IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ltr/wpaper/2008.03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Innovation and the Role of Habits: A Conceptual Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Donatella Cavagnoli

    (Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe University)

Abstract

In this paper I explore the concept of innovation. The aim is to bring to the fore the importance of learned habits on the motivation to innovate. Innovation is a learning process which results in a new product, a new process, a new movement, a new organisation or a new source of raw materials. It arises out of scientific activity (e.g. Research and Development), individual invention (e.g. garage or computer inventor), group strategy (e.g. future search meetings) or exploration of new environments (e.g. mineral exploration). However, innovation requires the input of innovative individuals within any of the above contexts. Individuals learn within a frame of reference created by their education and by their social and organisational systems of rewards. This frame reflects how habits of thought and of behaviour are passed on and perpetuated, and how information, skills and the motivation to innovate evolve. Habits however, embody a double-edged outcome. Habits can lead to innovation, habits can also hinder innovation. This paper identifies this double-edged outcome and examines the gap in the innovation literature on the importance of fostering the individuals psychological motivation (or habit) to innovate. It seeks to provide a theoretical framework that enables a link to be drawn between management innovation, industrial relations and education policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Donatella Cavagnoli, 2008. "Innovation and the Role of Habits: A Conceptual Analysis," Working Papers 2008.03, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
  • Handle: RePEc:ltr:wpaper:2008.03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/130909/2008.03.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2008.03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hirschman, Albert O., 1985. "Against Parsimony: Three Easy Ways of Complicating some Categories of Economic Discourse," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 7-21, April.
    2. Brewster, Chris & Mayne, Lesley & Tregaskis, Olga, 1997. "Flexible working in Europe," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 133-151, July.
    3. Lynn Mytelka, 2004. "Catching up in new wave technologies," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3), pages 389-405.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janvier D. Nkurunziza, 2005. "Reputation and Credit without Collateral in Africa`s Formal Banking," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2005-02, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Rita Canu & Giuseppe Tattara, 2005. "Quando le farfalle mettono le ali. Osservazioni sull'ingresso delle donne nel lavoro dipendente," Economia & lavoro, Carocci editore, issue 2, pages 1-67.
    3. van Hoorn, André, 2018. "Is the happiness approach to measuring preferences valid?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 53-65.
    4. Gail Pacheco & Bill Cochrane, 2015. "Decomposing the temporary-permanent wage gap in New Zealand," Working Papers 2015-07, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    5. Saba Siddiki & Xavier Basurto & Christopher M. Weible, 2012. "Using the institutional grammar tool to understand regulatory compliance: The case of Colorado aquaculture," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(2), pages 167-188, June.
    6. Rojhat Avsar, 2021. "Rational Emotions: An Evolutionary Perspective," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 297-314, July.
    7. Vipul Bhatt & Masao Ogaki & Yuichi Yaguchi, 2017. "Introducing Virtue Ethics into Normative Economics for Models with Endogenous Preferences," RCER Working Papers 600, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER).
    8. repec:dgr:rugsom:95b39 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Aspasia Tsaoussi & Eleni Zervogianni, 2010. "Judges as satisficers: a law and economics perspective on judicial liability," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 333-357, June.
    10. Vialle, Pierre & Song, Junjie & Zhang, Jian, 2012. "Competing with dominant global standards in a catching-up context. The case of mobile standards in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 832-846.
    11. Giandomenica Becchio, 2020. "The Two Blades of Occam's Razor in Economics: Logical and Heuristic," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, July.
    12. Grossmann, Volker, 2002. "Is it rational to internalize the personal norm that one should reciprocate?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 27-48, February.
    13. Binz, Christian & Gosens, Jorrit & Hansen, Teis & Hansen, Ulrich Elmer, 2017. "Toward Technology-Sensitive Catching-Up Policies: Insights from Renewable Energy in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 418-437.
    14. Cusmano, Lucia & Morrison, Andrea & Rabellotti, Roberta, 2010. "Catching up Trajectories in the Wine Sector: A Comparative Study of Chile, Italy, and South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1588-1602, November.
    15. Andrew Yuengert, 2006. "Model selection and multiple research goals: The case of rational addiction," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 77-96.
    16. Dasgupta, Utteeyo & Gangadharan, Lata & Maitra, Pushkar & Mani, Subha, 2017. "Searching for preference stability in a state dependent world," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 17-32.
    17. Bachmann, R., 2002. "Trust and power as means of co-ordinating the internal relations of the organization : a conceptual framework," Research Report 02G10, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    18. Seifert, Matthias & Pawlowsky, Peter, 1998. "Innerbetriebliches Vertrauen als Verbreitungsgrenze atypischer Beschäftigungsformen (Trust within enterprises as a limit to the spread of atypical employment forms)," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 31(3), pages 599-611.
    19. Jimena Hurtado, 2005. "The Utilitarian Foundations Of The Economic Approach To Human Behavior," Documentos CEDE 3633, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    20. Milan Zafirovski, 2020. "Indicators of Militarism and Democracy in Comparative Context: How Militaristic Tendencies Influence Democratic Processes in OECD Countries 2010–2016," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 159-202, January.
    21. Dasgupta, Utteeyo & Gangadharan, Lata & Maitra, Pushkar & Mani, Subha, 2014. "De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum: An Experimental Investigation," MPRA Paper 58010, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ltr:wpaper:2008.03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Stephen Scoglio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sblatau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.