The article "Institutional Complexity as a Driver for Innovation in Service Ecosystems” by Jaakko Siltaloppi, Kaisa Koskela-Huotari and Stephen L. Vargo has been presented the Informs Service Science 2017 Best Article Award.
– The article uses institutional theory to explain why diversity is important for novel ideas. Institutions here refer to the rules, norms and meanings that guide how people think and act. In the article, we connect the idea of institutional complexity with the ability to be creative. Institutional complexity is the simultaneous guidance by multiple institutions that are conflicting in their prescriptions. We argue that these conflicts make people more aware of institutions and enable synthesizing their prescriptions in a way that results in novel ways of thinking and acting, says Kaisa Koskela-Huotari, PhD Student i Business Administration at CTF.
The award is based on votes for the best article by the editorial board of the Service Science journal and sponsored by the Informs Section on Service Science. It was presented at the Section’s business meeting at the Informs Conference in Houston, Texas on October 24. For more information about the article, see the latest CTFblog.
About the authors
Kaisa Koskela-Huotari is a Ph D student in CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of service-dominant logic, institutional theory and systems thinking. In her dissertation, she uses a service ecosystems perspective to study market evolution and innovation. She has articles published in the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Service Theory and Practice, the Journal of Strategic Marketing and Service Science. Kaisa serves as the Assistant Editor of The Sage Handbook on Service-dominant Logic forthcoming in 2018.
Jaakko Siltaloppi is a post-doctoral researcher at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland. His research interests include service-dominant logic, service innovation, and institutional and organizational change. His current research focuses on the role of organizational identity and ethical values in strategic change, specifically in the construction and real estate industry. His work has been published in such journals as Marketing Theory, Service Science, and the Service Industries Journal.
Stephen L. Vargo is a Shidler Distinguished Professor and Professor of Marketing at the University of Hawai’i and a Visiting Professor at CTF, Service Research Center, Karlstad University. Professor Vargo’s primary areas of research are marketing theory and thought and marketing strategy. He is best known for his work with Robert F. Lusch on service-dominant logic. He has had articles published in the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Service Research, the Journal of Retailing, and other major marketing journals and books. Together with Robert F. Lusch, he has published two books, including one recently released by Cambridge University Press. A third book, The Sage Handbook on Service-dominant Logic, is scheduled for publication in 2018. Professor Vargo has received the Harold H. Maynard Award by the American Marketing Association for “significant contribution to marketing theory and thought,” the AMA/Sheth Foundation Award for “long term contributions to the field of marketing” and the Evert Gummesson Award for outstanding research, among other awards. Thomson-Reuters has identified him as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds/Highly Cited Researchers (top 1%) in economics and business for four consecutive years (2014 – 2017).
