Rethinking the process of diffusion in innovation: A service-ecosystems and institutional perspective

The diffusion of innovation is generally referred to as the spread or adoption of a technology within a social context. This view separates technological and market aspects of innovation by relying on an underlying assumption of a unidirectional flow of innovation–that is, from the technological side to the market side. More recent work, however, points toward more dynamic, inclusive, and integrative approaches to studying innovation and diffusion. We develop a theoretical framework for rethinking the process of diffusion in innovation, using a service-centered, ecosystems, and institutional lens. This framework helps to overcome narrow conceptions that separate technological aspects of innovation from processes of diffusion or adoption, and highlights the importance of institutional change. Specifically, our framework does not privilege one actor as an innovator/producer and another as an adopter/consumer, but rather considers all actors as resource integrators, and diffusion as a critical part of recursive innovation processes.