This course introduces students to contemporary theories and empirical studies in the field. Through highlighting the role of organizational and institutional actors in shaping technological advancements, the course offers insights into the complex nature of digital innovation processes.
Marleen Huysman is Professor of Knowledge and Organization at the KIN Center for Digital Innovation. She studied Sociology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and has a PhD in Business Economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Since 2006 she holds a chair in Knowledge and Organization at the VU School of Business and Economics. Marleen has been visiting scholar during her PhD at Stanford and in 2000-2001 she was a visiting scholar at the Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) group at Harvard Business School. Marleen conducts research in: new ways of working, technology in practice, knowledge sharing, - coordinating, development and integration. Her research has been published in various international journals and books and is a frequent speaker at academic and professional meeting in the field.
Philipp Tuertscher is a Professor of Collaborative Innovation at the KIN Center for Digital Innovation and serves as the Scientific Director of the Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI). He earned his PhD from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, in 2009, receiving prestigious Fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the US National Science Foundation for his research on large-scale scientific collaborations. Before joining VU, Philipp was a visiting scholar at Pennsylvania State University's Smeal School of Business and became an assistant professor at WU Vienna, Austria. His research focuses on organizational mechanisms and social practices for collaborative innovation, including work on large-scale scientific collaborations at CERN and innovation processes in communities like Linux and Wikipedia.
Course Description
The core theme of this course is organizing around digital innovation. It will introduce students to contemporary theories and empirical studies addressing various aspects of digital innovation, but also some classics on technological innovations in organizations. Students will develop a thorough understanding of theories explaining how technological innovations come about and how technologies influence ways of working and organizing. Such understanding is needed to overcome the limitations of deterministic perspectives on the role of technology in organizations and society at large. Specifically, students will learn to appreciate that technology is not a given; rather it is being shaped by organizational and institutional actors on a micro, meso, and macro level. the course will introduce students to practice- and process research approaches, and demonstrate the power of these approaches for understanding the nature, role and influence of technology on organizing around digital innovation.
The course places a special emphasis on understanding the “digital” nature of emerging technologies, discussing cases of digital innovation in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, high-tech industry, creative industry, and science. A critical engagement with these readings will provide students with a thorough grounding in various theoretical perspectives and in-depth empirical studies on technology development and use.
Please download the course manual here.
Study Characteristics
Course Description
The core theme of this course is organizing around digital innovation. It will introduce students to contemporary theories and empirical studies addressing various aspects of digital innovation, but also some classics on technological innovations in organizations. Students will develop a thorough understanding of theories explaining how technological innovations come about and how technologies influence ways of working and organizing. Such understanding is needed to overcome the limitations of deterministic perspectives on the role of technology in organizations and society at large. Specifically, students will learn to appreciate that technology is not a given; rather it is being shaped by organizational and institutional actors on a micro, meso, and macro level. the course will introduce students to practice- and process research approaches, and demonstrate the power of these approaches for understanding the nature, role and influence of technology on organizing around digital innovation.
The course places a special emphasis on understanding the “digital” nature of emerging technologies, discussing cases of digital innovation in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, high-tech industry, creative industry, and science. A critical engagement with these readings will provide students with a thorough grounding in various theoretical perspectives and in-depth empirical studies on technology development and use.
Please download the course manual here.
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