Hidden patterns of knowledge evolution in fluid digital innovation

ABSTRACT

Fluid digital innovation structures and processes are increasingly being leveraged to generate innovations. Fluid digital innovation is largely dependent on digital technology for communication and coordination. Interaction between participants in fluid digital innovation occurs through digital knowledge artefacts. As participants come and go, they can read what others have contributed and then contribute their knowledge. Fluid digital innovation is characterised by the scale of contributions and the fast-paced evolution of knowledge accumulation. This means that sometimes the knowledge evolution patterns are not explicitly evident (‘hidden’) even though they implicitly impact the innovation process and outcomes. In this essay, we summarise the nascent research on such hidden knowledge evolution patterns in fluid digital innovation. We also present a model of knowledge evolution dynamics in fluid digital innovation. Finally, we outline a research agenda and some specific future research directions for studying knowledge evolution impacting fluid digital innovation.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge patterns
• innovation
• fluid organisations
• innovation process

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The notion of ‘evaporation’ at the micro-foundational level is akin to ‘organizational forgetting’ at the macro-foundational level. Our micro-foundational notion of knowledge evaporation can be due to what Holan and Phillips (2004) label as failure to consolidate or abandoned innovations that cause organisational forgetting.