Grasping processes of innovation empirically: a call for expanding the methodological toolkit; an introduction

Abstract: "During the past decades, innovation research has yielded countless empirical studies in a variety of disciplines. For all this quantity, we still lack an adequate understanding of basic qualities and mechanisms of its central subject. Which processes and conditions bring innovation about? How does it spread? And what is its genuine nature? Critics argue that these shortcomings have their roots in the conceptual limitations of established perspectives on innovation and in the fact that researchers confine themselves to studying technical and scientific novelties or marketable products. This self-restriction stands in marked contrast to the observation that innovation plays an important role in contemporary societies. The term is at least ubiquitous and its usage common in all societal fields. In the introduction to this HSR Special Issue, we subscribe to this critique and argue that the conceptual reductionism comes along with severe methodical and methodological limitations. These

Object Details

• Alternative title: Innovationsprozesse empirisch erfassen: ein Plädoyer für die Erweiterung des Methodenspektrums
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Grasping processes of innovation empirically: a call for expanding the methodological toolkit; an introduction ; volume:40 ; number:3 ; year:2015 ; pages:7-29 ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Historical social research ; 40, Heft 3 (2015), 7-29

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Jungmann, Robert ; Baur, Nina ; Ametowobla, Dzifa

Further information

• DOI: 10.12759/hsr.40.2015.3.7-29
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-432245
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:55 AM CEST