Organizing for Innovation in the Digitized World
Open accessAbstract
Our era is one of increasingly pervasive digital technologies, which penetrate deeply into the very core of the products, services, and operations of many organizations and radically change the nature of product and service innovations. The fundamental properties of digital technology are reprogrammability and data homogenization. Together, they provide an environment of open and flexible affordances that are used in creating innovations characterized by convergence and generativity. An analysis of convergence and generativity observed in innovations with pervasive digital technologies reveals three traits: (1) the importance of digital technology platforms, (2) the emergence of distributed innovations, and (3) the prevalence of combinatorial innovation. Each of the six articles in this special issue relates to one or more of these three traits. In this essay, we explore the organizational research implications of these three digital innovation traits and identify research opportunities for organization science scholars. Examples from the articles in this special issue on organizing for innovation in the digitized world are used to demonstrate the kind of organizational scholarship that can faithfully reflect and inform innovation in a world of pervasive digital technologies.
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Partnerships with technology providers and research institutions help compensate for internal resource constraints.
“Agile, iterative processes support rapid experimentation, while partnerships with technology providers and research institutions help compensate for internal resource constraints (Yoo et al., 2012).”
From Digital transformation: a comparative analysis of SME digital maturity models (2025) · cites this paper as Yoo et al., 2012
Agile, iterative processes support rapid experimentation.
“Agile, iterative processes support rapid experimentation, while partnerships with technology providers and research institutions help compensate for internal resource constraints (Yoo et al., 2012).”
From Digital transformation: a comparative analysis of SME digital maturity models (2025) · cites this paper as Yoo et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Yoo, Y., Boland, R. J., Lyytinen, K., & Majchrzak, A.
- Affiliations
- Temple University (US)
- Case Western Reserve University (US)
- University of Southern California (US)
- Venue
- Organization Science
- Published
- 2012-10
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1398-1408
- ISSN
- 1047-7039 (ISSN-L)
- 1526-5455
- OpenAlex
- W2156236309
- Cited by
- 2,469
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 239 · 2025: 282 · 2024: 335 · 2023: 330 · 2022: 230 · 2021: 257 · 2020: 208 · 2019: 158 · 2018: 142 · 2017: 80 · 2016: 71 · 2015: 76 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 129.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- papers.ssrn.com
- Locations
- Organization Science (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Innovation and Knowledge Management
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Digital Platforms and Economics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Digital Innovation in Industries
- Keywords
- digital technologies, innovation, organizational innovation, distributed innovation, combinatorial innovation, convergence, generativity, data homogenization, affordances, research agenda
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