Creative disruption: the everyday innovation practices of intrapreneurs at a technology company

Abstract

This article makes a contribution to disruptive innovation studies by exploring the micro-dynamics of everyday 'creative disruption' – the creative practices intrapreneurs engage in during their daily work to advance innovation projects inside organizations. Drawing on a practice-based approach and a qualitative action research case study at Thales UK, a multinational technology organization, this article asks how intrapreneurs as key innovative agents foster disruptive innovation practices in their day-to-day work. The analysis of 55 interviews, 25 diary accounts, 29 observations of innovation related events plus a number of documents and reflexive notes following the development of 6 innovation projects as they happen, shows intrapreneurs navigating organizational tensions resulting from disruptive innovation efforts by constantly developing creative disruption practices in response to contextual demands to progress their innovation projects. The results help to expand our understanding of the notion of disruptive innovation in organizations, re-framing it as a micro-level generative process. NOTE: We have the explicit permission and consent from the UK division of Thales to use its real name in disseminating our research.