Abstract
A contextual theoretical strategy should be pursued to overcome past deficiencies in the study of organizational innovation. The strategy is likely to lead to greater success in efforts to promote innovation. The heart of this strategy is to define the types of innovation processes at work and the contexts in which they operate. There are at least three innovation processes at work which operate in contexts defined by organizational and environmental characteristics and by the type of innovation under consideration.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adrian, Charles and Press, Charles (1968). “Decision costs in coalition formation,” American Political Science, Review 62: 556–563.
Aiken, Michael and Alford, Robert (1970). “Community structure and innovation: The case of urban renewal,” American Sociologial Review 35: 650–665.
Aldrich, Howard E. (1979). Organizations and Environments. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Agnew, John A., Brown, Lawrence A. and Herr, J. Paul (1978). “The community innovation process: A conceptual and empirical analysis,” Urban Affairs Quarterly 14: 3–30.
Bachrach, Samuel B. and Lawler, Edward J. (1980). Power and Politics in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Barnard, Chester I. (1938). The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bingham, Richard (with the assistance of Thomas P. McNaught) (1976). The Adoption of Innovations by Local Government. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Corwin, Ronald (1972). “Strategies for organizational innovation: An empirical comparison,” American Sociological Review 37: 441–454.
Corwin, Ronald (1975). “Innovation in organizations: The case of schools,” Sociology of Education 48: 1–38.
Coser, Lewis (1956). The Functions of Social Conflict. New York: Free Press.
Cronbach, Lee, J. (1975). “Beyond the two disciplines of scientific psychology,” American Psychologist 30: 116–127.
Cross, John (1969). The Economics of Bargaining. New York: Basic Books.
Crozier, Michel (1964). The Bureaucratic Phenomenon. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Cyert, Richard and March, James (1963). A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Daft, Richard L. and Becker, Selwyn W. (1978). Innovation in Organizations. New York: Elsevier.
Danziger, James and Dutton, William (1976). Technological Innovations in Local Government: The Case of Computers in U.S. Cities and Counties. Irvine, CA: Public Research Organization, University of California, Irvine.
Downs, Anthony (1967). Inside Bureaucracy. Boston: Little, Brown.
Downs, George and Mohr, Lawrence (1979). “Towards a theory of innovation,” Administration and Society 10: 379–408.
Elkin, Stephen L. (1974a). “Comparative urban politics and interorganizational behavior,” Policy and Politics 2: 289–308.
Elkin, Stephen L. (1974b). Politics and Land Use Planning. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Emery, F. E. and Trist, E. L. (1963). “The causal texture of organizational environments,” Human Relations 18: 21–32.
Feller, Irwin (1981). “Public sector innovation as conspicuous production,” Policy Analysis 7: 1–20.
Feller, Irwin, Menzel, Donald C. and Engel, Alfred J. (1974). Diffusion of Technology in State Mission-Oriented Agencies. University Park, PA: Center for the Study of Science Policy, Pennsylvania State University.
Georgescu-Roegen (1971). The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Glaser, Edward M. (1981). “Durability of innovations in human service organizations: A case study analysis,” Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization 3: 167–185.
Guetzkow, Harold (1966). “Relations among organizations,” in Raymond Bower (ed.), Studies on Behavior in Organizations. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Hage, Jerald (1980). Theories of Organization. New York: Wiley.
Hage, Jerald and Aiken, Michael (1967). “Program change and organizational properties: A comparative analysis,” American Journal of Sociology 72: 503–519.
Hage, Jerald and Dewar, Robert (1973). “Elite values vs. organizational structure in predicting innovation,” Administrative Science Quarterly 18:279–281.
Hasenfeld, Yeheskel (1980). “Implementation of change in human service organizations: A political economy perspective,” Social Service Review 54: 508–520.
Hickson, D. J., Hinnings, C. R., Lee, C. A. and Pennings, J. A. (1971). “A strategic contingencies theory of intraorganizational power,” Administrative Science Quarterly 16: 216–229.
Hinnings, C. R., Hickson, D. J., Pennings, J. J. and Schenck, R. D. (1974). “Structural conditions of intraorganizational power,” Administrative Science Quarterly 19: 22–24.
Hirschman, Albert (1970). Exit, Voice and Loyalty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Jacobs, David (1974). “Dependency and vulnerability: An exchange approach to the control of organizations,” Administrative Science Quarterly 19: 45–60.
