Constructing Innovation Units, Enacting Innovation: An Ethnographic Study

Abstract: In the last few years, talk about innovation has increased. Recognising the threat posed by new firms and changing market conditions, companies have started to organise for innovation by establishing innovation units. However, how these innovation units are formed and what goes on in these innovation units is still yet under-researched. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory literature, I use the notions of sociotechnical agencements and scripting to understand the construction of an innovation unit and the enactment of innovation. In order to study the micro-processes that occur in these innovation units, I undertook an ethnographic study of an innovation department at a large technology company in the Nordics. I show how the department is constructed through a formalisation agencement that brings together actants, both human and nonhuman. Moreover, narratives are crucial to shaping the position of the innovation department in the organisation. To enact innovation, the innovation department used design thinking to construct needs and script users into digital applications. Additionally, I use the example of a certain strategy document to show how the innovation department inscribes others in its agencements while visualising how innovation is enacted. In conclusion, innovation units should be understood as being constituted by a plurality of actors at various points in time. Through its deployment of design thinking and use of strategy documents, an innovation unit enacts innovation.