Exploring the early phase of professionalization in innovation management through voluntary personal certification. : A comparative study between certified and non-certified innovation management professionals

Abstract: Purpose - Innovation management as a profession is gaining importance. Personal certification within the field has become a newly developing trend, however, this aspect has not been studied much. Therefore, our master thesis explores the individual level motivations and de-motivation to enter the professional certification within innovation management. In addition, the work aimed at identifying the perceived effects of having an innovation management professional certification on individuals and organizations. Finally, our master thesis discusses whether professionalization and IMP certification can contribute to innovation capabilities and innovation performance.   Design/methodology - The study uses a comparative research design that includes semi-structured interviews of eighteen innovation management professionals (12 certified and 6 non-certified). The responses of the innovation professionals were thematically analyzed and categorized into nine final themes answering the research questions. Findings/result -Several motivations were identified, out of which the frequent were personal interest, knowledge enhancement, quality mark and innovation management terminology, the motivators to take up certification. While indifference, in-house certification and aversion for standardization are found to be strong de-motivators to not take up the certifications. After identifying the motivations, the perceived effects from taking up certification on an individual level are confirmation of knowledge, network expansion and pioneers in certification, and assignment of new tasks, effective communication was spotted as the perceived effects to the organization. It is however too early to arrive at a consensus whether professionalization and innovation management certification contributes to innovation capabilities and innovation performance. Conclusion - The certification process as a whole is considered as an attempt in terms of professionalizing the field of innovation management that showed some potential benefits as well as contradictions. It might take a few years more for innovation management to fully blossom into a developed profession through certifications. Limitations - If the professionalization of innovation management was more mature, providing an established theoretical framework and concept testing would have been beneficial to include in our study.