Design Thinking as Meaning Creation: The Case of Descomplica

ABSTRACT Context: the design language was introduced to innovation management as a mechanism to increase creativity, given the predominance of an economic rationality in the innovation theory and practice. Among the design thinking discourse, meaning innovation gained relevance in post-industrial societies. Objective: explore the adherence of Descomplica strategy to the meaning innovation model. Method: an exploratory survey with a qualitative approach and a narrative method was carried out. Results: the data collected shows that the company does have a strategy to build and consolidate an emotional relationship with its users. This emotional connection can be perceived in students’ narratives, mainly when they came from public schools. Results also brought evidence that traditional education methods can be threatened by EdTech, mainly in environments where regulatory controls are weak. Conclusion: even though meaning innovation proved to be effective from the point of view of Descomplica’s strategy, it cannot be considered a radical innovation in the sense attributed by sustainability-oriented innovation theory. The results reinforce the urgency to discuss, from organizational and educational perspectives, the impacts of online platforms in Brazilian students’ perceptions, behaviors, and capabilities development.

Extending the role of diffusion of innovation theory (DOI) in achieving strategic goal of the firm with moderating effect of cost leadership

The information system literature has long emphasized the importance of employee acceptance of information technology for achieving strategic goal of the firm and organizational performance. Consequently, this study investigates the determinants of acceptance of information technology with the extension of diffusion of innovation theory (DOI) in organizational context. Results showed that compatibility, innovativeness, trust in technology, perceived gap in IT capabilities, employee self-efficacy, and perceived cost advantage explained R^2 79.4%% variance in achieving strategic goal of the firm. The effect size analysis showed that perceived gap in IT capabilities had substantial effect size. Similarly, substantial predictive relevance was found Q^2 58.1%, 15.7% when predicting firm strategic goals and organizational performance respectively.

Extending the Role of Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) in Achieving the Strategic Goal of the Firm With the Moderating Effect of Cost Leadership

The information system literature has long emphasized the importance of employee acceptance of information technology for achieving strategic goal of the firm and organizational performance. Consequently, this study investigates the determinants of acceptance of information technology with the extension of diffusion of innovation theory (DOI) in organizational context. Results showed that compatibility, innovativeness, trust in technology, perceived gap in IT capabilities, employee self-efficacy, and perceived cost advantage explained R^2 79.4%% variance in achieving strategic goal of the firm. The effect size analysis showed that perceived gap in IT capabilities had substantial effect size. Similarly, substantial predictive relevance was found Q^2 58.1%, 15.7% when predicting firm strategic goals and organizational performance respectively.

Extending the Role of Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) in Achieving the Strategic Goal of the Firm With the Moderating Effect of Cost Leadership

The information system literature has long emphasized the importance of employee acceptance of information technology for achieving strategic goal of the firm and organizational performance. Consequently, this study investigates the determinants of acceptance of information technology with the extension of diffusion of innovation theory (DOI) in organizational context. Results showed that compatibility, innovativeness, trust in technology, perceived gap in IT capabilities, employee self-efficacy, and perceived cost advantage explained R^2 79.4%% variance in achieving strategic goal of the firm. The effect size analysis showed that perceived gap in IT capabilities had substantial effect size. Similarly, substantial predictive relevance was found Q^2 58.1%, 15.7% when predicting firm strategic goals and organizational performance respectively.

How the Coronavirus Inspired Teaching the Diffusion of Innovation Theory

Many public health courses include content on behavior change theories, including the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DoI). In DoI, innovations are adopted based on 5 characteristics: the innovation's relative advantage of what came before, its compatibility with a person or group's culture, the complexity of the innovation, whether the innovation can be tried before fully adopted, and whether or not the effects of adopting this innovation can be observed in others. This paper describes the application of the public health response to COVID-19 in the US as a dynamic example with which to teach DoI theory in the context of an undergraduate program planning and evaluation class. Because students were forced into an online environment when essential businesses closed in an effort to ‘flatten’ the coronavirus curve, we describe the unique way the outbreak could be used in an organic online discussion in which students could use their own current experiences to extrapolate to the DoI constructs. While not done as a formal "lesson plan", we describe the students' engagement, provide commentary of their application of DoI to the COVID-19 response, and suggest how more formal exercises could be incorporated into undergraduate public health curriculum.

The Staged Competition Innovation Theory

Innovation is critical to technological progress and has many theories to explain its processes. Organised competition has been shown empirically to provide an alternative pathway for innovation within an industry, increasing innovation rates and radicalness. This research introduces and develops the new staged competition innovation theory which builds on the well-understood diffusion of innovation theory and the Technology–Organisation–Environment framework to explain how decision-making and technological, organisational, and environmental characteristics of industry-based competition can drive innovation activity. The new theory comprises three principles that demonstrate how a well-designed staged competition provides: (1) a unique innovation mechanism away from parent industry constraints, (2) a unique agile environment that can increase innovation development, and (3) a return pathway for adoption back to the parent industry. Principle 2 addresses the specific competition environment criteria required to drive innovation, beginning with a co-dependency between organiser and teams in providing team confidence and a mutually beneficial outcome for both parties. Relative advantage drives teams to innovate by generating competitive pressure, while a variable solution space due to competition specific rules and competition brief clarity direct innovation efforts. Finally, competition repetition provides ongoing innovation transfer between teams within the competition and to the parent industry.

Proximal Sensing in Grasslands and Pastures

Reliable measures of biomass, species composition, nitrogen status, and nutritive value provide important indicators of the status of pastures and rangelands, allowing managers to make informed decisions. Traditional methods of sample collection necessitate significant investments in time and labor. Proximal sensing technologies have the potential to collect more data with a smaller investment in time and labor. However, methods and protocols for conducting pasture assessments with proximal sensors are still in development, equipment and software vary considerably, and the accuracy and utility of these assessments differ between methods and sites. This review summarizes the methods currently being developed to assess pastures and rangelands worldwide and discusses these emerging technologies in the context of diffusion of innovation theory.