OrgTech: Evidence of organizational innovations in patent data

IF 8 1区管理学 Q1 MANAGEMENT

Research Policy Pub Date : 2025-03-06 DOI:10.1016/j.respol.2025.105209

Valery Yakubovich , Shuping Wu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Organization theorists have long claimed that organizational innovations are nontechnological, in part, because they are unpatentable. We show that the rise of organizational software (OrgSoft) opens opportunities for embodying organizational knowledge in digital tools and thus turns organizational innovations (OrgInn) into technological ones (TechInn) that are patentable. Applying machine learning algorithms to US patent data, we identify 205,434 US patent applications for OrgSoft submitted between 1971 and 2020. Among them, 141,285 applications or 68.8 % represent OrgInn. Our analysis shows how these innovations contribute to OrgSoft's patenting and thus recognition as TechInn. Specifically, organizational innovations enhance novelty and nonobviousness of the invention but raise concerns about the inventor's ability to embody these ideas in practical tools transferable across organizational contexts. We conclude that the present-day digital transformation turns the general debate about organizational innovations being technologies into the specific challenge of designing practical tools that embody novel ideas about organizing and make them applicable across a variety of contexts.

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组织技术：专利数据中组织创新的证据

组织理论家长期以来一直声称，组织创新是非技术性的，部分原因是它们无法获得专利。我们表明，组织软件（OrgSoft）的兴起为在数字工具中体现组织知识提供了机会，从而将组织创新（OrgInn）转化为可获得专利的技术创新（TechInn）。将机器学习算法应用于美国专利数据，我们确定了1971年至2020年期间组织软件提交的205,434项美国专利申请。其中，有141,285份申请代表OrgInn，占68.8%。我们的分析显示了这些创新如何有助于组织软件获得专利，从而被认可为科技公司。具体来说，组织创新提高了发明的新颖性和非显而易见性，但也引起了对发明者将这些想法体现在跨组织环境可转移的实用工具中的能力的关注。我们得出的结论是，当今的数字化转型将关于组织创新是技术的一般性辩论转变为设计实用工具的具体挑战，这些工具体现了关于组织的新思想，并使其适用于各种环境。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Research Policy MANAGEMENT-

CiteScore

12.80

自引率

6.90%

发文量

182

期刊介绍： Research Policy (RP) articles explore the interaction between innovation, technology, or research, and economic, social, political, and organizational processes, both empirically and theoretically. All RP papers are expected to provide insights with implications for policy or management. Research Policy (RP) is a multidisciplinary journal focused on analyzing, understanding, and effectively addressing the challenges posed by innovation, technology, R&D, and science. This includes activities related to knowledge creation, diffusion, acquisition, and exploitation in the form of new or improved products, processes, or services, across economic, policy, management, organizational, and environmental dimensions.