Understanding the Characteristics of Techno-Innovation in an Era of Self-Regulated Financial Services

Abstract

Can we identify the key characteristics of techno-innovation in the era of deregulated financial services? This is an important question particularly now when many are laying the blame for the emergence of a “Credit Crunch” in 2008 on ill- managed innovations that fuelled growth in contemporary financial services (see Tett 2009). This working paper draws together findings from a programme of research examining the role of technology in the transformation of work practices in the financial sector and their entanglement with risk and regulation. Examples from multiple longitudinal field studies are used to explore the following questions: What inspires innovation in financial services? How are processes of techno- innovation managed? What are the expected and unexpected consequences of techno-innovation? The