The implementation of bottom-up innovation in a formalized context: A resource-mobilization perspective

Abstract

Although work-floor employees are important sources of creative ideas, having creative ideas is not enough to implement bottom-up innovations. This is particularly evident in formalized contexts. Research shows that innovations require the provision of resources because they are crucial for each phase of the innovation process, from the generation of ideas to their implementation. Nevertheless, a better understanding is needed of how these resources are acquired and used by work-floor employees to pursue their innovative ideas. Therefore, in this study, we adopt a resource-mobilization perspective and examine the types of resources and resource access mechanisms that are needed in a bottom-up innovation process. Adopting an exploratory case study based on 43 interviews and document analysis, we show that specific actions are deployed as resource access mechanisms to acquire five types of resources in the bottom-up innovation process. Different resources are important in the three phases, and the mechanisms by which these resources are acquired play a key role in explaining the effect of these resources. In sum, our research adds to the understanding of the actions and factors that shape bottom-up innovation endeavours.