TY - JOUR
T1 - Service innovations breaking institutionalized rules of health care
AU - Wallin, Arto
AU - Fuglsang, Lars
N1 - Funding Information:
Moving the team to the central city to access the support of accelerator program Political backup through participation of Academic background enabled access to EU and national grants Leveraging results of top researchers
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/10/19
Y1 - 2017/10/19
N2 - Purpose: Although the digital era has given rise to major transformations in many industries, health care has been remarkably resistant to radical innovations coming outside the field. The purpose of this paper is to explore and explain how new ventures aim to break institutional arrangements (i.e. regulations, normative rules, and cultural-cognitive beliefs) protecting the field by introducing digitally enabled service innovations into health care markets. Design/methodology/approach: The study is qualitative and interpretative in nature and utilizes case study as a research strategy. The paper is based on data that were collected through narrative interviews and document analysis from seven new ventures participating in a start-up accelerator program. Findings: Results indicate that service innovations that require a change in the institutional structures of the health care system are enacted through three highly iterative key processes: institutional sensemaking that creates an understanding of prevailing institutional arrangements and that constructs meaning for institutional change efforts, theorization of change through linguistic device, and modifications of institutions by building legitimacy and mobilizing external constituencies. Practical implications: The findings provide practical insights into how new ventures struggle, navigate, and negotiate on specific alternatives related to institutional change while pursuing the introduction of innovations to market.Originality/value: This research extends the institutional perspective on service innovation by zooming into micro-level processes of institutional change driven by new ventures. The study develops the theory of institutional entrepreneurship by highlighting cognitive processes of change, and suggests incorporating "institutional thinking" more tightly into the study and management of service innovation.
AB - Purpose: Although the digital era has given rise to major transformations in many industries, health care has been remarkably resistant to radical innovations coming outside the field. The purpose of this paper is to explore and explain how new ventures aim to break institutional arrangements (i.e. regulations, normative rules, and cultural-cognitive beliefs) protecting the field by introducing digitally enabled service innovations into health care markets. Design/methodology/approach: The study is qualitative and interpretative in nature and utilizes case study as a research strategy. The paper is based on data that were collected through narrative interviews and document analysis from seven new ventures participating in a start-up accelerator program. Findings: Results indicate that service innovations that require a change in the institutional structures of the health care system are enacted through three highly iterative key processes: institutional sensemaking that creates an understanding of prevailing institutional arrangements and that constructs meaning for institutional change efforts, theorization of change through linguistic device, and modifications of institutions by building legitimacy and mobilizing external constituencies. Practical implications: The findings provide practical insights into how new ventures struggle, navigate, and negotiate on specific alternatives related to institutional change while pursuing the introduction of innovations to market.Originality/value: This research extends the institutional perspective on service innovation by zooming into micro-level processes of institutional change driven by new ventures. The study develops the theory of institutional entrepreneurship by highlighting cognitive processes of change, and suggests incorporating "institutional thinking" more tightly into the study and management of service innovation.
KW - service innovation
KW - health services
KW - institutional change
KW - sensemaking
KW - institutional entrepreneurship
KW - digitalization of health care
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049158773&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/JOSM-04-2017-0090
DO - 10.1108/JOSM-04-2017-0090
M3 - Article
VL - 28
SP - 972
EP - 997
JO - Journal of Service Management
JF - Journal of Service Management
SN - 1757-5818
IS - 5
ER -