Impact of IT use on the collective attentional engagement to innovation: The case of a organization in the cork sector

Abstract

Organizations process a vast amount of information, therefore putting a big strain on collective attention, a limited resource in organizations. When there is poverty of attention, decision and action become erratic and subject to failures. More research addressing the impact of information systems on organizational mindfulness is needed to develop an IS mindfulness theory. By studying how a leading company in the cork industry uses a platform to support the ideation phase of the innovation process, we provide empirical evidence pointing to the contribution of IT artefacts in promoting organizational mindfulness. Collecting research information in meetings, observations and interviews for 1 year, we were able to observe that the platform was engaging the collective attention to the incremental innovation of processes in detriment of the disruptive innovation of products. Our findings are a first contribution to develop an IS mindfulness theory and to design socio-technical arrangements that expand organizational mindfulness.