Jefferson, Ray (1973). Planning and the Innovative Process. New York: Pergamon.
Lambright, W. Henry (1980). “Decision-making for urban technology,” Policy Sciences 11: 329–341.
Lipsky, Michael (1970). Protest in City Politics. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Magill, Kathleen P. and Rogers, Everett M. (1981). “Federally sponsored demonstrations of technological innovations,” Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization 3: 23–42.
March, James and Simon, Herbert (1959). Organizations. New York: Wiley.
Menzel, Donald C. (1978). “Intergovernmental support of technological innovation in local government,” Administration & Society 10: 317–334.
Miles, Raymond E. and Snow, Charles C. (1978). Organizational Strategy, Structure and Process. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Moch, Michael K. and Morse, Edward V. (1977). “Centralization and organizational adoption of innovations,” American sociological Review 42: 716–725.
Mohr, Lawrence (1969). “Determinants of innovation in organizations,” American Political Science Review 63: 111–126.
Nelson, Richard R. and Winter, Sidney G. (1977). “In search of a useful theory of innovation,” Research Policy 6: 36–76.
Pack, Janet (1978). Urban Models: Diffusion and Policy Application. Philadelphia, PA: Regional Science Research Institute.
Perry, James L. and Danziger, James N. (1980). “The adoptability of innovations. An empirical assessment of computer applications in local governments,” Administration and Society 11: 461–492.
Perry, James L. and Kraemer, Kenneth L. (1978). “Innovation attributes, policy intervention and the diffusion of computer applications among local governments,” Policy Sciences 9: 179–205.
Pettigrew, Andrew M. (1973). The Politics of Organizational Decision Making. London: Tavistock.
Pettigrew, Andrew M. (1975). “Towards a political theory of organization intervention,” Human Relations 28: 192–208.
Pettigrew, Andrew M. (1977). “Strategy formulation as a political process,” International Studies of Management and Organization 7: 78–87.
Pfeffer, Jeffery and Salancik, Gerald R. (1978). The External Control of Organizations. New York: Harper & Row.
Roessner, J. David (1979). “Federal technology policy: Innovation and problem solving in state and local governments,” Policy Analysis 5: 181–200.
Roessner, J. David (1980). “Technological diffusion research and national policy issues,” Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization 2: 179–201.
Schatschneider, E. E. (1960). The Semi-Sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Simon, Herbert (1964). “On the concept of organizational goals,” Administrative Science Quarterly 9: 1 -22.
Simon, Herbert (1976). Administrative Behavior. New York: Free Press.
Simon, Herbert (1981). Sciences of the Artificial. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Steinbruner, John D. (1974). The Cybernetic Theory of Decision. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Thompson, James (1967). Organizations in Action. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Thompson, Victor A. (1969). Bureaucracy and Innovation. University, AL: University of Alabama Press.
Warner, Kenneth E. (1974). “The need for some innovative concepts of innovation: An examination of research on the diffusion of innovations,” Policy Sciences 6: 433–451.
Warwick, Donald A. (1975). A Theory of Public Bureaucracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Weick, Karl (1979). The Social Psychology of Organizing. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Weimer, David L. (1980). “Federal intervention in the process of innovation in local public agencies: A focus on organizational incentives,” Public Policy 28: 93–116.
Wilson, James Q. (1966). “Innovation in organization: Notes toward a theory,” in James D. Thompson (ed.), Approaches to Organizational Design. Pittsburgh Press.
Wilson, James Q. (1968). Varieties of Police Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wolf, Charles Jr. (1979). “A theory of non-market failure: Framework for implementation analysis,” Journal of Law and Economics 22: 107–139.
Yin, Robert K. (1977). “Production efficiency versus bureaucratic self-interest,” Policy Sciences 8: 381–398.
Yin, Robert K. (1981). “Life histories of innovations: How new practices become routinized,” Public Administration Review 41: 21–28.
Yin, Robert K. and Gwaltney, Margaret K. (1981). “Knowledge utilization as a networking process,” Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization 2: 555–580.
Yin, Robert K., Heald, Karen A., Vogel, Mary E., Fleischauer, Patricia D. and Vladeck, Bruch E. (1976). A Review of Case Studies of Technological Innovations in State and Local Services. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
Zaltman, Gerald, Duncan, Robert and Holbeck, Jonny(1973). Innovations and Organizations. New York: Wiley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Elkin, S.L. Towards a contextual theory of innovation. Policy Sci 15, 367–387 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146008
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146008