Transformation of R&D into a Driver of Service Innovation: Conceptual Model and Empirical Analysis

The transition to a service economy through the transformation of social structures has become a global phenomenon that affects research and development (R&D) organizations. However, the innovation and R&D management literatures are mainly rooted in product development based on technological trajectories, which is not necessarily applicable to services. To fill this gap, the field of service marketing has introduced the service-dominant logic perspective, which does not separate services from goods. This paper proposes a new R&D model focusing on value cocreation through the study of a technology-based R&D unit in the information technology company. A set of hypotheses was developed and tested using data from R&D activities related to service innovation projects. The findings suggest that the technology developed through R&D contributes to value cocreation interactions between the R&D organization and the customer, which are facilitated by mutual organizational understanding. They also contribute to the discovery of research themes. The result is the emergence of a new type of service-oriented researcher who focuses not only on creating new technologies and adapting them to the customer site but also on discovering research themes by broadening the scope of research to the creation of new service systems. The managerial implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.