Community Structure and Innovation: The Case of Urban Renewal
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the presence and speed of application for, and number of dollars reserved for, Federal urban renewal programs (the measures of innovation) for 582 American cities over 25,000 population in 1960 and found that older and larger cities and those with low levels of education and income, high unemployment, fewer managers and officials, and low level of in-migration and growth are more innovative.
Abstract: The presence of, and speed of application for, and number of dollars reserved for, Federal urban renewal programs (the measures of innovation) are analyzed for 582 American cities over 25,000 population in 1960. Other variables studied are ethnicity, income, Democratic vote, political structure, industrial character, educational level, voting turnout, age and size of the city, unemployment, migration, housing condition, and nonwhite composition. Findings: older and larger cities and those with low levels of education and income, high unemployment, fewer managers and officials, and low levels of in-migration and growth are more innovative, even when region, the condition of housing, and the size of city are controlled. Five different theories are discussed: political culture, centralization of formal political structure, concentration or diffusion of community power, community differentiation, and continuity, community integration. An alternative theory is offered that interorganizational networks ("interfaces") between centers of power increase capacity for coordination. Such networks are furthered by greater structural differentiation and an accumulation of experience and information in the community system. The data available provide only indirect tests of the theory.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of innovation on organizational performance by analyzing innovative activity in a panel of 428 public service organizations in the UK over four years and found that consistency in adopting the same composition of innovation types over the years has no effect, and divergence from the industry norm in adopting innovation types could possibly be beneficial to organizational performance.
Abstract: Innovation research suggests that innovation types have different attributes, determinants, and effects. This study focuses on consequences of adoption of three types of innovation (service, technological process, and administrative process) in service organizations. Its main thesis is that the impact of innovation on organizational performance depends on compositions of innovation types over time. We examine this proposition by analysing innovative activity in a panel of 428 public service organizations in the UK over four years. Our findings suggest that focus on adopting a specific type of innovation every year is detrimental, consistency in adopting the same composition of innovation types over the years has no effect, and divergence from the industry norm in adopting innovation types could possibly be beneficial to organizational performance. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research on innovation types.
1,021 citations
Cites background from "Community Structure and Innovation:..."
...Urban authorities are likely to achieve higher levels of organizational performance because they are not operating across large geographical areas, their citizens and users are more readily accessible and communication is easier (Aiken and Alford, 1970)....
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TL;DR: The authors examined the effect of the cultural values of individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity on national rates of innovation in 33 countries in 1975 and 1980, and found that the strength of the relationship between innovation and two cultural values were stronger in 1975 than in 1980, suggesting, perhaps, that these values are becoming less important in spurring the innovation process.
1,002 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the initiation, adoption and implementation of new ideas or activity in an organizational setting is reviewed in terms of organization context, structure, and member attitudes, and a series of propositions and three predictive models are derived and presented as directions for future research and theory construction.
Abstract: Innovation (the initiation, adoption and implementation of new ideas or activity in an organizational setting) is reviewed in terms of organization context, structure, and member attitudes. A series of propositions and three predictive models are derived and presented as directions for future research and theory construction.
819 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between cultural values and the innovativeness and inventiveness of a society and found that individualistic and non-hierarchical societies are more inventive than other societies.
637 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the first empirical test of innovation type and diffusion in local government and show that adoption of innovation is both complex and contingent, and that different factors drive the diffusion of different types of innovation across upper tier English local government.
Abstract: This paper presents the first empirical test of innovation type and diffusion in local government. Five types of innovations – one product, three process and one ancillary – were tested in a multivariate model that included environmental, organizational and diffusion variables. The research was conducted on 120 upper tier English local authorities using a multiple informant survey instrument. Results indicate that adoption of innovation is both complex and contingent – different factors drive the diffusion of different types of innovation across upper tier English local government. These findings suggest that further research is required on the interactions of types of innovation in public organizations and that policy instruments developed to assist adoption need to be sensitive to variations between innovations.
322 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1962
TL;DR: A history of diffusion research can be found in this paper, where the authors present a glossary of developments in the field of Diffusion research and discuss the consequences of these developments.
