How breakthrough innovations develop in an organization with logic multiplicity: A multiple case study of a healthcare organization in China

Abstract

Despite recognizing the strategic importance of breakthrough innovations (BIs) and changing organizational landscapes toward multifaceted values, the question of how BIs emerge and develop in organizations that exhibit multifaceted value logics remains largely unanswered. To address this gap, we investigate the underlying rationale (i.e. logic interplay) of the organizational mechanisms that contribute to the emergence and development of BI practices under logic multiplicity from the perspective of institutional logic. By conducting in-depth case studies of three breakthrough innovation projects in the context of a prominent Chinese healthcare organization that is characterized by the presence of multiple logics, we identify a process model for BI development under logic multiplicity. The model contains three sequential mechanisms associated with logic interplay—logic-bridging, logic-harmonizing, and logic-tilting—that subsequently contribute to specific BI practices across different stages of the BI development process. Our process model illustrates how organizations with multiple logics facilitate the evolution of BIs, emphasizes the interplay and coevolution of diverse logics and highlights the agency of organizational actors in this context.