Negative consequences

Abstract

This entry focuses on negative consequences of organizational innovation (OI). Scholarly debates of OI have for long been almost exclusively occupied with attempts to manage innovation more efficiently. Moreover, the dominant academic understanding of innovation portrays OI as fundamentally positive. This has implied that negative consequences of OI have been neglected in innovation research. However, an emerging field of critical studies highlight the dark sides of OI. Examples of identified negative consequences within this research field are work-related stress as a result of work-intensification, and failed projects and dissatisfaction due to unpredictability of technology implementation. The entry concludes that organizations (1) are often caught in an institutionalized ever-accelerating innovation race focused on productivity with restricted opportunities to deal with OI-related problems and (2) have little help from the pro-innovation biased OI literature. By challenging the pro-innovation bias, OI research could play a more sustainable and transformative role.