Abstract: Contents Preface CHAPTER 1. ELEMENTS OF DIFFUSION CHAPTER 2. A HISTORY OF DIFFUSION RESEARCH CHAPTER 3. CONTRIBUTIONS AND CRITICISMS OF DIFFUSION RESEARCH CHAPTER 4. THE GENERATION OF INNOVATIONS CHAPTER 5. THE INNOVATION-DECISION PROCESS CHAPTER 6. ATTRIBUTES OF INNOVATIONS AND THEIR RATE OF ADOPTION CHAPTER 7. INNOVATIVENESS AND ADOPTER CATEGORIES CHAPTER 8. DIFFUSION NETWORKS CHAPTER 9. THE CHANGE AGENT CHAPTER 10. INNOVATION IN ORGANIZATIONS CHAPTER 11. CONSEQUENCES OF INNOVATIONS Glossary Bibliography Name Index Subject Index
38,750 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1968
TL;DR: Constructing Social Theories as discussed by the authors presents a range of strategies for constructing theories, and in a clear, rigorous, and imaginative manner, illustrates how they can be applied, and argues that theories should not be invented in the abstract or applied "a priori" to a problem but should be dictated by the nature of the data to be explained.
Abstract: "Constructing Social Theories" presents to the reader a range of strategies for constructing theories, and in a clear, rigorous, and imaginative manner, illustrates how they can be applied. Arthur L. Stinchcombe argues that theories should not be invented in the abstract or applied "a priori" to a problem but should be dictated by the nature of the data to be explained. This work was awarded the Sorokin prize by the American Sociological Association as the book that made an outstanding contribution to the progress of sociology in 1970."
1,498 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1969
TL;DR: Thompson as discussed by the authors examined the relationship between bureaucratic structure and innovative behavior by comparing the conditions within the bureaucratic structure with the conditions found by psychologists to be most conducive to individual creativity, and suggested that bureaucratic organizations are actually evolving in this direction.
Abstract: The relationship between bureaucratic structure and innovative behavior is examined by comparing the conditions within the bureaucratic structure with the conditions found by psychologists to be most conducive to individual creativity. The conditions within bureaucracy are found to be determined by a drive for productivity and control, and inappropriate for creativity. Suggestions are made for alterations in bureaucratic structure to increase innovativeness, such as, increased professionalization, a looser and more untidy structure, decentralization, freer communications, project organization when possible, rotation of assignments, greater reliance on group processes, attempts at continual restructuring, modification of the incentive system, and changes in many management practices. It is suggested that bureaucratic organizations are actually evolving in this direction. Victor A. Thompson is professor of political science at the Maxwell Graduate School, Syracuse University.
1,043 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify the determinants of innovation in public agencies, i.e., the degree to which they adopt and emphasize programs that depart from traditional concerns, and suggest that innovation is the function of an interaction among the motivation to innovate, the strength of obstacles against innovation, and the availability of resources for overcoming such obstacles.
Abstract: The present study is an attempt to identify the determinants of innovation in public agencies, i.e., the degree to which they adopt and emphasize programs that depart from traditional concerns. Innovation is suggested to be the function of an interaction among the motivation to innovate, the strength of obstacles against innovation, and the availability of resources for overcoming such obstacles.The significance of the research can be viewed in terms of Hyneman's observation nearly twenty years ago that bureaucratic agencies “… may fail to take the initiative and supply the leadership that is required of them in view of their relation to particular sectors of public affairs. …” His concern was the responsiveness of the public sector not only to expressed wants but to public wants that may go unexpressed, or be only weakly expressed, and whose utility is much more easily recognized by the informed bureaucratic official than by the ordinary citizen.While the results and conclusions to be reported appear to be largely valid for organizations in general, the empirical focus will be local departments of public health which, as a class, have had a rather dramatic succession of opportunities to respond to new public problems over the past twenty-five years. A brief introductory paragraph will orient the reader to the applied setting.
802 citations
TL;DR: Terreberry as discussed by the authors argues that evolutionary processes occur in the environments of organizations and argues that organizational change is increasingly externally induced and organizational adaptability is a function of ability to learn and to perform according to changes in the environment.
Abstract: This paper argues that evolutionary processes occur in the environments of organizations. Ideal types of environment, originally conceptualized by Emery and Trist, are elaborated and extended. A review of recent literature gives evidence of the decreasing autonomy and the increasing interdependence of organizations. Four approaches to interorganizational analysis are reviewed and found inadequate to deal with present-day conditions. This paper then outlines a perspective which allows any organization, its transactions, and the environment itself to be viewed in a common conceptual framework. Two hypotheses are discussed: (1) that organizational change is increasingly externally induced; and (2) that organizational adaptability is a function of ability to learn and to perform according to changes in the environment. Shirley Terreberry is a Ph.D. candidate in the Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science at The University of Michigan.
651 citations