 1 PART II: ORGANIZATIONAL AND CONTEXTUAL COMPONENTS OF INNOVATION III Organizational Approaches to the Study of Innovation 49 Schools of Analysis 50 Classical Organization Theory 51 Human Relations 52 Contingency Theory 53 Systems Theory 55 The Problems of Goals, Information and Uncertainty 57 Innovativeness as an Organizational Property 60 The Key Concept. of "Organizational Structure" 63 Structure and Innovation 64 The Special Problem of Size 67 Interorganizational Interactions and Innovation 69 Summary 76 IV Contextual Influences on Technological Innovation 77 Analytical Approaches 78 Diffusion Research 78 Microeconomic Theory 81 Recent Theoretical Work in Economics 83 Findings from Systems and Organizational Research 86 Distinguishing between the Public and Private Sectors 89 Artifactual Differences 94 Real Differences 97 'Summary 99 Actors in the Innovation Process V 101 Actor Characteristics 102 Actor Roles 106 Actors Disaggregated and Aggregated 110 Summary 112 PART III: THE SEQUENCE OF INNOVATION ACTIVITIES Technology Generation, Choice and Design VI 113 R&D Management: Producing Technology 113 Designing Technology Systems 118 Technology Choice 119 Sociotechnical Design Perspectives 123 Summary 130 The User's Role: VII Implementation Issues 131 Measuring the Implementation Process 138 Adaptation and Fidelity 140 Factors Affecting Implementation 1,26 Intr.aorganizational Influences on Implementation 1/:6 Macro Influences on Implementation 148 Innovation Outcomes and Implementation 149 Undoing Implementation 152 Summary 153 The Spread of Technology VIII 155 General Perspectives on Marketing and Dissemination 155 Evidence from the Private Sector 156 Special Problems of the Public Sector 158 Technology Transfer Systems and Initiatives 161 History and Current Practice 162 Choosing the Technology to be Transferred 165 Choice of Transfer Mechanisms 167 Evaluating the Success of Transfer Mechanisms 168 University/Non-University Interactions 169 Goal Congruity and Capability 172 Boundary-Spanning Structures 173 Organizational Incentives and Awards 175 Special Initiatives Involving Small Business Firms 176 iv Commercialization Programs and Demonstration Projects 180 Summary 185 PART IV: GOVERNMENT POLICY AND INNOVATION IX Government Policy and Innovation 187 Regulation 189 Tax Policy -195 Patent Policy 198 Developing Scientific and Technical Personnel 202 Supply Issues 203 Manpower ,lows 206 Effects of Government Transaction Devices 208 Accountability vs. Innovativeness 209 Transaction Devices and the Transfer/ Dissemination of Technology 210 Transactions and the Science and Technology Infrastructure 211 Mandated Technology -- The Case of Management Decision Aids 212 Summary 216 PART V: SUMMARY: LESSONS LEARNED AND UNLEARNED 217 List of References Cited 223 FIGURES: 1. The Innovation Process: Conceptual Overview ix Definitions of Technology 2. 6 3. Stages and Processes in Technological Innovation 21 4. Disciplinary Approaches to Innovation 38 8 v Implementation of Innovation: Differences 5. between Public and Private Sectors 91 Actors in the Innovation Process 6. 103 Sociotechnical Design and Choice 7. 120 Innovation Implementation 8. 137 Main Elements of-the Agricultural Extension 9. System and its Extensions 163 PREFACE This review of literature the fields and subfields generically in known as "innovation process research"7has been four years in preparation. It represents the product of several different disCiplines and research is likely to be frustrating to some of its traditions and, as such, it readers. Different concepts-can go by similar names, and the same concepts may likewise be found under different guises and in different places. No A4 single organizing framework is adequate for integrating the diverse themes to be found in this literature. Ns The integrating approach which we have chosen to employ startk with the idea that technological innovation must be considered in an organiza- This focus is relevant for two related reasons. tional context. First, most significant innovations require the mobilization of organizational resources to be effectively utilized, and thus are inherently bound up with the dynamics of organizational behavior. Second, many previous reviews of innovation research have focused either on macro variables such as tax or social policies or on micro variables such as characteristics of innovation adopters, to the frequent exclusion of the organizational contexts in which the effects cf these variables are played out. While we try to consider the full array of variables employed in pre- vious innovation research, the complexity of the field makes it inevitable that we will have, either by desion or inadvertence, excluded certain re- ferences deemed by any particular reader to be of importance. Despite these limitations, we believe that this review is worth presenting to the u

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edition and our preliminaryversion of twoyears aao testify to the rapid evolution both The third problem, closely related to the above, is particularly dif- ficult to resolve. has been particularly influential in the study of innovation diffusion, especially 1977), product champion (Chakra- barti
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