Challenging the Innovation Paradigm (Routledge Studies in Technology, Work and Organizations)

Innovation is almost always seen as a "good thing". Challenging the Innovation Paradigm is a critical analysis of the innovation frenzy and contemporary innovation research. The one-sided focus on desirable effects of innovation misses many opportunities to reduce the undesirable consequences. Authors in this book show how systemic effects outside the innovating firms reduce the net benefits of innovation for individual employees, customers, as well as for society as a whole - also the innovators' own organizations.

This book analyzes the dominant discourses that construct and reconstruct the assumptions and one-sidedness of contemporary innovation research (generally known as the pro-innovation bias) by focusing on consequences of innovation, distinguishing between intended and unintended as well as desirable and undesirable consequences. Contributors illustrate how both the discourses of innovation and the consequences of innovation permeate all levels of society: in policy discourse, in academic discourse, in research funding, in national innovation systems, in the financial sector, in organizational and work contexts, and in environmental pollution. The volume offers a critical, multidisciplinary, and multinational perspective on the topic, with authors from diverse academic fields examining and making comparisons between a variety of national contexts.

Karl-Erik Sveiby is professor in Knowledge Management at Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki. His book The New Organizational Wealth (1997) is regarded as one of the seminal works in the field. His latest works are inspired by indigenous knowledge: Aboriginal Principles for a Sustainable Society (Sustainable Development 2009) and Collective Leadership with Power Symmetry (Journal of Leadership, forthcoming 2011). His current research interests are innovation and non-hierarchical leadership.

Pernilla Gripenberg, PhD is researcher at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki. Her research interest is in human-ICT relationships and the socio-cultural effects of information and communication technology (ICT) use on everyday life in and across various contexts. She has published her work in books and journals, like The Information Society and Information Technology and People.

Beata Segercrantz, PhD is researcher at Hanken School of Economics. Her main research interests are in new product development, innovation, organizational change and restructurings, identity, subjectivity, gender and discourse analysis. She has published a Ph.D. thesis, a working paper, an article (Ephemera theory & politics in organization) and numerous conference papers on these topics.